Managing biotic interactions during early seagrass life stages to improve seed‐based restoration

Balestri, Elena; Menicagli, Virginia; Lardicci, Claudio

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13980

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Frequent and large-scale harvesting could potentially be exacerbated by local conditions (Bull et al 2004) or increased extreme weather events due to climate change, resulting in meadow fragmentation and decreased capacity for recovery (Maxwell et al 2017). In contrast, the impact of collecting reproductive material is thought to be physically less harmful to donor meadows (Balestri et al 2021). As such, further research into the impacts of seed-based approaches on donor meadows should be undertaken in conjunction with further development to reduce costs and increase overall efficiency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing seed‐ and shoot‐based restoration approaches for the seagrass, Zostera muelleri

Tan

Coleman

Biro

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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The restoration of seagrass habitats is a relatively young field with several successful restoration attempts highlighting the feasibility of large‐scale restoration. Successful restoration of seagrass habitats requires an understanding of the most appropriate techniques to use for the target species and local conditions of restoration sites, however, there are currently limited studies on Zostera muelleri. Here, we conduct field trials to explore the use of seed‐ and shoot‐based restoration approaches for Z. muelleri in Victoria, Australia. We assessed the feasibility of collecting and germinating seeds in the field for restoration purposes and trialed the success of four shoot‐based transplanting techniques. We found that seed collections for Z. muelleri were highly successful and scalable, with seed collection rates improving from 489 to 1,939 seeds/hour over 2 years. In addition, in situ seedling germination increased from a maximum of 10.80–25.25% over 2 years. In contrast, shoot‐based restoration approaches were more variable, with plants transplanted with their sediment‐intact outperforming all bare‐rooted approaches. Shoot‐based transplanting approaches appear to have more limited application, but may be appropriate for some restoration sites, or used in combination with seeds to achieve the best restoration outcome. Seed‐based approaches have the potential to be viable and scalable for Z. muelleri given that large numbers of seeds can be collected and stored for at least 7 months before successfully germinating in the field. However, further studies are required to overcome the seedling survival bottleneck (approximately 4 months from emergence) and further increase in situ germination rates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing seed‐ and shoot‐based restoration approaches for the seagrass, Zostera muelleri

Tan

Coleman

Biro

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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“…Significant potential exists to recover native vegetation through seed‐based restoration approaches (Kettenring & Tarsa, 2020; Palma & Laurance, 2015). Relative to other revegetation strategies such as planting seedlings, transplanting rhizomes and installing vegetated patches, the seed‐based approach is typically less expensive and logistically more feasible to achieve large‐scale restoration (Balestri et al, 2021; van Katwijk et al, 2016). Additionally, the use of seeds allows the inclusion of high levels of genetic diversity, which may have far‐reaching implications for enhancing long‐term ecosystem resilience under changing climate (Balestri & Lardicci, 2012; Larios et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uncovering recruitment bottlenecks driving demographic losses/mortality represents an important step towards amplifying restoration outcomes (Balestri et al, 2021; Saunders et al, 2020). Compared to terrestrial ecosystems, in coastal wetlands, seed fate postsowing might be more convoluted due to being subject to strong spatiotemporal heterogeneity of multiple disturbances (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pinpointing stage‐specific causes of recruitment bottlenecks to optimize seed‐based wetland restoration

Zhao

Zhang

Lin

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Attaining the goals of 'The UN-Decade on Ecosystem Restoration' requires efficient methods for large-scale restoration of degraded ecosystems. Seed-based approaches may offer opportunities for massive recovery of native vegetation but are prone to failure when applied to highly valued coastal wetlands such as salt marshes. Pinpointing the impact of early life stage transitions on recruitment variation across species and contexts is a critical first step toward amplifying seed-based restoration efficiency.2. Large-scale field experiments were conducted in 100 microhabitats across eight salt marshes to investigate root causes of variation in seed retention and seedling emergence, using four globally occurring salt marsh species as models. The resulting insights and dataset were then translated into predictors using machine learning, for targeted application in disentangling recruitment bottlenecks.3. Seed retention, regardless of species, was identified as the principal bottleneck in recruitment with hydrodynamic intensity, bed-level dynamics, and burial depth as critical governing factors. Seedling emergence was discerned as the critical bottleneck driving cross-species recruitment variability and was pivotally influenced by soil salinity and burial depth. 4. Predictions using machine learning under different restoration scenarios indicated that simple management, such as seed burial or species selection, can create opportunities to bypass potential recruitment bottlenecks. Synthesis and applications.Our results suggest that the failure of seed-based coastal wetland restoration should be attributed to multiple recruitment bottlenecks that arise from different life stage transitions and are context/species dependent. In planning future seed-based restoration practices, managers should assess the variability of life stage-specific dominant factors at target sites to identify site-specific recruitment bottleneck(s). Our work underscores the need for strategic management that buffers against recruitment bottlenecks to improve restoration efficiency and advances the application of data-driven techniques to make seed-based restoration predictive.

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“…Significant potential exists to recover foundation vegetation through seedbased restoration approaches (Palma and Laurance, 2015;Kettenring and Tarsa, 2020). Relative to other revegetation strategies such as planting seedlings, transplanting rhizomes, and installing vegetated patches, the seed-based approach is typically less expensive and logistically more feasible to achieve large-scale restoration (van Katwijk et al, 2016;Balestri et al, 2021). Moreover, the use of seeds allows for the inclusion of high levels of genetic diversity, which may have far-reaching implications for enhancing long-term ecosystem resilience under changing climate (Balestri and Lardicci, 2012;Larios et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uncovering the recruitment bottlenecks driving demographic plummets represents an important step toward amplifying restoration outcomes (Saunders et al, 2020;Balestri et al, 2021). Compared to terrestrial ecosystems, in coastal wetlands the seed fate post-sowing might be more convoluted due to being subject to strong spatiotemporal heterogeneity of multiple disturbances (e.g., inundation and sheet erosion), with the relative importance of these disturbances varying with time as the seed transitions through its life course (Friess et al, 2012;Statton et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adventures of salt marsh recruits

Zhao¹

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Managing biotic interactions during early seagrass life stages to improve seed‐based restoration

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 11 publications

References 67 publications

Developing seed‐ and shoot‐based restoration approaches for the seagrass, Zostera muelleri

Developing seed‐ and shoot‐based restoration approaches for the seagrass, Zostera muelleri

Pinpointing stage‐specific causes of recruitment bottlenecks to optimize seed‐based wetland restoration

Adventures of salt marsh recruits

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