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Ecological restoration across the Mediterranean Basin as viewed by practitioners

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Title Ecological restoration across the Mediterranean Basin as viewed by practitioners
 
Creator Nunes, Alice
 
Contributor Oliveira, Graca
Mexia, Teresa
Valdecantos, Alejandro
Zucca, Claudio
Costantini, Edoardo
Abraham, Eleni M.
Kyriazopoulos, Apostolos P.
Salah, Ayman
Prasse, Rüdiger
Correia, Otília
Milliken, Sarah
Kotzenj, Benz
Branquinho, Cristina
 
Subject ecological restoration practice index
restoration success
survey
 
Description Restoration efforts in the Mediterranean Basin have been changing from a silvicultural to an ecological restoration
approach. Yet, to what extent the projects are guided by ecological restoration principles remains largely
unknown. To analyse this issue, we built an on-line survey addressed to restoration practitioners. We analysed 36 restoration projects, mostly from drylands (86%). The projects used mainly soil from local
sources. The need to comply with legislation was more important as a restoration motive for European Union
(EU) than for non-EU countries, while public opinion and health had a greater importance in the latter. Non-
EU countries relied more on non-native plant species than EU countries, thus deviating from ecological restoration
guidelines. Nursery-grown plants used weremostly of local or regional provenance,whilst seedsweremostly
of national provenance. Unexpected restoration results (e.g. inadequate biodiversity)were reported for 50% of
the projects and restoration success was never evaluated in 22%. Long termevaluation (N6 years) was only performed
in 31% of cases, and based primarily on plant diversity and cover. The use of non-native species and species
of exogenous provenances may: i) entail the loss of local genetic and functional trait diversity, critical to cope
with drought, particularly under the predicted climate change scenarios, and ii) lead to unexpected competition
with native species and/or negatively impact local biotic interactions. Absent or inappropriate monitoring may
prevent the understanding of restoration trajectories, precluding adaptive management strategies, often crucial
to create functional ecosystems able to provide ecosystem services. The overview of ecological restoration projects
in theMediterranean Basin revealed high variability among practices and highlighted the need for improved
scientific assistance and information exchange, greater use of native species of local provenance, and more longterm
monitoring and evaluation, including functional and ecosystemservices' indicators, to improve and spread
the practice of ecological restoration.
 
Date 2017-02-18T15:20:56Z
2017-02-18T15:20:56Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971631066X
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303599230_Ecological_restoration_across_the_Mediterranean_Basin_as_viewed_by_practitioners
https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/downloadmelspace/hash/YGhLUguN/v/553d2d8539bbb8aaf1983b722ad0b7ad
Alice Nunes, Graca Oliveira, Teresa Mexia, Alejandro Valdecantos, Claudio Zucca, Edoardo Costantini, Eleni M. Abraham, Apostolos P. Kyriazopoulos, Ayman Salah, Rüdiger Prasse, Otília Correia, Sarah Milliken, Benz Kotzenj, Cristina Branquinho. (1/10/2016). Ecological restoration across the Mediterranean Basin as viewed by practitioners. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567, pp. 722-732.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/5765
Open access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Source Science of the Total Environment;566-567,(2016) Pagination 722-732