Abstracts

Climate Change

Soil Functional Responses to Natural Ecosystem Restoration of a Pine Forest Peucedano pinetum After a Fire. 2020. Hewelke, E. (Water Centre WULS, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, Warsaw, Poland, [email protected]), E.B. Górska, D. Gozdowski, M. Korc, I. Olejniczak and A. Prędecka. Forests 11:286. doi:10.3390/f11030286

As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of droughts, fire frequency is also expected to increase, threatening mature forest ecosystems. Fire impacts physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil, in turn altering abundance, biomass, activity, and diversity of soil bacteria and fungi. Soil water repellency (SWR) is a critical factor influencing water filtration through forest soils, affecting biota. The authors assessed community assembly and structure of soil microorganisms in a pine forest regeneration 28 months post-fire. They compared plots experiencing weak and severe fires compared to control plots in Poland’s Kampinos National Park. Weak fires elevated SWR up to 20cm soil depth whereas severe fires induced growth of early successional nonwoody species that reduced SWR. SWR had greater influence over microbial communities than any other physical or chemical changes produced by fire. As climate change continues to natural disturbance regimes, assessing the effects of these changes will be critical to mitigating its effects on biodiversity.

Coastal and Marine Communities

Positive Ecological Interactions and the Success of Seagrass Restoration. 2020. Valdez S.R. (Division of Marine Science, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, [email protected]), Y.S. Zhang, T. van der Heide, M.A. Vanderklift, F. Tarquinio, R.J. Orth and B.R. Silliman. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:91. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00091

Seagrasses are important components of marine communities. They provide habitat for many organisms of commercial and ecological importance, sequester carbon and stabilize sediments among many other functions. Human activities have directly and indirectly caused seagrass declines leading to increased interest in understanding seagrass community dynamics, in the hope of restoring them. Valdez and colleagues reviewed the literature on positive interspecific interactions documented in seagrass communities (e.g., positive density dependence, mutualisms and symbiosis, trophic facilitation, etc.) in order to identify their potential to contribute to restoration projects. Their analysis suggests that including these interactions in restoration projects will increase their success, however they must complement traditional approaches.

Sexual Production of Corals for Reef Restoration in the Anthropocene. 2020. CJ. Randall (Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, Queensland, AUS, [email protected]), A.P. Negri, K.M. Quigley, T. Foster, G.F. Ricardo, N.S. Webster, L.K. Bay, P.L. Harrison, R.C. Babcock and A.J. Heyward. Marine Ecology Progress Series 635: 203–232. doi: 10.3354/meps13206

The loss of tropical scleractinian (stony) corals has increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Efforts to restore them have increased but have mainly relied on asexual propagation. However, using sexual propagules could increase the success of restoration efforts by increasing genetic diversity in the restored populations. Randall and colleagues review the state of knowledge regarding sexual reproduction in scleractinian corals. Among other important factors, they suggest coral restoration success could be achieved by approaches that integrate different life history stages of sexually reproduced individuals, consider the ecology of the target site, and consider the introduction of previously adapted individuals

Kelp Forest Restoration in Australia. 2020. C. Layton (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, AUS, cayne.layton@utas. edu.au), M.A. Coleman, E.M. Marzinelli, P.D. Steinberg, S.E. Swearer, A. Vergés, T. Wernberg and C.R. Johnson. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:74 doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00074

Kelps are key components of most intertidal communities: they dominate biomass and provide refugia for many associated species. Some kelp species have high economic value and support economically valuable fisheries. Recently many locations, particularly in Australia, have registered declines in kelp populations. In response, scientists have applied multiple techniques to restore them. In this study, Clayton and colleagues review efforts to restore kelp populations and propose a method to inform decision-making along the restoration process. Their novel approach includes several pathways and endpoints of restoration. This approach represents the complexity of the kelp ecosystem but also provides many specific alternatives for restorationists, while acknowledging that kelp restoration may not be possible at certain scales or under particular circumstances. This workflow highlights the importance of research at every step of the restoration process.

Ecological Design

Building Façade-Level Correlates of Bird–Window Collisions in a Small Urban Area. 2019. Riding, C.S. (Oklahoma State University, Department of Natural Resource Ecology & Management, Stillwater, Oklahoma, [email protected]), T.J. O’Connell and S.R. Loss. The Condor 122:1–14. doi: 10.1093/condor/duz065

In urban settings, birds are highly vulnerable to mortality by building collision, with window-strikes killing 365 to 988 million birds per year in the United States. Most studies have focused on total mortality and have not considered seasonality and species-specificity. Riding et al. assessed bird collisions at sixteen urban Oklahoma buildings in different seasons at the scale of individual buildings, for eight collision-prone species. Façade height, length and proportional glass coverage were positively correlated with increased collisions. Alcove-shaped façades were associated with greater risk and collisions varied between seasons and among species. Efforts to reduce collision fatalities should focus on minimizing glass surfaces on new buildings or treating glass to make it more visible to birds. These efforts must consider the needs of individual species and integrate risks across seasons.

Economics and Ecosystem Services

Reinforcement of Vegetated and Unvegetated Dunes by a Rocky Core: A Viable Alternative for Dissipating Waves and Providing Protection? 2020. Odériz, I., N. Knöchelmann, R. Silva (Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, [email protected]), R.A. Feagin, M.L. Martínez and E. Mendoza. Coastal Engineering 158:103675. doi: 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2020.103675

Coastal dune systems offer various ecosystem services such as wave and flooding buffers but sea level rise, increasing storm intensity, and shoreline mismanagement are rapidly degrading these systems. Restoration often involves large volumes of sand, making many projects costly or infeasible. Dune vegetation and the installation of internal rocky reinforcements have recently emerged as potential erosion control methods. The authors used a simulated dune ecosystem to examine wave dissipation and erosion under different vegetation planting distributions and with and without an inner rock structure. Vegetation planted on the front of the dune deflected more wave energy, prevented more overwash, and reduced erosion more than leeside vegetation, particularly in the initial stages of a storm. Rocky structures were better at preventing overwash and overall dune destruction, especially in late stages of a storm. These techniques used in conjunction can maximize dune protection under increasingly intense storms brought about by climate change.

Grasslands

Resiliency of Native Prairies to Invasion by Kentucky Bluegrass, Smooth Brome, and Woody Vegetation. 2020. Grant, T.A. (US Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region One, Portland, OR, [email protected]), T.L. Shaffer and B. Flanders. Rangeland Ecology & Management 73:321–328. doi: 10.1016/j.rama.2019.10.013

North America’s Great Plains ecosystem is one of the most degraded but least protected biomes and has experienced declines of up to 95%. Though agriculture is the major driver of prairie destruction, invasive plants, particularly Bromus inermis (smooth brome) and Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) also play a role in further damaging remnant prairie ecosystems. Grant et al. examined plant communities in 90,000 ha of US Fish and Wildlife Service mixed and tall-grass prairies to identify key factors associated with native versus invasive assemblages. Increased distance from edge, poor soil quality, steeper slopes and southern and western exposure were more strongly associated with increased native plant frequency. Patterns and characteristics associated with invasion were more difficult to identify, indicating significant management challenges in remnant prairies. Understanding invasion patterns is essential to successful restoration of these severely threatened systems.

A Comparison of Adult Butterfly Communities on Remnant and Planted Prairies in Northeast Iowa. 2019. Stivers, E.K., J.T. Wittman and K.J. Larsen (Department of Biology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, [email protected]). The Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 73:268–274. doi: 10.18473/lepi.73i4.a2

Tallgrass prairies, once abundant in the American Midwest, are one of North America’s most endangered ecosystems, causing biodiversity loss not just from direct habitat destruction but from isolation as well. Prairie-specialist insects are under particular threat as they often lack the ability to disperse between isolated fragments. Without insects, prairies lose flowering plants due to pollination reduction and birds due to food resource reduction. Butterflies in particular have suffered from prairie loss and restorationists have attempted to combat losses by reconstructing degraded plant communities. To determine functionality of restored habitats, the authors compared butterfly abundance and diversity as well as floral resource availability, richness, and cover in four remnant and four restored prairies in northeast Iowa. Restored prairies contained significantly more floral resources but did not differ in plant richness from remnants. Butterfly abundance was equal between habitat types but remnants had greater species richness. Determining functionality of restored habitats is essential to developing effective adaptive management plans and informing conservation decision making.

Invasive and Pest Species

Direct Evidence of Native Ant Displacement by the Argentine Ant in Island Ecosystems. 2020. Naughton I., C. Boser, N.D. Tsutsui and D.A. Holway (Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, [email protected]). Biological Invasions 22:681–691. doi: 10.1007/s10530-019-02121-7

Ants populations are commonly used to assess ecosystem responses to environmental change. Linepithema humile (Argentine ants) are a widespread and frequently-studied invasive that have been shown to reduce native ant diversity. Most studies focus on comparing invaded and non-invaded sites and do not show that L. humile directly drives native reductions. Naughton et al. used long-term data from L. humile eradication programs in California’s Channel Islands to assess changes in native ant assemblages pre- and post-invasion. At each of four sites, the arrival of the invasive coincided with rapid and large declines in richness and changes in native species composition. Communities may recover, but long-term studies are necessary to assess effective restoration techniques to halt biodiversity losses driven by this invader.

Assessing Biological Invasions in Protected Areas After 30 Years: Revisiting Nature Reserves Targeted by the 1980s SCOPE Programme. 2020. Shackleton, R.T. (Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, [email protected]), L.C. Foxcroft, P. Pyšek, L.E. Wood and D.M. Richardson. Biological Invasions 243:108424. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108424

Biological invasions are major drivers of anthropogenically induced change worldwide. In the 1980s, the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) published a collection of research evaluating invasions in arid, island, Mediterranean, and savanna ecosystems. This collection focused on three questions: what makes some species invasive; what makes ecosystems resistant or prone to invasion; and what management actions should be developed for control? Shackleton et al. revisited these questions for the same twenty one areas assessed in the initial study to determine how both invasion and management has changed in the last 30 years. Invasive plants continue to pose the greatest threat to native biodiversity and have increased in 31% of the original study areas, while mammal invasions have decreased due to effective management. Other taxa such as amphibians, fish, and reptiles have remained stable, with half of the original study areas showing no change. Land managers consider invasion to be an increasing threat despite management programs. The authors call for improved monitoring and data management as well as increasing invasion prevention as major arenas for combatting the continued threat of invasion in native ecosystems.

Lakes, Rivers and Streams

Prioritizing Riparian Corridors for Ecosystem Restoration in Urbanizing Watersheds. 2020. Atkinson, S.F. (Advanced Environmental Research Institute, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, [email protected]) and M.C. Lake. PeerJ 8:e8174. doi: 0.7717/peerj.8174

Riparian corridors influence water quality, wildlife habitat, flood control, erosion control, pollutant filtration, and various other ecosystem services and ecological functions. Global urbanization has rapidly fragmented and degraded riparian ecosystems leading to efforts to restore damaged riparian areas and protect remaining high-quality areas. Determining which management strategy to undertake is often assessed by focusing on a single ecosystem service such as water quality and focusing management on that service. The authors have developed models indicating that in urbanizing areas restoration focus is often a critical strategy to improve riparian ecosystem services. Developing effective assessment and management tools is critical to maintaining riparian ecosystems and mitigating the effects of urbanization on these systems.

General Trends in Freshwater Ecological Restoration Practice in China Over the Past Two Decades: The Driving Factors and the Evaluation of Restoration Outcome. 2020. Wu, J., Y. Dai and Shuiping Cheng (Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, China). Environmental Sciences Europe 32. doi: 10.1186/s12302-020-00335-4

Restoration of freshwater ecosystems has been increasing in China’s degraded waterways but few studies assess long term outcomes of such projects. Wu et al. surveyed 198 freshwater restoration papers published from 1997 to 2017 to investigate restoration outcomes. Economic development is a major driver of the need for restoration and almost half of the studies focused on lakes. Over one quarter of studies indicated that eutrophication due to land reclamation is a major problem facing freshwater systems. Biodiversity increase, water quality improvement and ecosystem services were the key goals of restoration efforts. Revegetation is the main approach to achieving these targets. Eighty-six percent of studies indicated positive outcomes for water quality and 79% for biodiversity improvement. Benthic organisms and macrophytes were the main organisms monitored for outcomes.

Monitoring and Adaptive Management

The Potential for Biological Control on Cryptic Plant Invasions. 2020. Canavan, K. (Centre for Biological Control, Department Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, [email protected]), S. Canavan, N.E. Harms, C. Lambertini, I.D. Paterson and R. Thum. Biological Control 144: 104243. doi: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2020.104243

Cryptic invasions can take the form of interspecific invasions (invader is extremely morphologically similar to a native) or intraspecific invasions (non-native genotypes invade an area where the species is already present). These forms of invasion are poorly represented in the literature likely due to the difficulty of studying them and are probably more widespread than documented. This review paper examines the potential of biological control for managing cryptic invasions as well as methods for detecting studying and controlling them. Canavan et al. also address challenges with the use of biological control for cryptic invasions but ultimately conclude that with careful management, this can be an effective technique for controlling them.

A Checklist of Attributes for Effective Monitoring of Threatened Species and Threatened Ecosystems. 2020. Lindenmayer, D. (Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, [email protected]), J. Woinarski, S. Legge, D. Southwell, T. Lavery, N. Robinson, B. Scheele and B. Wintle. Journal of Environmental Management 262:110312. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110312

Monitoring programs are essential for understanding and managing threatened species and ecosystems but monitoring presents challenges owing to population fluctuations, low densities, difficulty of detection, and the prioritization of management. Additionally, with a common allocation being a mere 10% of budget allotted toward monitoring, where these programs are implemented, quality is often lacking. Lindenmayer et al. identified four themes for implementing effective monitoring programs: program design, governance and structure, data management, and sufficient funding with legislative support. Efficient program design necessitates appropriate setting and measurements and consistent methodology. Effective governance and structure require producing management-relevant results that are accepted by stakeholders. Successful data management analysis and reporting are critical and dependent on sufficient funding, which dovetails with the fourth theme. The authors highlight Australian case studies to assess their checklist and developed a conceptual model for implementation of their monitoring framework.

Planning and Policy

Application of Landscape Approach Principles Motivates Forest Fringe Farmers to Reforest Ghana’s Degraded Reserves. 2020. Acheampong, E.O (College of Science and Engineering, Division of Tropical Environments and Societies, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, AUS, [email protected]), J. Sayer, C. Macgregor and S. Sloan. Forests 11: 411. doi:10.3390/f11040411

Usage terms of Ghana’s forests vary from reserve to reserve. In many forest reserves, citizens have legal operational farms along reserve edges, but illegal farming operations exist as well. Controlling encroachment from these fringe communities has been difficult and has necessitated restoration. Loss of forest from farming represents a sustainable trade-off in reducing poverty and food insecurity while protecting forests. Restorationists in Ghana’s Ongwam II Forest Reserve applied the principles of the landscape approach framework to involve farmers in rehabilitating the reserve in which they live. The main principles applied were planting trees on ten degraded hectares as well as implementing shade-cultivation of food. These principles aided in restoration of natural areas while also improving farmers’ lives, uniting the goals of sustainable development by integrating the diverse interests of stakeholders.

Propagation and Introduction

Green gravel: A novel Restoration Tool to Combat Kelp Forest Decline. 2020. Fredriksen, S. (Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway, [email protected]), K. Filbee-Dexter, K.M. Norderhaug, H. Steen, T. Bodvin, M.A. Coleman, F. Moy and T. Wernberg. Scientific Reports 10:3983. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60553-x

Kelp forests support biodiversity as well as providing ecosystem services such as shoreline protection, carbon sequestration, and fisheries. Kelp forests are experiencing global decline due to urchin invasion, ocean warming, and other anthropogenic destruction. Most restoration efforts have focused on predator protection, marine reserve establishment, and urchin removal. Seeding and artificial forest creation have also been used with moderate to limited success. Here, Fredriksen et al. introduce the technique of “green gravel,” small rocks seeded with kelp in the lab and subsequently out-planted via various methods (dropped from surface, placed on the sea floor in trays, placed directly on the sea floor). Kelp propagules introduced via green gravel maintained high survival over the nine-month experimental period across all out-planting methods. This technique is cost-effective, does not require skilled labor to implement, can be easily upscaled for larger restoration efforts, and can be an excellent vehicle for increasing genetic diversity in restored kelp forests.

Reclamation, Rehabilitation and Remediation

Early Growth and Survival of Shrub Willow on Newly Reclaimed Mine Soil. 2020. Caterino, B., J.L. Schuler, S.T. Grushecky (Energy Land Management, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, [email protected]) and J. Skousen. New Forests doi: 10.1007/s11056-020-09776-4

Short rotation woody crops (SRWCs) are beneficial for supplying bio-energy as they produce large quantities of biomass with low input requirements and minimal management, reducing costs and carbon emissions associated with annual crops. In central Appalachia, Salix sp. (shrub willows) are ideal candidates for mine reclamation sites, enabling rapid meeting of revegetation goals while offering economic opportunities for these areas. Caterino et al. assessed various Salix establishment scenarios aimed to overcome common mine soil-associated problems such as reduced nutrient availability and increased rock fragment content. They compared three willow clones and horizontal versus vertical planting techniques. One clone, Preble, significantly outperformed the others and vertically-planted cuttings outperformed horizontal in both survival and growth. The use of Salix offers great potential to reclaim mine soils and this study contributes to the establishment of best management practices for this technique.

A Resilient System: North American Mixed-Grass Prairie Responds Rapidly to Livestock Exclusion. 2020. Fischer, S., D.C. Henderson and N. Koper (Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, [email protected]). Biological Conservation: 243:108453. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108453

Mixed-grass prairie have experienced significant degradation due to agriculture, livestock grazing, native ungulate loss, and fire suppression, all of which has led to songbird declines. Strategic management of livestock grazing combined with rangeland resting can be used to re-create vegetation structure that mimics habitat heterogeneity created by native bison herds. However, such strategies are inconvenient for large ranching operations. Fischer et al. conducted a large-scale grazing experiment between 2006 and 2014 in Grasslands National Park, Canada to assess the effects of rangeland resting on vegetation and songbird abundance based on prior livestock stocking rates. Even at high stocking rates, grazing-induced damage was reversible and vegetation and songbirds returned to pre-grazing levels within three years. Such techniques provide opportunities for prairie restoration that still allows for livestock grazing.

Species at Risk

Grassland Disturbance Effects on First-Instar Monarch Butterfly Survival, Floral Resources, and Flower-Visiting Insects. 2020. Haan, N.L. (Michigan State University Center for Integrated Plant Systems, East Lansing, MI, [email protected]) and D.A. Landis. Biological Conservation 243:108492. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108492

Danaus plexippus (monarch), like many other butterflies, depend on disturbance to maintain the early-successional habitats essential to their life cycle. After disturbances, the Asclepias sp. (milkweed) species that D. plexippus depend on produce new growth that is particularly attractive for oviposition. Haan et al. tested whether survival of larvae increased on regenerated Asclepias stems, spore densities of a common D. plexippus parasite on leaves and the effects of mowing on floral resource and flower-visiting arthropod abundance. Regenerating Asclepias stems increased first-instar larval survival by up to two and half times. Although disturbance reduced floral resource and flower visiting arthropod abundance for a few weeks, some species bloomed later in the season, extending bloom period. Parasites were not detected in the study. Disturbance as a management strategy for improving D. plexippus larval survival may be an effective technique to increase monarch populations.

Biological Diversity in Protected Areas: Not Yet Known but Already Threatened. 2020. Eduardo Rico-Sánchez, A.E., A. Sundermann, E. López-López, M.J. Torres-Olvera, S.A. Mueller and P.J. Haubrock (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Gelnhausen, Germany, Phillip.Haubrock{at}senckenberg.de). Global Ecology and Conservation 22:e01006. doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01006

The establishment of protected areas to prevent extinction is a frequently-used conservation tool. With difficulties in estimating total numbers of species on earth, determining true current rates of extinction in order to implement appropriate conservation measures is challenging but protecting biodiversity remains of critical importance. Mexico’s Sierra Gorda Biodiversity Reserve (SGBR) is a protected biodiversity hotspot, however extinction risk remains unknown for several understudied taxa. One such group is the aquatic biota which are known to be under anthropogenic stress. Via field sampling and literature review, the authors examined invasive species threat to aquatic taxa in SGBR and determined the presence of several invasives, including predatory fish and pathogen-vectoring molluscs. Studies such as this highlight the critical need for describing as many native species as possible and monitoring, preventing, and controlling invasives to combat biodiversity declines.

Technology and Tools

Remote Sensing of Live and Dead Intertidal Oyster Reefs Using Aerial Photo Interpretation in Northeast Florida. 2020. Garvis, S., M. Donnelly (Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, [email protected]), E. Hernandez, L. Walters, J. Weishampel and R. Brockmeyer. Journal of Coastal Conservation 24:14. doi: 10.1007/s11852-020-00728-w

Crassostrea virginica (eastern oyster) is both a keystone species and ecosystem engineer, providing benefits such as biodiversity maintenance, water filtration, wave energy absorption, and shoreline stabilization. Loss of oyster reefs along the east coast of the U.S. has been severe, prompting various monitoring and restoration efforts. Garvis et al. used ArcGIS to map intertidal oyster reefs along the northeast Florida coast using existing aerial photography to identify reef signatures. Their technique achieved 97% accuracy agreement, representing the first fine-scale reef map for the region with nearly 18,000 individual reefs identified over 651.86 ha. This method is a low-cost alternative to drone or field-based mapping that has many monitoring and restoration applications.

A New Remote-Sensing-Based Indicator for Integrating Quantity and Quality Attributes to Assess the Dynamics of Ecosystem Assets. 2020. Huang, B., R. Li (State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, rnli@rcees. ac.cn) Z. Ding, P. O’Connor, L. Kong, Y. Xiao, W. Xu, Y. Guo, Y. Yang, R. Li, Z. Ouyang and X. Wang. Global Ecology and Conservation 22:e00999. doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e00999

Remote sensing and field surveys are the most common methods of assessing the state of ecosystem services and evaluating changes to these areas. Field surveys of large areas are difficult and costly, so remote sensing may offer a better alternative. The authors developed a remote sensing-based indicator scale integrating ecosystem service quality and quantity that can be used at a regional scale. They tested their indicator in China’s Three-Rivers Source Region. Their model revealed that over a 15-year period, ecosystem area and quality improved, driven mainly by conservation and restoration efforts in the area. The indicator method presented here may provide a fast and accurate method of evaluating ecosystem trends and guiding management decisions.

Urban Restoration

Gravity Model Toolbox: An Automated and Open-Source ArcGIS Tool to Build and Prioritize Ecological Corridors in Urban Landscapes. 2020. Wanghe, K., X. Guo, M. Wang, H. Zhuang, S. Ahmad, T.U. Khan, Y. Xiao, X. Luan and K. Li (School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China, [email protected]). Global Ecology and Conservation 22:e01012. doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01012

Linking isolated habitat patches in urban areas via corridors is a strategy to combat fragmentation caused by development. However, the spatial layout of corridor networks may be limited by reduced resources in urban areas as well as competing priorities of buildings versus habitat. Wanghe et al. used the open-source ArcGis tool, the Gravity Model toolbox, to map potential corridors and generate a spatially explicit map for urban green spaces and prioritize corridors using Beijing’s Tongzhou District as a case study. This tool is a novel method for prioritizing urban corridors which are an important conservation strategy for maintaining biodiversity in an increasingly fragmented world.

Wetlands

Individual and Demographic Responses of a Marsh Bird Assemblage to Habitat Loss and Subsequent Restoration. 2020. Moreno-Opo, R. (Monticola Ornithological Group, University Autónoma of Madrid, [email protected]). Avian Research 11:4. doi:10.1186/s40657-020-00190-0

Habitat loss and degradation are driving worldwide biodiversity declines. Many studies of the effects of declines on wildlife are comparisons of before and after degradation with few considering the recovery patterns of wildlife during the restoration process. Moreno-Opo examined the effects of restoration on a wetland reed habitat on marsh bird assemblages in Madrid’s Las Minas bird banding station. Between 1995 and 2009 anthropogenic disturbance altered the habitat which was subsequently restored. Bird relative abundances and richness decreased at the time of perturbation but recovered post-restoration, with the pattern clearest among marsh-specialist species. Studies tracking population recovery before, during, and after disturbance and restoration are rare but essential to optimizing restoration and management for community assemblages.

Woodlands

Modeling the Historical Distribution of American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) for Potential Restoration in Western New York State, US. 2020. Tulowiecki, S.J. (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY, [email protected]). Forest Ecology and Management 462:118003. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118003

Castanea dentata (American chestnut) was rendered functionally extinct in the early 1900s by the invasive chestnut blight fungus. The American Chestnut Foundation has been attempting to breed blight-resistant strains while ecologists are examining the ecosystem impacts of restoring this once-abundant tree. C. dentata once occupied approximately 27,617 km² in New York State. Tulowiecki aimed to model the historical range to assess optimal reintroduction areas using original land survey records and species distribution models. Between 27.9 and 49.7% of the study area was determined to be suitable C. dentata habitat but only 8.0–11.5% of this area was on protected land, potentially necessitating cooperation between private landowners and government agencies. The most important predictors of suitable habitat were soil pH and slope. This study indicates that successful restoration of C. dentata may face complex management issues given that limited suitable habitat is available for replanting without private stakeholder support.

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Junco. Forbush W.H. 1907. Useful Birds and Their Protection. Boston, MA: Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. The Florida Center for Instructional Technology, fcit.usf.edu.