Priority Areas For Restoration Research Articles

Assessing restoration priorities for high-risk ecosystems: An application of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems

Land clearing and ecosystem degradation are primary causes of loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide, putting at risk sustainable options for Earth and humankind. According to recent global estimates, degraded lands already account for at least 1 and up to 6 billion ha. Given high rates of habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes with high levels of ecosystem transformation, conventional approaches to conservation such as setting aside lands in protected areas, are not enough; in combination with ecosystem protection, ecological restoration is essential to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and delivery of ecosystem services. Despite recognition of the role of ecological restoration, the planning of restoration at the landscape scale remains a major challenge. Specifically, more studies are needed on developing restoration plans that maximize conservation and provisioning of ecosystem services, while minimizing competition with high-productivity land uses. We use Colombia, one of the world’s mega-diversity countries in which ca. 25 % of ecosystems are listed as critically endangered (CR), as a test case for exploring the potential advantages of including the Red List of Ecosystems, a newly developed tool for assessing conservation value, in restoration planning. We identified restoration priorities focused on both high-risk ecosystems and low-productivity lands, to maximize conservation value and minimize land-use conflicts. This approach allowed us to identify over 6 M ha of priority areas for restoration, targeting the restoration of 31 (75 %) of the country’s endangered ecosystems. Eight of the Regional Administrative Environmental Planning Areas (CARs) had greater than 20 % of their area identified as restoration priorities. We roughly estimated that the cost of restoring the prioritized areas with restoration through natural regeneration, using payment for ecosystem services (PES), would equal less than 50 % of the annual budget of the CARs. Our results are in sharp contrast (only 12 % agreement) with the priorities identified under the current National Restoration Strategy of Colombia, and highlight the potential contribution of the Red List of Ecosystems in refining and improving restoration planning strategies at both national and sub-national levels.

Mapping legal authority for terrestrial conservation corridors along streams.

Wildlife corridors aim to promote species’ persistence by connecting habitat patches across fragmented landscapes. Their implementation is limited by patterns of land ownership and complicated by differences in the jurisdictional and regulatory authorities under which lands are managed. Terrestrial corridor conservation requires coordination across jurisdictions and sectors subject to site‐specific overlapping sources of legal authority. Mapping spatial patterns of legal authority concurrent with habitat condition can illustrate opportunities to build or leverage capacity for connectivity conservation. Streamside areas provide pragmatic opportunities to leverage existing policy mechanisms for riverine and terrestrial habitat connectivity across boundaries. Conservation planners and practitioners can make use of these opportunities by harmonizing actions for multiple conservation outcomes. We formulated an integrative, data‐driven method for mapping multiple sources of legal authority weighted by capacity for coordinating terrestrial habitat conservation along streams. We generated a map of capacity to coordinate streamside corridor protections across a wildlife habitat gap to demonstrate this approach. We combined values representing coordination capacity and naturalness to generate an integrated legal‐ecological resistance map for connectivity modeling. We then computed least‐cost corridors across the integrated map, masking the terrestrial landscape to focus on streamside areas. Streamside least‐cost corridors in the integrated, local‐scale model diverged (∼25 km) from national‐scale least‐cost corridors based on naturalness. Spatial categories comparing legal‐ and naturalness‐based resistance values by stream reach highlighted potential locations for building or leveraging existing capacity through spatial coordination of policy mechanisms or restoration actions. Agencies or nongovernmental organizations intending to restore or maintain habitat connectivity across fragmented landscapes can use this approach to inform spatial prioritization and build coordination capacity. Article impact statement: Combined mapping of legal authority and habitat condition reveals capacity to coordinate actions along streams for clean water and wildlife.

Priority Areas For Restoration of Riparian Forests: An Example In Southern Brazil

Priority Areas For Restoration of Riparian Forests: An Example In Southern Brazil

A spatial multicriteria decision analysis for selecting priority sites for plant species restoration: a case study from the Chilean biodiversity hotspot

Developing conservation strategies to restore populations of threatened species has been signaled as an important task by the Convention on Biological Diversity 2011–2020 targets. Species are being threatened not only by habitat loss and fragmentation but increasingly by climate change. As resources for conservation are often limited, and restoration is among the most expensive conservation strategies, developing approaches that help in the prioritization of areas for restoration efforts is a critical task. In this study, we propose a spatial multicriteria decision analysis (SMCDA) framework for identifying potential areas for plant species restoration initiatives that can explicitly take into account future climatic change. As a way to show how the framework can be applied, we took advantage of freely available niche modeling software and geospatial information to identify regional‐scale priority areas for restoration of two threatened endemic tree species (i.e. Bielschmiedia miersii and Pouteria splendens) of the “Chilean Winter Rainfall‐Valdivian Forest” Hotspot. The SMCDA framework allowed us not only to identify priority areas for species restoration but also to analyze how different environmental conditions and land‐use types may affect the selection of areas for species restoration. Our analysis suggests that the inclusion of climate change is a key factor to assess the potential areas for species restoration because species may respond differentially to future climatic conditions. This framework is conceived to be used as a complementary approach to available landscape‐scale spatial conservation planning tools.

Incorporating habitat availability into systematic planning for restoration: a species‐specific approach for Atlantic Forest mammals

AbstractAimSpecies persistence often depends not only on habitat protection, but also on habitat restoration. The effectiveness of species conservation through habitat restoration can be enhanced by explicitly considering ‘habitat availability’, the combined effects of the total amount of habitat and its spatial configuration. We develop an approach for prioritizing land for restoration in a complex biome, considering habitat availability, land acquisition cost and biogeographical representation.LocationBrazilian Atlantic Forest.MethodsWe evaluate alternative restoration prioritization strategies for two mammal species with widely different dispersal abilities and habitat patch requirements. Our strategies focused on minimizing cost while meeting targets for biogeographical subregion representation and habitat availability metrics. We evaluated solutions based on the expected post‐restoration improvement in habitat availability per unit cost.ResultsRestoration through land acquisition to improve habitat availability for both species and to ensure 20% forest cover within each of the Atlantic Forest biogeographical subregions would cost US$ 17.5–20.5 billion. The 12.6 and 11.4 million ha of restored forest resulted in an increase of 10.5% and 9.8% in habitat area and 5518% (55‐fold) and 4100% (41‐fold) in future habitat availability forLeopardus pardalisandCaluromys philander, respectively. We found a high degree of concordance (> 75%) among selected planning units for each species.Main conclusionSubstantial improvements in habitat availability that benefit both species can be realized for minimal additional cost relative to solutions based solely on cost‐minimization and biogeographical subregion representation. We demonstrate that metrics based on metapopulation theory can be quantified in complex systems and used in a systematic restoration prioritization approach to improve habitat availability cost‐effectively. Concordance among priority areas for restoration for species with widely different dispersal abilities and habitat patch requirements supports the idea that many species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest might benefit from plans based on indicator species. This is particularly useful in data‐deficient systems like the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Establishing the ecological restoration network in Argentina: from Rio1992 to SIACRE2015

The development of the science and practice of restoration ecology in Argentina can be divided into three periods. The first was 1992–2004, characterized by isolated restoration efforts, mostly in arid and dry ecosystems, and engaging specific people in the academic, agro‐technological, and private sectors as partially required by national regulations, but also inspired by the 1992 Earth Summit, the 1994 Amendments of the Constitutional Law, and environmental guidelines from investment entities. The second period of 2005–2010 showed significantly greater involvement in international networking and conference contributions. The current period from 2011‐present has witnessed rapid advances and national integration. The country's network Red de Restauración Ecológica de Argentina (REA) was founded in 2012, with seven subnational nodes. In 2014, the 2nd REA symposium was held to determine priority areas for restoration and to generate a National Plan. Public agencies, NGOs and volunteer groups are now actively engaged stakeholders. In 2013 Argentina became a founder member of SIACRE (Sociedad Ibero‐Americana y del Caribe para la Restauración Ecológica) and is organizing SIACRE's 4th international conference (April 2015; Buenos Aires). Restoration ecology in Argentina is ascendant because of long‐term efforts related to strengthening democracy, people initiatives, and strong support from SIACRE, SER (Society for Ecological Restoration), SER‐Europe, and the national networks of Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. Moreover, Argentina is now the first country to have updated its Civil Code by integrating the environment as a “legal good,” which reinforces the citizens' rights to demand the implementation of degradation prevention and/or ecosystem restoration measures.

How to Organize a Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Program? The Framework Developed by the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact in Brazil

Large-scale ecological restoration programs across the world have begun to extensively transform degraded lands into young native ecosystems. However, more projects like these will be necessary in the coming years to fulfill the goal of restoring 150 million ha established by United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Here, we present and discuss the steps required for and the lessons learned from the organization of a large-scale ecological restoration program in Brazil, the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact. These lessons are organized around 9 steps: (a) the presentation of the motivations driving the promotion of large-scale restoration, (b) the organization of the main stakeholders, (c) the definition of goals, (d) the organization of a database, (e) the indication of both available and priority areas for restoration, (f) the proposal of science-based and field-validated methods, (g) the establishment of a monitoring protocol, (h) the proposal of a communication program to unite members and interact with society, and (i) the strategies for promoting the establishment of public policies conducive to restoration. This framework may provide a template to help other initiatives to mainstream isolated restoration projects into a large and well-organized movement, which may increase the chances of successful restoration in the future.

A Framework to Optimize Biodiversity Restoration Efforts Based on Habitat Amount and Landscape Connectivity

The effectiveness of ecological restoration actions toward biodiversity conservation depends on both local and landscape constraints. Extensive information on local constraints is already available, but few studies consider the landscape context when planning restoration actions. We propose a multiscale framework based on the landscape attributes of habitat amount and connectivity to infer landscape resilience and to set priority areas for restoration. Landscapes with intermediate habitat amount and where connectivity remains sufficiently high to favor recolonization were considered to be intermediately resilient, with high possibilities of restoration effectiveness and thus were designated as priority areas for restoration actions. The proposed method consists of three steps: (1) quantifying habitat amount and connectivity; (2) using landscape ecology theory to identify intermediate resilience landscapes based on habitat amount, percolation theory, and landscape connectivity; and (3) ranking landscapes according to their importance as corridors or bottlenecks for biological flows on a broader scale, based on a graph theory approach. We present a case study for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (approximately 150 million hectares) in order to demonstrate the proposed method. For the Atlantic Forest, landscapes that present high restoration effectiveness represent only 10% of the region, but contain approximately 15 million hectares that could be targeted for restoration actions (an area similar to today's remaining forest extent). The proposed method represents a practical way to both plan restoration actions and optimize biodiversity conservation efforts by focusing on landscapes that would result in greater conservation benefits.

Landscape-scale modeling of water quality in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan watersheds: How useful are forest-based indicators?

The Great Lakes watersheds have an important influence on the water quality of the nearshore environment, therefore, watershed characteristics can be used to predict what will be observed in the streams. We used novel landscape information describing the forest cover change, along with forest census data and established land cover data to predict total phosphorus and turbidity in Great Lakes streams. In Lake Superior, we modeled increased phosphorus as a function of the increase in the proportion of persisting forest, forest disturbed during 2000–2009, and agricultural land, and we modeled increased turbidity as a function of the increase in the proportion of persisting forest, forest disturbed during 2000–2009, agricultural land, and urban land. In Lake Michigan, we modeled increased phosphorus as a function of ecoregion, decrease in the proportion of forest disturbed during 1984–1999 and watershed storage, and increase in the proportion of urban land, and we modeled increased turbidity as a function of ecoregion, increase in the proportion of forest disturbed during 2000–2009, and decrease in the proportion softwood forest. We used these relationships to identify priority areas for restoration in the Lake Superior basin in the southwestern watersheds, and in west central and southwest watersheds of the Lake Michigan basin. We then used the models to estimate water quality in watersheds without observed instream data to prioritize those areas for management. Prioritizing watersheds will aid effective management of the Great Lakes watershed and result in efficient use of restoration funds, which will lead to improved nearshore water quality.

Combinação linear ponderada na definição de áreas prioritárias à conectividade entre fragmentos florestais em ambiente SIG

A fragmentação florestal de origem antrópica é um dos resultados do processo desordenado de uso e ocupação do solo, especialmente em paisagens intensamente cultivadas. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho objetivou definir áreas prioritárias, para favorecer a conectividade entre os fragmentos florestais, visando ações de recuperação florestal na Bacia do Rio Pardo, SP, utilizando a abordagem multicriterial denominada Combinação Linear Ponderada.Na definição dos critérios e, posteriormente, dos pesos de fatores, empregou-se a Técnica Participatória. Os fatores considerados importantes ao objetivo do trabalho foram: proximidade entre fragmentos de maior área nuclear, proximidade da cobertura florestal, proximidade da rede hidrográfica, distância aos centros urbanos, declividade, erodibilidade do solo. Considerando que as variáveis que interferem na escolha de áreas prioritárias à restauração florestal na Bacia do Rio Pardo-SP contribuem com pesos diferenciados no processo final de decisão, estabeleceu-se uma hierarquia, de acordo com a importância de cada fator para a aptidão da área. O fator de maior peso foi proximidade entre fragmentos de maior área nuclear (0,3713), seguido de proximidade da cobertura florestal (0,1911), proximidade da rede hidrográfica (0,1516), distância aos centros urbanos (0,1168), declividade (0,0840) e erodibilidade (0,0854).O resultado obtido foi um mapa de áreas prioritárias, com cinco graus de prioridade. A priorização de áreas ocorreu de maneira a promover, primeiro a união dos fragmentos de floresta com maior área nuclear e, a partir dessa união, a sucessiva expansão dessas regiões de prioridade muito alta tendendo a muito baixa. A metodologia mostrou-se adequada ao mapeamento de áreas prioritárias à restauração florestal, em bacias hidrográficas. Uma vez que fragmentos com maiores áreas nucleares sejam conectados com fragmentos pequenos, onde estes são predominantes na paisagem, estes promoverão a formação de fragmentos maiores a partir da formação de corredores florestais e da recomposição da vegetação.