Monitoring Of Restoration Projects Research Articles

Advancing salt marsh restoration for coastal resilience: a learning exchange

A multidisciplinary group of salt marsh professionals from Maine to Virginia participated in a collaborative learning exchange to improve restoration for the overall health and resilience of coastal wetlands. This was an unprecedented forum through which participants representing different geographies, backgrounds, and roles in salt marsh management were able to share and learn from one another to develop the best available restoration methods for on-the-ground projects that address multiple benefits. By including mosquito control agencies, restoration practitioners, regulatory agencies, academic researchers, and conservation organizations in the learning exchange, we developed an understanding and acceptance of different approaches. Regulators learned about project ideas and contributed to project designs in early development stages. Collaborating while engaged in on-the ground projects enabled participants to implement lessons learned in real time. Field trips to restoration sites at different stages of development allowed a greater and more fluid exchange of ideas and practical implementation advice. Practitioners leveraged resources and developed new collaborations. Lessons learned and shared through this faster and more flexible forum will inform the design, implementation, and monitoring of restoration projects across the region and improve overall marsh health and resilience in the face of climate change. Learning exchanges like this should be used more frequently to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of coastal restoration particularly when there is a windfall of cash and a short window of opportunity such as with post-disaster federal spending.

Weed management for landscape scale restoration of global temperate grasslands

AbstractGlobally, temperate grasslands have been significantly degraded as a result of urbanisation, grazing and agriculture. Weeds now dominate most of these ecosystems, resulting in the loss of ecosystem services, reduced carrying capacity for farmers, and reduction of habitat for native plants and animals. This paper reviews the literature relating to temperate grassland restoration efforts across the globe, noting which techniques and combinations have been used successfully to reduce weed dominance and promote native recruitment and establishment. This review concludes that, using a combination of four restoration techniques, provided the highest level of success, with the caveat that, ongoing weed management should be budgeted for in all projects. There is no single optimal method for restoration and weed control, with success depending on specific site conditions and the scope and aims of particular projects. However, any form of target plant transfer was observed to significantly enhance the restoration's success and reduce exotic plant biomass. There is clearly a need for an increase in long‐term monitoring of restoration projects in order to make more confident assumptions.

Monitoring organic-matter decomposition and environmental drivers in restored vernal pools

Vernal pools are small, shallow and ephemeral freshwater wetlands, often located in forests. Despite harboring high levels of biodiversity and being biochemical hotspots, they have been severely degraded by human activities. Restoration of vernal pools has become a priority for resource managers, and monitoring of restoration projects is needed to track the effectiveness of restoration techniques. In this study, we analyzed the ecological functioning of natural and restored vernal pools in the forest of Chinon (France) four years after a restoration project. Specific aims were to: (1) compare organic-matter decomposition rates between natural and restored pools, and (2) evaluate the main drivers of organic-matter decomposition in these two types of pool. In five natural and nine restored vernal pools, a standardized organic-matter decomposition assay (cotton strip) was deployed for up to 57 days. Each pool was characterised in terms of vegetation type, water and soil quality. We found that decomposition rates did not differ between natural and restored pools. The natural pools, however, had the greater stores of total organic carbon (TOC) content, and Sphagnum moss cover. Across both pool types, decomposition rates were positively associated with canopy openness and vascular plant cover, suggesting a possible ‘priming effect’ of primary producers on microbial decomposers. Sphagnum moss cover and some soil variables, such as TOC, were associated with slowed decomposition, highlighting the potential of Sphagnum spp. at influencing microbial activity. We suggest that future studies couple the cotton strip assay with biotic indices to assess the overall functioning of these wetlands.

Soil and Plant Characteristics in a Restored Area under Mid-Term Site Management

Mid- and long-term monitoring of restoration projects have to be performed, as short-term evaluations do not give comprehensive information about their outcomes. In this study, we assessed the results of a forest restoration project, implemented in former road builder’s yards. We evaluated the recovery of the soil’s physical and chemical properties, the effectiveness and naturalness of sward restoration, and the success of woody species planting. Our hypotheses were that soil–plant interaction strongly influenced the restoration dynamics. The areas were restored in 2016. In 2014, we collected data from 28 restored areas. Eight years after the restoration, the physical and chemical properties of the soil indicated good quality. Suitable soil conditions were reflected in the herbaceous vegetation cover, which was higher than 60% in all the areas. The sown mixture successfully contained spontaneous species, and perennials prevailed over annuals, indicating stability in the composition of the sward. Alien species cover (generally < 10%) was controlled by sown species. Sown species also outcompeted ruderal and typical grassland species, reducing the naturalness of the herbaceous layer. Tree and shrub growth was low, and soil properties did not affect their height. Our results underline the importance of sowing an herbaceous species mixture in degraded areas in order to efficiently restore the soil cover and to reduce the colonization of alien species. Moreover, in our study, we showed how soil properties differently affected plant species groups.

What motivates ecological restoration?

AbstractEcological restoration projects are motivated by diverse environmental and social reasons. Motivations likely vary between stakeholders or regions, and influence the approach taken to plan, implement, and monitor restoration projects. We surveyed 307 people involved in the restoration of native vegetation across Australia to identify their underlying motivations. We also elicited information on planning, implementation, and monitoring of restoration projects. We found that biodiversity enhancement is the main motivation for undertaking restoration, with biodiversity offsetting, water quality improvements, and social reasons as important secondary motivations. Motivations varied significantly by stakeholder type and region. Restoration projects primarily motivated by ecosystem service provision (e.g. water quality improvements and social reasons) sought less pristine ecological outcomes than projects motivated by biodiversity enhancement or offsetting. Rigorous monitoring designs (e.g. quantitative, repeatable surveys, and use of performance indicators) were rarely used in restoration projects, except for projects motivated by scientific research. Better alignment of different restoration motivations with the planning and monitoring of restoration projects should deliver greater benefits through setting appropriate objectives and evaluating outcomes against these objectives. These improvements will increase the capacity of the restoration practice to meet international biodiversity commitments and communicate restoration outcomes to stakeholders.

Quantifying bias in hydromorphological monitoring: an evaluation of the German LAWA-OS method

Hydromorphological assessment methods as the on-site assessment of the German Working Group on water issues (LAWA-OS method) provide valuable information for a wide range of water management issues like water body assessment, deficit analysis and planning or monitoring of restoration projects. Considering these demands, the question about the assessment variability of such methods arises. Depending on varying aims, scales and approaches different methods may show contradictory assessment results. The objectives of this work are to quantify assessment deviations between different versions of the LAWA-OS method and to identify the causes of these deviations. The hypothesis is that procedural differences between versions act as deviation factors and lead to scoring discrepancies. A pairwise comparison between assessment results of two representative versions show that the LAWA-OS method is very robust against deviation factors on the overall score level. With increasing differentiation of hydromorphological characteristics on the main parameter and single parameter level, the assessment robustness decreases considerably. Particularly, differing numbers of parameters, differing reference scores and differing score aggregation procedures act as factors for substantial assessment deviations between versions. The work in hand provides scientifically based outputs in relation to the reliability, comparability and applicability of the LAWA-OS assessment results for river ecology issues. In this regard, the work in hand contributes to the quality control of the LAWA-OS method and provides valuable insights for practitioners and policy makers.

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING: Arthropod Monitoring for Fine-Scale Habitat Analysis: A Case Study of the El Segundo Sand Dunes.

/ Arthropod communities from several habitats on and adjacent to the El Segundo dunes (Los Angeles County, CA) were sampled using pitfall and yellow pan traps to evaluate their possible use as indicators of restoration success. Communities were ordinated and clustered using correspondence analysis, detrended correspondence analysis, two-way indicator species analysis, and Ward's method of agglomerative clustering. The results showed high repeatability among replicates within any sampling arena that permits discrimination of (1) degraded and relatively undisturbed habitat, (2) different dune habitat types, and (3) annual change. Canonical correspondence analysis showed a significant effect of disturbance history on community composition that explained 5-20% of the variation. Replicates of pitfall and yellow pan traps on single sites clustered together reliably when species abundance was considered, whereas clusters using only species incidence did not group replicates as consistently. The broad taxonomic approach seems appropriate for habitat evaluation and monitoring of restoration projects as an alternative to assessments geared to single species or even single families.