Habitat Restoration

Here in Hawaii, the only ones in the rat race are mongooses, along with Federal and State officials wanting to kill both rats and mongooses.  However, there is a big flaw in the recent Federal and State proposal for statewide eradication of Hawaii's rodents and mongooses, currently under review.  Here is the argument against eradication.

Urban, rural, agriculture, and high-density residential buildings feed into the Throup Stream catchment (Sutherland 2013), located in rural Sooke, a southern Vancouver Island town supporting a population over 11,400 (Statistics 2013). The 98.31-hectare watershed is more than 200 times smaller than the district’s largest, the Sooke River watershed (CRD 2009); yet it remains one of Sooke’s most polluted streams, which is precisely why the district counts the Throup Stream catchment as one of four high priority watersheds for the region (Sutherland 2013). This ground inspection focused on the lower reaches of Throup stream, paying close mind to a transitional, non-forested wetland into which Throup Stream empties before again being channelized toward Sooke Harbour. Once supporting chum and Coho salmon (Sutherland 2013) the stream’s hydrology and ecological health have been considerably altered by roads, including the main highway into Sooke, invasive plant species, increases in impervious surface areas, erosion and sediment-loading, all of which have compromised proper functioning in especially the lower reaches of Throup Stream (Sutherland 2013). Returning Throup Stream to proper functioning condition capable of supporting anadromous fish species would require a host of costly restoration, stewardship, and monitoring initiatives.

The ephemeral and fragmented nature of plant communities in the desert region of Ica, Peru have contributed to the poor documentation of its flora. This study provides the first comprehensive checklist and analysis of the vascular plants and habitats of the region, based on over 1800 herbarium collections, site-specific vegetation surveys and monitoring (2001–2017). Here, we report 501 taxa belonging to 283 genera in 68 families, with an outstanding number of taxa (297) representing new records for the region; over 10% of the flora (52 taxa) is categorised as threatened (CR, EN, VU). Asteraceae is the largest family in the checklist, followed by Poaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae. The highest species richness is found in quebradas and huaycos (170 taxa), followed by lomas (137 taxa) and huertas (115). Of the lomas taxa, 28% are assessed nationally as threatened, and 95 taxa (68%) are endemic to Peru. Across all habitats five species are restricted to the Ica region (Cleistocactus clavispinus, Haageocereus icensis, Onoseris humboldtiana, Nolana willeana, Tecoma fulva subsp. guarume). Nolana willeana, not collected since 1956, was rediscovered in 2006. We provide insights into habitat and taxonomic delimitation of enigmatic species in the following genera: Bulnesia, Capparis, Eremocharis, Hoffmannseggia, Leptoglossis, Lomanthus Maytenus, Poissonia and Weberbauerella, among others. We support the reinstatement of Prosopis limensis as a valid species and provide information for its identification in the field. Analysis of Inga feuillei as an ancient domestication vital to agriculture, is provided, and we report an additional 127 cultivated species associated with traditional agriculture, assessing origins and conservation priority. We present climatic and geological observations for the region with spatial and ENSOrelated research from data, plots and transects. A vegetation map and niche model are provided. Threatened lomas species are detailed to support conservation and policy. To aid identification we provide photographs of 155 plant species and all key habitats. The sustainable wellbeing of the Ica region depends on concerted collaboration to monitor, conserve and restore native plants wisely for the natural resources they provide to people and agriculture.

Mycorrhizal fungi play a crucial role in plant nutrient uptake, water relations, ecosystem establishment, plant diversity, and productivity of plants. Mycorrhizas also protect plants against root pathogens and toxic stresses. The fundamental importance of the mycorrhizal association in restoration and to improve revegetation of disturbed mined lands is well recognized. However, the use of mycorrhizal biotechnology in land reclamation and revegetation of disturbed mine sites is not well practiced in many parts of the world. The destruction of mycorrhizal fungal network in soil system is the vital event of soil disturbance, and its reinstallation is an essential approach of habitat restoration. Successful revegetation of severely disturbed mine lands can be achieved by using “biological tools” mycorrhizal fungi inoculated tree seedlings, shrubs, and grasses. This chapter discusses the different types of mycorrhizas, which play an essential function in altering disturbed lands into productive lands, the mechanisms by which disturbed ecosystem benefits through symbiotic associations and their interactions in the rhizosphere. The importance of reinstallation of mycorrhizal systems in the rhizosphere is emphasized and their impact in landscape regeneration and in bioremediation of contaminated soils are discussed.

Biodiversity is in a state of global collapse. Among the main drivers of this crisis is habitat degradation that destroys living spaces for animals, birds, and other species. Design and provision of human-made replacements for natural habitat structures can alleviate this situation. Can emerging knowledge in ecology, design, and artificial intelligence (AI) help? Current strategies to resolve this issue include designing objects that reproduce known features of natural forms. For instance, conservation practitioners seek to mimic the function of rapidly disappearing large old trees by augmenting utility poles with perch structures. Other approaches to restoring degraded ecosystems employ computational tools to capture information about natural forms and use such data to monitor remediation activities. At present, human-made replacements of habitat structures cannot reproduce significant features of complex natural forms while supporting efficient construction at large scales. We propose an AI agent that can synthesise simplified but ecologically meaningful representations of 3D forms that we define as visual abstractions. Previous research used AI to synthesise visual abstractions of 2D images. However, current applications of such techniques neither extend to 3D data nor engage with biological conservation or ecocentric design. This article investigates the potential of AI to support the design of artificial habitat structures and expand the scope of computation in this domain from data analysis to design synthesis. Our case study considers possible replacements of natural trees. The application implements a novel AI agent that designs by placing three-dimensional cubes – or voxels – in the digital space. The AI agent autonomously assesses the quality of the resulting visual abstractions by comparing them with three-dimensional representations of natural trees. We evaluate the forms produced by the AI agent by measuring relative complexity and features that are meaningful for arboreal wildlife. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that AI can generate design suggestions that are aligned with the preferences of arboreal wildlife and can support the development of artificial habitat structures. The bio-informed approach presented in this article can be useful in many situations where incomplete knowledge about complex natural forms can constrain the design and performance of human-made artefacts.

Rhodiola rosea is an endangered medicinal plant used for cancer, cardiovascular, and nervous system diseases therapy. Due to its limited distribution and sustainability alternative methods for production of its valuable substances are under investigation. Using in vitro techniques apical and rhizome buds, leaf nodes, stem and radix segments from wild plants and in vitro seedlings were plated on 24 modified Murashige and Skoog (1962) media. Decontamination of plant material was successful only in 21% of the schemes. The best shoot induction was obtained from seedling explants on media containing 2 mg/l zeatin or N6-benzylaminopurine, each. Their reduction stimulated shoot formation in the next passages (multiplication rate up to 5). Efficient rooting was induced on half-strength MS with 2 mg/l Indole-3-butyric acid and stimulated by adding 0.2 mg/l Indolyl-3-acetic acid. Regenerants rooted in perlite, peat, and soil (1:1:2), adapted in greenhouse, and transplanted in the mountains su...

Restoring intensive agricultural fields to species-rich semi-natural grassland could have profound effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, only a minority of European agri-environment scheme funding is currently devoted to such measures (< 1% in the UK) and too few studies compare biodiversity on restored habitats with that on appropriate control and reference sites. As a result, there is a lack of advice for land managers on how to implement habitat restoration to maximise conservation outcomes, especially for insects. We present a landscape-scale field study in which we tested whether the abundance and species-occurrence of moths (Lepidoptera) differed between arable fields, fields restored to species-rich grassland, and semi-natural calcareous grassland (CG). We also tested whether moths were affected by the frequency of CG indicator wildflowers, age of restoration and habitat connectivity of restored grassland. We found that the abundance of CG-associated moths on restored grassland was almost eight times that on arable fields, and abundance and species-occurrence did not differ significantly from that on semi-natural CG. The only group of moths that was more abundant on CG than restored grassland was associated with late successional stage habitats (e.g. woodland), which shows that trees and shrubs are key features maintaining insect biodiversity on CG. CG moths were more abundant on restored grassland sites where CG indicator wildflowers had established, suggesting that active enhancement of the plant community can increase the abundance of target insect groups. Restoring arable fields to species-rich grassland benefits moths over short timescales (as little as 3 years) and at great distances from semi-natural CG (up to 7 km). It should play a pivotal role in future agri-environment schemes aiming to increase insect biodiversity.

Mangrove forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Mangrove planting is the most common method of restoring these forests. However, this approach is not often successful, especially when the reasons for mangrove degradation were not removed prior to planting new seedlings or propagules. A successful mangrove restoration project may not necessarily include a planting phase. When the stressors are removed and suitable environmental conditions such as correct hydrology and calm area, particularly on exposed coasts, are provided, natural regeneration processes could recover mangroves from degradation. This paper describes an approach to mangrove restoration applied to an exposed shoreline on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In this method a detached breakwater was erected seaward at the shoreline to shelter the restoration area from wave action, prevent the ongoing erosion and promote sediment deposition raising the elevation of the substrate to the target elevation. Survival of Avicennia marina seedlings transplanted in the sheltered area was significantly affected by sediment burial (P< 0.05). However, about eight months after construction of the breakwater, the sedimentation rate decreased and the substrate became stable. Subsequently, natural recruits appeared on the site. We postulate that waterborne seeds or propagules were available from adjacent stands in the study area but wave exposure reduced the possibility of natural recruitment. Thus the breakwater presence provided favourable conditions which could attract mangrove recruits, facilitating reestablishment and natural recovery of the mangrove ecosystem without planting. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

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www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857410003198

We use elasticity analyses for three sturgeon species, the shortnose sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum, Atlantic sturgeon A. oxyrinchus, and white sturgeon A. transmontanus, to calculate the potential to increase population growth rate, l, by improving survival and fecundity. Elasticity analysis is a means of assessing changes to l resulting from conserva- tion initiatives. The elasticity of l to survival has a