Spontaneous Succession as a Restoration Tool for Maritime Cliff‐top Vegetation in Brittany, France

Abstract

The impacts of human activities, especially those caused by tourism, have resulted in the destruction of coastal cliff-top heathland and grassland vegetation. The loss of these natural habitats has led land managers to reduce human pressure and its impacts on the vegetation cover. Access has been restricted to stop the destruction, and restoration techniques are mainly based on the natural resilience of the vegetation. There have been few scientific reviews of the success of existing restoration operations through spontaneous succession. This article investigates existing restoration operations in five study areas where annual vegetation surveys have been recorded showing the long-term trajectories of the spontaneous vegetation restoration. Statistical analyses based on multivariate analysis and Markov transition models allow us to describe the spontaneous successions, and to relate differences in the restoration trajectories to environmental factors.

Toward an Era of Restoration in Ecology: Successes, Failures, and Opportunities Ahead

“…Similarly, in Argentina, Cuevas & Zalba (2010) found that invasive pine removal allowed grassland recovery within four years if removal occurred early in the invasion process. By fencing to remove grazers, Sawtschuk et al (2010) found that maritime clifftop vegetation recovered within 16 years. Interestingly, the few sites that did not recover in this time frame were ones invaded by an exotic species.…”

Toward a social–ecological approach to ecological restoration: a look back at three decades of maritime clifftop restoration

“…Long‐term surveys conducted on passive restoration projects have shown that typical clifftop vegetation is able to spontaneously recolonize bare soil following vegetation degradation as long as the soil has not been too damaged (Sawtschuk et al ). However, the effectiveness of this method after heavy degradation, such as building deconstruction or high human trampling pressure, has not been assessed in the literature.…”

“…The results of these experiments have been published in specialized scientific journals (Rozé 1995;Bioret & Géhu 2008;Gallet et al 2010;Sawtschuk et al 2010Sawtschuk et al , 2012 as well as in managers' handbooks for the nonscientist stakeholders (Enoul 1999;Bioret & Gallet 2015). Numerous articles have also been published in nonindexed journals (Bioret & Rivière 2004;Gallet et al 2009Gallet et al , 2011Sawtschuk et al 2015).…”

“…This article focuses on the specific case of the maritime clifftops in Brittany, France, which have been followed by scientists for the past three decades (Bioret 1989;Bioret & Brigand 1993;Gallet et al 2004Gallet et al , 2009Sawtschuk 2010;Sawtschuk et al 2010;Gallet et al 2011;Sawtschuk et al 2012Sawtschuk et al , 2015. These clifftops present particular conditions for flora and fauna due to their strong environmental stresses, mainly involving wind and salt deposition (Malloch 1972;Sawtschuk 2010).…”

Restoration dynamics evaluation by vegetation mapping and transition matrix modelling: analysis of 20 yr of restoration and management at the megalithic site of Carnac (Brittany, France)

“…Past long‐term ecological surveys represent an efficient way to elaborate vegetation trajectory models and build up hypotheses on potential dynamics that could occur in newly restored sites or in on‐going restoration or conservation projects (Sawtschuk et al. ). Based on these surveys, vegetation classification and multivariate analyses allow description of vegetation states, and possible pathways of succession.…”