Nucleation increases understory species and functional diversity in early tropical forest restoration

A synthesis and future research directions for tropical mountain ecosystem restoration

“…In montane forests, livestock farming and agriculture create forest-pasture mosaics where forest recovery is limited by seed dispersal, competition with exotic pasture grasses, seed predation and herbivory, and unfavourable site conditions 141 . This required active restoration interventions through tree or shrub seedling planting 141 , nucleation planting 11 or establishment of perching structures for seed dispersing birds 142 – 144 to jointly overcome biotic and abiotic limitations 141 . When natural hazards like hurricanes or landslides 145 caused soil erosion, restoration in montane forests was focussed on recovering regulating ecosystem functions, such as erosion regulation, water provision and hazard prevention through catchment management 135 , restoration of vegetation cover through revegetation and afforestation 101 , 135 and natural regeneration 146 .…”

“…Abandoned agricultural land recovered more slowly due to habitat constraints, dispersal limitations or competition, and often assisted restoration interventions through weeding, direct seeding or fertilization are needed 57 , 162 , 163 . In heavily disturbed systems such as pastures invaded by exotic grasses, environmental filtering was strong and restoration success was low without active interventions such as seedling planting 164 systematic planting or soil/seed bank transfers 11 .…”

“…Facilitative interactions were deliberately employed in restoration studies, e.g. through applied nucleation tree island planting 11 , 172 , exotic plantations to recover native understories 129 , bracken ferns as facilitators for late succession tree seedlings 128 or planting to attract seed dispersers 120 , 140 , 141 , 172 . Moreover, site management variables related to removing disturbance, such as eradication of invasive species 84 , 176 , and protection of restoration sites 6 , 177 were mentioned as promoting success.…”

“…Moreover, site management variables related to removing disturbance, such as eradication of invasive species 84 , 176 , and protection of restoration sites 6 , 177 were mentioned as promoting success. Furthermore, planting variables associated with the right choice of local planting methods, ranging from appropriate seed bank transfers 11 , shade tree 178 and multi-species planting 161 , and direct seeding 163 helped improve restoration outcomes.…”

Bioindicadores para avaliação e monitoramento da restauração ecológica de área em ambiente de mineração de bauxita, Miraí, MG

“…Diante disso, embora seja necessário comparar as técnicas de restauração ecológica em diferentes contextos ambientais , a nucleação é uma estratégia promissora para a restauração de ambientes tropicais degradados, pois essas técnicas facilitam a regeneração natural e assim promovem a recuperação da diversidade estrutural, funcional e de espécies (Corbin & Holl 2012;Holl et al 2017;Rojas-Botero et al 2020). Além disso, o uso dessas técnicas alternativas reduz os custos com plantio de árvores (Holl et al 2017;Bechara et al 2021).…”