Enhancing climate change resilience of ecological restoration — A framework for action

Simonson, William D.; Miller, Ellen; Jones, Alastair; García-Rangel, Shaenandhoa; Thornton, Hazel; McOwen, Chris

doi:10.1016/j.pecon.2021.05.002

Cited by 48 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Given the magnitude of the predicted changes, and the uncertainty that surrounds them, planning for habitat management and the restoration of degraded natural areas is becoming increasingly complex, despite the importance of undertaking these activities. Indeed, restoration actions are increasingly advanced as naturebased solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change (Brancalion and Holl, 2020;Simonson et al, 2021). This is a tall order despite the focus on restoration during this, the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (https://www.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration under climate change: A review of the current literature

Vitt

Finch²,

Barak³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Climate change continues to alter the seasonal timing and extremes of global temperature and precipitation patterns. These departures from historic conditions along with the predicted variability of future climates present a challenge to seed sourcing, or provenance strategy decisions, within the practice of ecological restoration. The “local is best” for seed sourcing paradigm is predicated upon the assumption that ecotypes are genetically adapted to their local environment. However, local adaptations are potentially being outpaced by climate change, and the ability of plant populations to naturally migrate or shift their distribution accordingly may be limited by habitat fragmentation. Restoration practitioners and natural area managers have a general understanding of the importance of matching the inherent adaptations of source populations with the current and/or future site conditions where those seeds or propagules are planted. However, for many species used in seed-based restoration, there is a lack of empirical evidence to guide seed sourcing decisions, which are critical for the longevity and ecological function of restored natural communities. With the goal of characterizing, synthesizing, and applying experimental research to guide restoration practice, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on provenance testing of taxa undertaken to inform seed sourcing strategies for climate resiliency. We found a strong bias in the choice of study organism: most studies have been conducted on tree species. We also found a strong bias regarding where this research has been conducted, with North America (52%) and Europe (31%) overrepresented. Experiments were designed to assess how propagule origin influences performance across both climatic (26%) and geographic (15%) distance, with some studies focused on determining how climate normal conditions (39%) impacted performance related to survivorship, growth and other parameters. We describe the patterns and gaps our review identified, highlight specific topics which require further research, and provide practical suggestions of immediate and longer-term tools that restoration practitioners can use to guide and build resilient natural communities under future climate scenarios.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration under climate change: A review of the current literature

Vitt

Finch²,

Barak³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…In Charlotte Harbor, Florida, for example, the distance of mangrove creeks from the Gulf of Mexico influenced the degree to which they were viable juvenile common snook nursery habitats as well as fish assemblage species composition (Wilson et al 2022 ). Restoration strategies need to be resilient to climate change (Simonson et al 2021 ) which is currently an active area of research in coastal ecosystems (see Waltham et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Implications For Management and Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

et al. 2022

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Tropical and subtropical coastal flats are shallow regions of the marine environment at the intersection of land and sea. These regions provide myriad ecological goods and services, including recreational fisheries focused on flats-inhabiting fishes such as bonefish, tarpon, and permit. The cascading effects of climate change have the potential to negatively impact coastal flats around the globe and to reduce their ecological and economic value. In this paper, we consider how the combined effects of climate change, including extremes in temperature and precipitation regimes, sea level rise, and changes in nutrient dynamics, are causing rapid and potentially permanent changes to the structure and function of tropical and subtropical flats ecosystems. We then apply the available science on recreationally targeted fishes to reveal how these changes can cascade through layers of biological organization—from individuals, to populations, to communities—and ultimately impact the coastal systems that depend on them. We identify critical gaps in knowledge related to the extent and severity of these effects, and how such gaps influence the effectiveness of conservation, management, policy, and grassroots stewardship efforts.

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“…However, changes under climate warming scenarios have the potential to alter environmental filters that have acted on local communities, potentially making previously successful trait combinations unviable. This is a prime concern in ecological restoration, where consensus is shifting from restoring past ecosystem states to restoring and managing ecosystem functions (Harris et al, 2006; Simonson et al, 2021)⁠. Southern Australia is predicted to become more susceptible to drought under climate change (IPCC, 2021)⁠, potentially resulting in a reduction in soil moisture available to plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of Acacia and Eucalyptus growth rate differ in strength and direction in restoration plantings across Australia

Staples

Mayfield

England

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Functional traits are proxies for a species' ecology and physiology and are often correlated with plant vital rates. As such they have the potential to guide species selection for restoration projects. However, predictive trait-based models often only explain a small proportion of plant performance, suggesting that commonly measured traits do not capture all important ecological differences between species. Some residual variation in vital rates may be evolutionarily conserved and captured using taxonomic groupings alongside common functional traits. We tested this hypothesis using growth rate data for 17,299 trees and shrubs from 80 species of Eucalyptus and 43 species of Acacia, two hyper-diverse and co-occurring genera, collected from 497 neighborhood plots in 137 Australian mixed-species revegetation plantings. We modeled relative growth rates of individual plants as a function of environmental conditions, species-mean functional traits, and neighbor density and diversity, across a moisture availability gradient. We then assessed whether the strength and direction of these relationships differed between the two genera. We found

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Enhancing climate change resilience of ecological restoration — A framework for action

Cited by 48 publications

References 60 publications

Seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration under climate change: A review of the current literature

Seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration under climate change: A review of the current literature

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

Drivers of Acacia and Eucalyptus growth rate differ in strength and direction in restoration plantings across Australia

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