Overview of Ecological Restoration PDF

Review ecosystem characteristics / components (emphasis on course being all inclusive- soil, plants animals) Processes of ecosystem formation Unit 1 - Overview of Natural vs anthropogenic ecological restoration Characteristics of degraded landscapes...

Review ecosystem characteristics / components (emphasis on course being all inclusive- soil, plants animals) Processes of ecosystem formation Unit 1 - Overview of Natural vs anthropogenic ecological restoration Characteristics of degraded landscapes Defining restoration (vs rehabilitation vs reclamation, when, objectives & key end land use) Work process in Restoration  Restoration Ecology Natural Ecosystems Disturbances Humans Degraded Landscapes Restoration Ecology What is an Ecosystem? A system comprised of biota, the abiotic environment that sustains it, and their interactions. Examples of abiotic components? Water, Mineral content of soil, Culvert  Ecosystem Formation ▪ Developed by natural, autogenic and allogenic processes - Autogenic: Produced within - Allogenic: Produced by external forces - Self-organizing - Self-Sustaining ▪ Often driven by plant establishment and succession (environmental modification by plants) This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC B Ecosystem Formation ▪ Composition of : ▪ Climate ▪ Organisms ▪ Relief (Topography) ▪ Parent Material ▪ Time ▪ Pedogenesis – more than just the development of soil?  Ecosystems Have Structure ▪ Structure: The physical arrangement of biotic components (i.e. physiognomy) Density, strata, dispersion, species composition, etc. ▪ The physical arrangement of abiotic components DWM (down woody material), rocks, topography (slope, aspect), variation in soil nutrient patterns, etc.  Ecosystems Have Function Function Essential processes that naturally occur in healthy ecosystems  Water Filtration Pollination Soil Stability Oxygen  Functional Groups The groups of organisms that perform these essential ecological functions: Primary producers Herbivores Carnivores Decomposers Nitrogen fixers Pollinators Etc. All must be present for an This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC ecosystem to organize  Redundancy in nature Functional Redundancy Or Species Redundancy The presence of more than one species with the same functional role (Niche) in an ecosystem Allows the ecosystem to respond to stress and disturbance Creates resilience Stronger Community  Ecosystems Have Diversity ▪ Ecological ▪ Habitats, niches, populations ▪ Genetic ▪ Nucleotides, genes, chromosomes ▪ Organismal ▪ Species, genera, families, orders, phyla, etc.  Ecosystems Are Complex Complex systems with complex interactions This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA  Ecosystems Are Dynamic ▪ Change and/or renewal in function, structure, and diversity of the system over time ▪ Environmental conditions (weather, moisture, etc) ▪ Energy inputs and outputs ▪ Biomass accumulation and decline ▪ Biotic components live and die ▪ Disturbance events  Disturbance: “ A discrete event in time that disrupts an ecosystem, community, or population, changing substrates and resource availability. Creating opportunity for new / renewed individuals or colonies. Key features: Disturbance Abiotic VS Biotic Scale and Frequency Natural VS Human  Natural Disturbance ▪ Abiotic ▪ Fire, wind, flooding, ice, drought…  Natural Disturbance ▪ Biotic ▪ Competitors, disease, predation …  In your own words define: Degraded Damaged Destroyed Transformed This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND  Degraded Gradual changes that reduce ecological health Damaged Effects of Acute changes that impair ecological Multiple functions Perturbatio Destroyed ns Loss of ecological structure and function Transformed Conversion of the ecosystem to a different type of land use. List 5 things you have seen showing land degradation ▪ Weeds ▪ Bare ground ▪ Erosion ▪ Plant disease ▪ Garbage  Reduce biodiversity Reduced plant biomass Increased litter Characterist Decreased primary productivity ics of Degraded Reduced energy flow to other trophic levels Landscapes Decreased soil fertility High levels of fragmentation Failure to recruit and eventual loss of most desirable plant species  Litter decreases, bare ground increases Aridification Decreased infiltration rates Characteristic s of Polluted air, water, and soil Degraded Increased erosion Landscapes Invasion of undesirable species Loss of symbiotic relationships Loss of secondary producers Definitions of restoration ecology (Grant et al. 2008) Restoration ▪ General: The attempt to return something to some historical state. ▪ The process of re-establishing the structure, function, diversity and dynamics of nature ecosystems.(Gerling et al. 1996) (ierstahoe.com) Ecological Restoration Process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. Practice of restoring ecosystems (Society for Ecological Restoration International 2004). Restoration Ecology ▪ Science upon which ecological restoration is based. Ideally, provides clear concepts, models, methodologies, and tools for practitioners (SERI 2004). Restoration in Practice Widely accepted that re-establishing the same conditions that existed prior to the disturbance is likely impossible Why? ▪ Cost and effort required ▪ Fundamental changes to the ecosystem The goal then of restoration is to: ▪ Initiate and accelerate processes that will lead to the development of an ecosystem characteristic of the area’s natural region  ▪ Requires a knowledge and understanding of: ▪ Soil characteristics (physical, chemical, biological) ▪ Site history ▪ Hydrological Restoration in characteristics Practice ▪ Population genetics ▪ Population ecology ▪ Food webs and energy flow ▪ Ecosystem charactersitics ▪ How each of these factors interact Restoration in Practice ▪ Requires a knowledge and understanding of: ▪ Human motives ▪ Cultural values ▪ Economic realities ▪ Natural capital ▪ Traditional-use ▪ How to engage people and communities ▪ Relationships between cultural and ecological processes This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA  ▪ Interventions vary according to: Restoration in ▪ Extent and duration of disturbance ▪ Cultural conditions (community support, Practice political will, etc.) ▪ Other constraints (knowledge, budget, etc) ▪ Simple - ▪ Complex– soil replacement, the control of invasive species, restoring local hydrology, the establishment of a native plant community, etc...  Conceptual model for ecosystem degradation and restoration (Parks Canada) physical management https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/nature /science/conservation/ie-ei/re- er/pag-pel  Last Mountain Lake Ecologically Accurate Restoration Up to 20 grass species in seed mix (1 or 2 dominant) As many wildflower species as possible Restoration Grasslands National Park Spectrum Example: 7 grass species Mixing species 20 wildflower species Poplar River Mine 5 grass species in seed mix Reclamation ▪ The construction of topographic, soil, and plant conditions after disturbance ▪ The return of disturbed land to its original use or another production use (Gerling et al. 1996) ▪ Defined in Alberta: Stabilization, contouring, maintained, conditioning, or reconstruction of the surface of land. ▪ Aimed at returning the land to equivalent or greater capability Schema of land-reclamation and restoration procedures following oil sands mining (Audet et al. 2014)  ▪ Resistance ▪ maintain functional attributes in the face of stress ▪ Regain functional attributes following stress ▪ Resilience ▪ A state where the ecosystem is fully capable of functioning normally ▪ Depends on resistance and resilience Terminology (Johnstone et al. 2010)  ▪ Rehabilitation ▪ any act of improvement from a degraded state ▪ Mitigation ▪ Avoiding, minimizing, rectifying, reducing, eliminating over time, or compensating for by replacing or substituting (US Fish and Wildlife Service 1981). ▪ Remediation Terminology ▪ The removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water or for the general protection of human health and the environment. Roles of Natural Disturbance ▪ Effects are positive in most cases: ▪ Ecosystem renewal ▪ Increased fitness through natural selection ▪ Prevent establishment of undesirable species ▪ Increases diversity (richness and evenness) of desirable species Human Disturbance ▪ Due to human activities ▪ Significantly different disturbance regimes ▪ different ecosystem -> different responses ▪ Severity greatly depends on frequency ad intensity Restoration ▪ Implies we know how and the end goal ▪ We may not…. ▪ Success? ▪ Not granted ▪ Implies we know how to get there  We may not ▪ Ecological restoration may be expensive but may also be forgiving Restoration in action Process : ▪ Site assessment ▪ Project Planning ▪ Project Implementation ▪ Project Management ▪ Project Monitoring ▪ Success  Adaptive management “Learning to Manage by managing to learn” – USDA 1993 Iterative process of optimal decision making in the face of uncertainty, with an aim of reducing uncertainty over time via system monitoring (SER)  Define the problem Adapt Establish goals Communicat e data findings Design & implement Features of Adaptive Management: ▪ Acknowledges uncertainty ▪ Acknowledges restoration ecology as a progressing and younger science ▪ Allows for consideration of all best management practice available ▪ Encourages continual evaluation and monitoring  Two Forms of Adaptive Management ▪ Active ▪ Strategy testing ▪ Multiple treatments ▪ Passive ▪ Observation ▪ Single treatment ▪ Similarities ▪ Implementation of management ▪ Evaluation ▪ Involve stakeholders ▪ Obtain knowledge ▪ Address uncertainty Uncertainty ▪ Uncertainty & Unpredictability comes from: ▪ Imperfect/ Incomplete knowledge ▪ Incomplete controllability ▪ Complex feedback systems ▪ non-linearity So how do you choose what to do? S.W.O.T analysis Selection Matrix S.W.O.T analysis ▪ Systematic evaluation of Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats ▪ Direct display of pros and cons ▪ Analysis of decisions, options, companies, restoration options ▪ Relatively simple ▪ Low cost ▪ Stakeholder involvement ▪ Forced critical thinking This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND ▪ Basic S.W.O.T. What advantages does this ___ have? What is better in this option? Strength What is unique about this option? What needs does this meet? What disadvantages does this ___ have? What could you improve? Weakness What should you avoid? What needs does this not meet? What opportunities can be seen? What trends are occurring? Opportunities What change in technology are coming? What changes in policy, or public are happening? What obstacles will this have? Will technology change? Threats Will environmental factors change? Will requirements change? Where does it fit? Application of SWOT - C Analysis a nd State-and-Transition Modeling t o the Design of Reclamation Plans for Abandoned or Operating Mines in British Columbia C.R. Smyth, Ph.D., R.P.Bio., P.Biol., CERP. | V. Krebs, M.Sc. 2019 CLRA National Conference & AGM Presentations & Proceedings What is a Decision/Selection Matrix? ▪ Lists, asking an expert, flipping a coin, choosing the most common ▪ Good for small decisions What about something worth a million dollars? ▪ Decision matrices are quantitative evaluation tools to assist in decision making ▪ Ratings, Scores, Simply counting check marks Steps- example plant selection 1. List the 2. List desired 3. List any 4. List any general concerns with plants 5. Start adding plants to the matrix 6. Add as much detail as needed