The Reconstruction of Ecosystems: Presidential Address to the British Ecological Society, December 1982

Liu, Zengwen; ErJun, Duan; Kaiwen, Pan; Zhang, Liping; Du, Haiyan

doi:10.2307/2403372

Cited by 312 publications

(61 citation statements)

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“…Insights from agriculture have long suggested the use of facilitative legumes to ameliorate soil conditions (Bradshaw 1983, Wong 2003. More recent studies have shown mycorrhizal inoculation improves plant survival and growth (e.g., Requena et al 2001, Pineiro et al 2013 although in some systems it may be the presence of a mycorrhizal network (Simard and Durall 2004, Teste et al 2009, Booth and Hoeksema 2010, as opposed to the presence of certain mycorrhizas alone, that facilitates successful restoration.…”

Section: Restoring Species Composition Requires More Than Just Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We explicitly consider conceptual ecological developments pertinent to restoration since A. D. Bradshaw's (1983) Presidential Address to the British Ecological Society in 1982, when he stated: ''The acid test of our understanding is not whether we can take ecosystems to bits on paper, however scientifically, but whether we can put them together in practice and make them work''. We explore how conceptual developments are being applied to restoration practice and how ecological knowledge is faring against the 'acid test'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Simultaneous environmental changes challenge biodiversity persistence and human wellbeing. The science and practice of restoration ecology, in collaboration with other disciplines, can contribute to overcoming these challenges. This endeavor requires a solid conceptual foundation based in empirical research which confronts, tests and influences theoretical developments. We review conceptual developments in restoration ecology over the last 30 years. We frame our review in the context of changing restoration goals which reflect increased societal awareness of the scale of environmental degradation and the recognition that inter-disciplinary approaches are needed to tackle environmental problems. Restoration ecology now encompasses facilitative interactions and network dynamics, trophic cascades, and above-and belowground linkages. It operates in a non-equilibrium, alternative states framework, at the landscape scale, and in response to changing environmental, economic and social conditions. Progress has been marked by conceptual advances in the fields of trait-environment relationships, community assembly, and understanding the links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Conceptual and practical advances have been enhanced by applying evolving technologies, including treatments to increase seed germination and overcome recruitment bottlenecks, high throughput DNA sequencing to elucidate soil community structure and function, and advances in satellite technology and GPS tracking to monitor habitat use. The synthesis of these technologies with systematic reviews of context dependencies in restoration success, model based analyses and consideration of complex socioecological systems will allow generalizations to inform evidence based interventions. Ongoing challenges include setting realistic, socially acceptable goals for restoration under changing environmental conditions, and prioritizing actions in an increasingly space-competitive world. Ethical questions also surround the use of genetically modified material, translocations, taxon substitutions, and de-extinction, in restoration ecology. Addressing these issues, as the Ecological Society of America looks to its next century, will require current and future generations of researchers and practitioners, including economists, engineers, philosophers, landscape architects, social scientists and restoration ecologists, to work together with communities and governments to rise to the environmental challenges of the coming decades.

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Section: Restoring Species Composition Requires More Than Just Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

et al. 2015

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“…N accumulation is an essential ecosystem process after extreme disturbance, and dominance by N-fixing species on early-successional disturbed lands is common (Bradshaw 1983;Finegan 1984). Two prolific woody species, autumn olive and black locust, are N fixers; both likely remained on site as live roots and viable seed despite the restoration treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforestation Guidelines for Unused Surface Mined Lands: Development, Application and Adoption

Burger¹,

Zipper²,

Angel³

et al. 2011

JASMR

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Abstract. More than 600,000 hectares of mostly forested land in the Appalachian region were surface mined for coal under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Today, these lands are largely unmanaged and covered with persistent herbaceous species, such as fescue and serecia lespedeza, and a mix of invasive and native woody species with little commercial or ecological value. Some landowners and surrounding residents would like to restore native forests on some of these lands for the valuable products and services they provided prior to mining. For these lands to become productive forests, intervention is needed to loosen compacted mine soils, correct chemical or nutrient deficiencies, and replace the current vegetation. Reforestation guidelines to restore native forests on mined lands that are unoccupied, unmanaged, and unproductive were developed. Practices include land clearing, mine soil tillage, fertilization, tree planting, weed control and monitoring. The recommended practices were tested on a 35-ha mine site, originally reclaimed to grassland and bond-released in 1997. After the second growing season mean stocking of 885 ha -1 was achieved. Five of the six primary planted species (black, white, and red oak, tulip poplar, black cherry) had statistically equivalent stocking, but tulip poplar and black cherry had the highest mean height and biomass. Volunteer trees occurred on most measurement plots; most volunteer trees were native but invasive shrubs were also present. The pre-existing vegetation proved to be persistent and competitive, demonstrating the importance of vegetation control and strategic nutrient application to reforestation success.Under leadership provided by the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative, a group formed by the Office of Surface Mining and seven state regulatory authorities, these procedures have been adopted and applied by watershed improvement groups, forestry and fish/wildlife agencies, coal companies, environmental groups, and an electrical generating company pursuing carbon credits.

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“…At one end of a restoration site-condition spectrum (Zedler 1999) are ecosystems with only mild impairments, e.g., a shrub-invaded savanna that might be restored using controlled burning. At the other end are mine tailings, which led Bradshaw (1983Bradshaw ( , 1987 to ask how ecological theory could help land managers to reassemble ecosystems, thereby initiating the field of restoration ecology. Mine tailings not only lack their historical vegetation and soils, but their substrates become toxic when long-buried materials are exposed to the air, e.g., sulfates convert to sulfuric acid.…”

Section: Addressing Novel Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifting Restoration Policy to Address Landscape Change, Novel Ecosystems, and Monitoring

Zedler¹,

Doherty²,

Miller³

2012

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Policy to guide ecological restoration needs to aim toward minimizing the causes of ecosystem degradation; where causes cannot be eliminated or minimized, policy needs to shift toward accommodating irreversible landscape alterations brought about by climate change, nitrogen deposition, altered hydrology, degraded soil, and declining biodiversity. The degree to which lost diversity and ecosystem services can be recovered depends on the extent and nature of landscape change. For wetlands that occur at the base of watersheds that have been developed for agriculture or urban centers, the inflows of excess water, sediment, and nutrients can be permanent and can severely challenge efforts to restore historical services, including biodiversity support. In such cases, the historical state of downstream wetlands will not be completely restorable. Wetland restoration policy should promote watershed planning, wherein wetland and upland restoration is prioritized to achieve multiple, specific ecosystem services. For downstream wetlands, it is realistic to aim to enhance nitrogen removal and to establish native plants that are matrix dominants, namely, those that facilitate rather than displace other natives. More ambitious objectives such as maximizing diversity would be suitable for less-altered, upstream wetlands. Policy should also call for adaptive restoration and long-term assessments. For large sites and multiple sites of a given wetland type within a region, experimental tests can determine a wetland's ability to support high levels of ecosystem services. Once projects are underway, long-term monitoring of structural and functional indicators can characterize progress toward each objective. Managers can then learn which targets are unachievable based on data, not just opinion. Where an experimental treatment shows limited progress, practitioners would shift to more promising treatments and targets, thereby adapting restoration efforts to changing landscapes. Rather than ensuring duplication of historical conditions, an adaptive restoration framework allows practitioners to aim high while using field tests to identify unachievable targets and adapt ecological restoration to landscape change.

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The Reconstruction of Ecosystems: Presidential Address to the British Ecological Society, December 1982

Cited by 312 publications

References 0 publications

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

Advances in restoration ecology: rising to the challenges of the coming decades

Reforestation Guidelines for Unused Surface Mined Lands: Development, Application and Adoption

Shifting Restoration Policy to Address Landscape Change, Novel Ecosystems, and Monitoring

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