Download Lecture 17 - Ecological Restoration

Introduction to Wildlife & Fisheries Conservation
WFSC 304
Lecture 17: Ecological Restoration
Water and vegetation are key to most remediation. Veg stabilizes sediments,
forms pathways for water into soil, adds organic matter to soil and thereby
establishes habitat for a larger array of soil organisms. Let the positive synergy
begin and be sustained. When it is disrupted (left) it must be reset by a long
process of succession, or with help from humans with thumbs.
Restoration Ecology
“The process of assisting recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or
destroyed.”
—Society for Ecological Restoration
• Draws upon all major disciplines in the
natural sciences
• Ecosystems
• Landscape ecology
• Geomorphology
• Hydrology
• Soil science
• Geochemistry
• Animal behavior
• Theoretical ecology
• Population biology
• Invasion biology
• Evolutionary ecology
Role of Restoration Ecology in Conservation
Opportunity to conduct experiments
 Community assembly dynamics
 Secondary succession
 Fire dynamics
 Role of keystone species
Alternative to in situ conservation
Restoration and conservation are complementary for ecosystem protection
Active restoration
speeds the process
of ecological
renewal.
The act of
restoration requires
keen naturalist
perspectives,
academic breadth,
and
experimentation.
Steps to Designing and Implementing ER
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Site assessment – Examine and define preexisting conditions
Setting goals (e.g. historic state, particular functions)
Develop a restoration design or plan
Obtain necessary permits
Implementation of the designs
Monitoring the restored system
Adaptive management-iterative process
Degradation brings an ecosystem through states that are progressively less functional (1-4;
like cancer stages). Ecosystems commonly pass through state transitions during which
recovery requires greater levels of intervention. In a slightly degraded site, recovery
requires minimal intervention, but after the threshold is crossed (between 1 and 2),
manipulations of vegetative structure and composition are necessary. If degradation is
more severe, the second threshold is crossed (between 2 and 3) in which physical
interventions like earthmoving or dyking are required to restore the site.
Restored communities not always like original.
Original is a good goal we have found not for sentimental but practical reasons. It
is sustainable. Many restored systems are simplified and do not persist.
As well, to restore ecosystem function we may often have to get used to the idea
of “novel ecosystems”. The Great Lakes is a great example. It will never be
historic, but the historic species have persisted. Ecosystem function is high again,
though new predators and prey now rule.
Major Case Study 1: Everglades
Wetlands – Florida Everglades (maybe not so much with the “ever” part)
Water is key to this restoration
EVER GLADES NATIONAL PARK
(link)
“Spanning the southern tip of the
Florida peninsula and most of Florida
Bay,
Everglades National Park is the only subtropical preserve in North America. It contains both
temperate and tropical plant communities, including sawgrass prairies, mangrove and cypress
swamps, pinelands, and hardwood hammocks, as well as marine and estuarine environments.
The park is known for its rich bird life, particularly large wading birds, such as the roseate
spoonbill, wood stork, great blue heron and a variety of egrets. It is also the only place in the
world where alligators and crocodiles exist side by side.
Everglades National Park has been designated a World Heritage Site, an International
Biosphere Reserve, and a Wetland of International Importance.”
 Mosaic of freshwater ponds, prairies and forested uplands that support a
remarkable volume and diversity of flora and fauna
 Historically 11,000 square miles of south Florida
 Historic water flow down the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee, then
south by sheet flow through the Everglades marsh to the flats of Florida Bay
 Sheet flow out of Okeechobee called the “River of Grass” for the vast
expanse of sawgrass in the marsh
 The sheet flow spans as much as 60 miles in width, yet is only six inches deep
in some places
 This wetland was degraded severely by water use and diversion for sugar
plantations (strong lobby) and other agriculture
 1905: Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward began systematic effort to drain
the Everglades for agriculture and development. Large tracts were
transformed into farmland, and cities (Miami, Fort Lauderdale) sprang up
and burgeoned.
 With increasing human habitation flood control in this essentially-stillwetland was needed. Fed to the rescue… In 1948, the U.S. Congress
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authorized the Central and South Florida Project , which created the largest
water management system in the world. The project involved an extensive
network of man-made canals, levees and water control structures that
channel 1.7 billion gallons of water daily from the Everglades to the ocean.
The direct water flow to the ocean does not get the filtration that would
have occurred had it flown through the wetlands.
The loss of water changed the natural characteristics of the marsh. Habitat
loss was due to drying per se, but also to
saltwater intrusions into the marsh from the
ocean. Pollution entered from neighboring
farms and cities. Changes in water quality
stifled the growth of native plants, allowed
exotic plants to take root and fueled the
growth of algae which worsened the loss of
natural habitat. As a result of this cycle continuing for so long the Everglades
today is half the size of a century ago.
 Despite the damage that was done in the
first half of the 20th century, the Everglades is
still considered a national treasure just as
extraordinary as the Grand Canyon, the Great
Lakes or the Redwood Forests. A remarkable
coalition of highly diverse and bipartisan
interests has joined forces to make the
restoration possible.
To revive and protect this national treasure, Florida is undertaking the largest
environmental ecosystem restoration in the world. It is Florida’s top priority
to improve the quality of life for all south Floridians, provide adequate water
supply for south Florida’s growing population and provide improved flood
control, while preserving America’s Everglades and Florida’s Liquid Heart –
Lake Okeechobee - and protecting natural wildlife and plants for future
generations.
2000: State funding of the Everglades Restoration Investment Act to fund
Florida’s 50 % (cost-share), complimenting Federal investment, to implement
the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP)
 FYI—for further interest, here is a well composed, thorough timeline arraying
major events, esp. legislation and actions by Fed and State:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/evergladesforever/about/timeline.htm
 An economic analysis of the restoration problem, including ecosystem
services is available here: http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/04/Report-Measuring-Economic-Benefits-Exec-Summary.pdf
How much is the project likely to cost and what is the benefit cost ratio?
(Note CBS news suggests $20b has already been spent)
 Here, graphically, is the plan:
INVASIVE SPECIES
Miami is a port town—deals with imports
of many exotics. Releases and escapes of
exotics have plagued the Everglades. In
some rivers all one may catch in a day
would be (inedible) armored catfish 
Left: Non-natives impact native species. A
dead 6’ American alligator burst forth from this
13’ Burmese python in Everglades National Park.
Maybe the exotic snakes should stick to 5’
alligators. (ASSOCIATED PRESS/EVERGLADES
NATIONAL PARK / October 5, 2005)
Right: Natives fight back—water moccasin
(cottonmouth) eating nonnative armored catfish.
“… assorted characters of death and blight…” —?
20% of fisherman in south Florida target exotic species
Good video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1n9tlESDeI (4
min)
Case Study: Chesapeake Bay
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Largest of 130 estuaries in the US
Estuaries are some of the most productive environments on the planet
Support thousands (3,600 documented) of species of animals and plants
Spawning and nursery grounds for 80-90 % of America's recreational fish
catch and > 75 % of the commercial fish catch
In bay fishing for oysters, crabs, fish, shrimp etc.
Bay supports recreation
Bay supports shipping (2 of the 5 largest N. Atlantic ports)
17 million people (over a billion kg of humans) drain into the bay
The strain of nutrification and pollution reached a breaking point
Now billions of dollars being spent in restoration projects
Case Study: Guanacaste Dry Forest
Degraded by heavy use of fires to maintain
clear ranch and farm land
• Fires kill trees and facilitate invasion by
Hyparrhenia rufa, an invasive African grass
• Goal – eliminate fires, restore dry forest
ecosystem
• Slow return of original species; reseeded by
birds and bats
• Replanting is costly and slow
• Planting Gmelina, an exotic fast growing species, can speed reinvasion (only
in areas where native trees were heavily degraded).
• Used a Debt-for-Nature swap to purchase additional heavily degraded lands.
• Negotiated with an adjacent orange plantation to swap pasture for forest
and receive all of the discarded orange peels to use to recover heavily
disturbed lands. “Restoration through compost!”
Interesting concept: “Rewilding”
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Horses (sans tarpans)
Cattle (sans aurochs)
Red deer
56 km² outside Amsterdam
“cute”
The answers are not all
technological. We tend to think
of that first. But for most people
that is not an appropriate or
feasible solution. The Loess
Plateau restoration is an example
of what can be done by humans
with thumbs
http://vimeo.com/19661805