Progress in wetland restoration ecology

Zedler, Joy B.

doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(00)01959-5

Cited by 587 publications

(404 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…When ecosystems are driven through thresholds of undesirable states, losses can be long-lasting or even permanent (Scheffer, 2001;Hawkins et al, 2002). Our present ability to restore habitats is very much in question (Minello and Webb, 1997;Zedler, 2000), and opportunities for restoration can be extremely expensive or even impossible (Costanza et al, 1997). For example, many of the problems of erosion and flooding along European coastlines arise from the destruction of the natural features of the coast that act as sediment stores (e.g.…”

Section: What Is An Environmental Impact?mentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecological perspective on the deployment and design of low-crested and other hard coastal defence structures

Airoldi

Abbiati

Beck

et al. 2005

Coastal Engineering

342

166

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Coastal areas play a crucial role in the economical, social and political development of most countries; they support diverse and productive coastal ecosystems that provide valuable goods and services.Globally flooding and coastal erosion represent serious threats along many coastlines, and will become more serious as a consequence of human-induced changes and accelerated sea-level rise. Over the past indicate that the construction of coastal defence structures will affect coastal ecosystems. The consequences can be seen on a local scale, as disruption of surrounding soft-bottom environments and introduction of new artificial hard-bottom habitats, with consequent changes to the native assemblages of the areas. Proliferation of coastal defence structures can also have critical impacts on regional species diversity, removing isolating barriers, favouring the spread of non-native species and increasing habitat heterogeneity. Knowledge of the environmental context in which coastal defence structures are placed is fundamental to an effective management of these structures as, whilst there are some general consequences of such construction, many effects are site specific. Advice is provided to meet specific management goals, which include mitigating specific impacts on the environment, such as minimising changes to surrounding sediments, spread of exotic species or growth of nuisance species, and/or enhancing specific natural resources, for example enhancing fish recruitment or promoting diverse assemblages for ecoturism. The DELOS project points out that the downstream effects of defence structures on coastal processes and regional-scale impacts on biodiversity necessitate planning and management at a regional (large coastline) scale. To effectively understand and manage coastal defences, environmental management goals must be clearly stated and incorporated into the planning, construction, and monitoring stages.

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Section: What Is An Environmental Impact?mentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecological perspective on the deployment and design of low-crested and other hard coastal defence structures

Airoldi

Abbiati

Beck

et al. 2005

Coastal Engineering

342

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In most cases, mitigation performance criteria are limited to aspects of the plant community composition (Breaux and Serefiddin 1999, Streever 1999, Spieles 2005. While vegetation composition may be a useful indicator of early ecosystem development, many studies have noted that plant community composition metrics fall short of describing the integrity or functionality of the replacement ecosystem (Zedler 2000, Spieles et al 2006. Since mitigation monitoring programs typically assess only the requisite criteria during the mandatory monitoring period, comparatively little is known about the emergent properties of the resulting wetland.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detrital Decomposition As a Measure of Ecosystem Function in Created Wetlands

Spieles

Mora

2007

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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Mitigation wetland performance is typically assessed with indicators of ecosystem structure and organization, such as plant community composition. While structural indicators can confirm the establishment of a wetland, the degree to which they measure system function is debatable. We evaluated the potential of coarse particulate litter decomposition as a measure of ecosystem function in three created wetlands of different hydrologic regimes and different a g e s 4 , 12, and 155 years. We evaluated litter decomposition rates among the three wetlands relative to site-specific characteristics of vegetation, substrate conditions, and hydrologic regime. Decomposition rates differed among these wetlands, and age effects were strongly influenced by site conditions and environmental factors. Hydrologic regime was the most significant interaction factor with decomposition and likely was a confounding factor for an age-based trajectory of detrital dynamics. These results suggest that decomposition dynamics can be a useful indicator of developing ecosystem function but only in carefully selected wetlands of similar hydrologic regime.

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“…Habitat restoration, although in existence for many decades, has only recently been elevated as a global strategy for stemming coastal habitat loss (20,21). The call for increasing investment in restoration efforts has emerged with significant advances in propagule rearing of habitat-forming organisms (e.g., oysters and corals; refs.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitation shifts paradigms and can amplify coastal restoration efforts

Silliman

Schrack

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

225

300

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Restoration has been elevated as an important strategy to reverse the decline of coastal wetlands worldwide. Current practice in restoration science emphasizes minimizing competition between outplanted propagules to maximize planting success. This paradigm persists despite the fact that foundational theory in ecology demonstrates that positive species interactions are key to organism success under high physical stress, such as recolonization of bare substrate. As evidence of how entrenched this restoration paradigm is, our survey of 25 restoration organizations in 14 states in the United States revealed that >95% of these agencies assume minimizing negative interactions (i.e., competition) between outplants will maximize propagule growth. Restoration experiments in both Western and Eastern Atlantic salt marshes demonstrate, however, that a simple change in planting configuration (placing propagules next to, rather than at a distance from, each other) results in harnessing facilitation and increased yields by 107% on average. Thus, small adjustments in restoration design may catalyze untapped positive species interactions, resulting in significantly higher restoration success with no added cost. As positive interactions between organisms commonly occur in coastal ecosystems (especially in more physically stressful areas like uncolonized substrate) and conservation resources are limited, transformation of the coastal restoration paradigm to incorporate facilitation theory may enhance conservation efforts, shoreline defense, and provisioning of ecosystem services such as fisheries production.shoreline defense | facilitation | coastal wetlands | wetland restoration D egradation of coastal ecosystems is occurring worldwide (1).Human-generated threats such as overharvesting, eutrophication, climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution have threatened these valuable ecosystems at local, regional and global scales (2-6). As these threats have intensified and combined, substantial declines in overall habitat coverage have occurred in almost all major coastal ecosystems, including those generated by key habitat-forming foundation species. For example, oyster reefs have declined by at least ∼85% (7), coral reefs by ∼19% (8), seagrasses by ∼29% (9), North American salt marshes by ∼42% (10), and mangroves by ∼35% (1). Because these ecosystems generate some of the richest biodiversity hotspots on Earth (11, 12), and provide critical services for human populations, including storm protection (13), fisheries production (2, 14, 15), and carbon storage (16, 17), conservation resources totaling over 1 billion US dollars have been spent globally in an attempt to halt and reverse the decline of foundation species in the coastal realm (18,19).A number of strategies have been used to conserve coastal ecosystems, including threat reduction, marine protected areas, buffer establishment, and international treaties. Habitat restoration, although in existence for many decades, has only recently been elevated as a global strategy for ...

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Progress in wetland restoration ecology

Cited by 587 publications

References 21 publications

An ecological perspective on the deployment and design of low-crested and other hard coastal defence structures

An ecological perspective on the deployment and design of low-crested and other hard coastal defence structures

Detrital Decomposition As a Measure of Ecosystem Function in Created Wetlands

Facilitation shifts paradigms and can amplify coastal restoration efforts

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