Mary Schoell, Suzanne Ayvazian, Donald Cobb, David Grunden, Marty Chintala, Anna Gerber-Williams, Adam Pimenta, Charles Strobel, Kenneth Rocha
As salt marsh habitats face challenges due to sea level rise, storm events, and coastal development, there is an effort to use nature-based approaches such as living shorelines to enhance salt marshes and provide coastal protection. A living shoreline restoration and seasonal monitoring was conducted between July 2016 and October 2018 at an eroding salt marsh on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Northeastern USA to assess changes in two essential ecosystem services: shoreline stabilization and nitrogen removal. Neither the living shoreline nor unaltered sites demonstrated significant sediment deposition at the marsh edge or on the marsh platform between 2017 and 2018. While we expected nitrogen removal via denitrification to improve at the living shoreline sites over time as abiotic and biotic conditions became more favorable, we found limited support for this hypothesis. We found higher rates of denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) at the living shoreline sites when compared to unaltered sites, but these rates did not increase over time. This study also provides a qualitative assessment of our living shoreline structural integrity through the years, particularly following storm events that greatly challenged our restoration efforts. We demonstrate that living shorelines fortified solely with natural materials may not be the most effective approach to maintain these ecosystem services for Northeastern USA salt marshes exposed to intense northeasterly storms. We suggest the restoration of salt marshes to improve major functions be a priority among managers and restoration practitioners. Initiatives promoting the use of nature-based restoration solution where environmental conditions permit should be encouraged.
{"title":"Exploring the Use of Living Shorelines for Stabilization and Nutrient Mitigation in New England.","authors":"Mary Schoell, Suzanne Ayvazian, Donald Cobb, David Grunden, Marty Chintala, Anna Gerber-Williams, Adam Pimenta, Charles Strobel, Kenneth Rocha","doi":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.84","DOIUrl":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.84","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As salt marsh habitats face challenges due to sea level rise, storm events, and coastal development, there is an effort to use nature-based approaches such as living shorelines to enhance salt marshes and provide coastal protection. A living shoreline restoration and seasonal monitoring was conducted between July 2016 and October 2018 at an eroding salt marsh on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Northeastern USA to assess changes in two essential ecosystem services: shoreline stabilization and nitrogen removal. Neither the living shoreline nor unaltered sites demonstrated significant sediment deposition at the marsh edge or on the marsh platform between 2017 and 2018. While we expected nitrogen removal via denitrification to improve at the living shoreline sites over time as abiotic and biotic conditions became more favorable, we found limited support for this hypothesis. We found higher rates of denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) at the living shoreline sites when compared to unaltered sites, but these rates did not increase over time. This study also provides a qualitative assessment of our living shoreline structural integrity through the years, particularly following storm events that greatly challenged our restoration efforts. We demonstrate that living shorelines fortified solely with natural materials may not be the most effective approach to maintain these ecosystem services for Northeastern USA salt marshes exposed to intense northeasterly storms. We suggest the restoration of salt marshes to improve major functions be a priority among managers and restoration practitioners. Initiatives promoting the use of nature-based restoration solution where environmental conditions permit should be encouraged.</p>","PeriodicalId":11492,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Restoration","volume":"41 1","pages":"84-98"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10659082/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45251183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ABSTRACT Modern fire exclusion in upland oak- and oak-pine-dominated forests has resulted in reduced flammability of surface fuels as a result of the replacement of flammable fuels of oaks and associated vegetation by less flammable fuels produced by mesophytic trees. Some consequences of such “mesophication” include reductions in herb diversity, C4 grasses, and oak regeneration. We tested two hypotheses of the effects of C4 grasses and tree leaf litter on fuel consumption in the field in restored and unrestored oak woodlands: 1) the presence of C4 grasses increases fuel consumption by a late growing-season prescribed fire (“graminification”), and 2) removing tree leaf fuels reduces fuel consumption by a late growing-season fire to a greater extent in areas lacking substantial, slow-to-dry mesophyte tree leaf litter (mesophication reversal). Consistent with graminification, removing C4 grasses in a restored oak woodland reduced fuel consumption, and fuel consumption was greater following tree leaf litter removal in restored woodland plots containing C4 grasses than in areas that had not been restored and that lacked such grasses. Consistent with mesophication reversal, removing tree leaf fuels reduced fuel consumption to a greater extent in areas where tree leaf litter was dominated by pyrophytic oaks than in an untreated area with a significant amount of mesophyte tree leaf litter. We conclude that mesophication can be reversed at early stages of restoration by thinning mesophytic trees and opening the canopy. Increases in C4 grasses (graminification) at late stages of restoration further increase flammability.
{"title":"Graminification and Reversal of Mesophication in a Restored Oak Woodland","authors":"Alicia L. Arrington-Thomas, John Stephen Brewer","doi":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/er.41.2-3.109","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Modern fire exclusion in upland oak- and oak-pine-dominated forests has resulted in reduced flammability of surface fuels as a result of the replacement of flammable fuels of oaks and associated vegetation by less flammable fuels produced by mesophytic trees. Some consequences of such “mesophication” include reductions in herb diversity, C4 grasses, and oak regeneration. We tested two hypotheses of the effects of C4 grasses and tree leaf litter on fuel consumption in the field in restored and unrestored oak woodlands: 1) the presence of C4 grasses increases fuel consumption by a late growing-season prescribed fire (“graminification”), and 2) removing tree leaf fuels reduces fuel consumption by a late growing-season fire to a greater extent in areas lacking substantial, slow-to-dry mesophyte tree leaf litter (mesophication reversal). Consistent with graminification, removing C4 grasses in a restored oak woodland reduced fuel consumption, and fuel consumption was greater following tree leaf litter removal in restored woodland plots containing C4 grasses than in areas that had not been restored and that lacked such grasses. Consistent with mesophication reversal, removing tree leaf fuels reduced fuel consumption to a greater extent in areas where tree leaf litter was dominated by pyrophytic oaks than in an untreated area with a significant amount of mesophyte tree leaf litter. We conclude that mesophication can be reversed at early stages of restoration by thinning mesophytic trees and opening the canopy. Increases in C4 grasses (graminification) at late stages of restoration further increase flammability.","PeriodicalId":11492,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Restoration","volume":"41 1","pages":"109 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48473506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ABSTRACT Abandoned crop fields in central Kansas, USA, are soon colonized by several non-native and native woody species. This study compared subsequent vegetation change in control (unmanipulated) old field successional plots and plots planted with Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak) seedlings following cessation of row crop agriculture. The site, a former corn field, was subject to invasion primarily by Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm), Lonicera tartarica (Amur honeysuckle), and Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar). I established eight 20 m × 32 m plots in April 2007, four as controls and four each containing 40 bur oak seedlings planted 4 m apart. I monitored permanent 4 m × 4 m quadrats (12 quadrats per plot) for 16 years for the presence of naturally establishing herbaceous and woody species. I sampled a total of 94 herbaceous and 27 woody species, with L. maackii, U. pumila, and J. virginiana occurring in 95 to 100% of quadrats by 2022. Total species richness, total woody species richness, native woody species richness, and richness of animal-dispersed woody species were higher in the oak plots than in the controls. Dissimilarity between the treatments steadily increased with time. The results suggest that an enrichment planting of bur oak seedlings at the outset can influence the early successional trajectory of old fields, and indicate that such plantings can drive restorations away from invasive non-native species and toward more desirable native species in later years.
{"title":"Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) Enrichment Plantings Enhance Successional Restoration of an Old Field","authors":"Jon K. Piper","doi":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.99","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/er.41.2-3.99","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Abandoned crop fields in central Kansas, USA, are soon colonized by several non-native and native woody species. This study compared subsequent vegetation change in control (unmanipulated) old field successional plots and plots planted with Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak) seedlings following cessation of row crop agriculture. The site, a former corn field, was subject to invasion primarily by Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm), Lonicera tartarica (Amur honeysuckle), and Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar). I established eight 20 m × 32 m plots in April 2007, four as controls and four each containing 40 bur oak seedlings planted 4 m apart. I monitored permanent 4 m × 4 m quadrats (12 quadrats per plot) for 16 years for the presence of naturally establishing herbaceous and woody species. I sampled a total of 94 herbaceous and 27 woody species, with L. maackii, U. pumila, and J. virginiana occurring in 95 to 100% of quadrats by 2022. Total species richness, total woody species richness, native woody species richness, and richness of animal-dispersed woody species were higher in the oak plots than in the controls. Dissimilarity between the treatments steadily increased with time. The results suggest that an enrichment planting of bur oak seedlings at the outset can influence the early successional trajectory of old fields, and indicate that such plantings can drive restorations away from invasive non-native species and toward more desirable native species in later years.","PeriodicalId":11492,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Restoration","volume":"41 1","pages":"99 - 108"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45614236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Restoration Ecologists Head to the City","authors":"S. Handel","doi":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.63","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/er.41.2-3.63","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11492,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Restoration","volume":"41 1","pages":"63 - 64"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41532762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ABSTRACT Restoration of natural vegetation is affected by many factors. Success in restoration is increasingly linked with knowledge sharing on restoration planning, preparation, implementation, and maintenance. This trend is reflected in the emergence of regional and international databases that collate and store information on restoration projects and allow the extraction of this information by practitioners. Here we describe how workshops with restoration stakeholders and educational institutions identified ways to collate project-specific spatial and non-spatial data on large-scale tropical rainforest restoration projects in Far North Queensland, Australia. We show how this data is stored in a regional knowledge sharing restoration platform that facilitates the planning and improved implementation of future restoration projects, and the identification of site-specific restoration inhibiting and facilitating factors. We provide examples on how the database promotes regional partnerships in conservation and restoration efforts, and how it can be made easily accessible to practitioners and researchers. We demonstrate how the longevity of this database can be ensured by its integration into a curriculum of a tertiary educational institution and by its potential linkage with existing global databases.
{"title":"Documenting Restoration Efforts for Landscape Planning, Monitoring, Research, and Education in the Wet Tropics of Australia","authors":"S. Heise-Pavlov, David Tng","doi":"10.3368/er.41.2-3.119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3368/er.41.2-3.119","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Restoration of natural vegetation is affected by many factors. Success in restoration is increasingly linked with knowledge sharing on restoration planning, preparation, implementation, and maintenance. This trend is reflected in the emergence of regional and international databases that collate and store information on restoration projects and allow the extraction of this information by practitioners. Here we describe how workshops with restoration stakeholders and educational institutions identified ways to collate project-specific spatial and non-spatial data on large-scale tropical rainforest restoration projects in Far North Queensland, Australia. We show how this data is stored in a regional knowledge sharing restoration platform that facilitates the planning and improved implementation of future restoration projects, and the identification of site-specific restoration inhibiting and facilitating factors. We provide examples on how the database promotes regional partnerships in conservation and restoration efforts, and how it can be made easily accessible to practitioners and researchers. We demonstrate how the longevity of this database can be ensured by its integration into a curriculum of a tertiary educational institution and by its potential linkage with existing global databases.","PeriodicalId":11492,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Restoration","volume":"41 1","pages":"119 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43210969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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