Early performance of two tropical dry forest species after assisted migration to pine–oak forests at different altitudes: strategic response to climate change

Ecological Restoration of Abies religiosa Forests Using Nurse Plants and Assisted Migration in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

“…Similarly, in British Columbia, Canada, a commercial system of large-scale assisted migration was recently introduced using a migration distance that accounts for climate change in the last 70 years and for the change anticipated in the next 20 years (O'Neill et al, 2017). In Mexico, however, there are no experiences of assisted migration conducted on commercial or large scale conservation programs-only those at small experimental scale, where germplasm migration has generally been successful where it did not exceed 400 m upward elevation shift (e.g., Valle-Díaz et al, 2009;Castellanos-Acuña et al, 2015;García-Hernández et al, 2019;Gómez-Ruiz et al, 2019).…”

A synthesis and future research directions for tropical mountain ecosystem restoration

“…Direct seeding of species and enrichment planting was most frequently studied in montane forest. A host of additional experimental methods were tested only a few times in the TME restoration studies, such as topsoil, seed bank and hay transfers in the mountain grasslands of the Campos Rupestres 48 , 108 , applied nucleation, assisted migration 136 , 137 and inoculation of cloud forest seedlings with arbuscular mycorrhizal 38 , 138 (Supplementary Fig. 6 a).…”

“…Limitations due to seed dispersal—the most common form of seed dispersion in TMEs 159 , 171 —were exacerbated by habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation which disrupt seed dispersers’ abundances and movement pathways 65 , 83 , 136 , 172 , 173 . Further, negative biotic interactions such as competition between grasses and ferns, pests and diseases, as well as herbivory and seed predation compromised restoration success.…”

“…Tropical montane cloud forests, for instance, are expected to experience shifted cloud and precipitation distributions, resulting in tree mortality and altitudinal migration 183 . This may require strategies such as assisting species to migrate upslope to track temperatures 137 , 184 . Many endemic cloud forest tree species have small population sizes, high habitat specificity and low dispersal, due to lack of habitat connectivity, leading to shifted plant-animal interactions due to climate change which will need to be considered under future climate change scenarios 137 .…”

A Synthesis and Future Research Directions for Tropical Mountain Ecosystem Restoration

“…Limitations due to seed dispersal -the most common form of seed dispersion in TMEs 175,190 -were exacerbated by habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation which disrupt seed dispersers' abundances and movement pathways 66,144,[191][192][193] . Further, negative biotic interactions such as competition between grasses and ferns, pests and diseases, as well as herbivory and seed predation compromised restoration success.…”