1
|
Wojciechowski AA, Blair JM, Collins SL, Baer SG. Heterogeneity promotes resilience in restored prairie: Implications for the environmental heterogeneity hypothesis. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 34:e3006. [PMID: 39030911 DOI: 10.1002/eap.3006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/22/2024]
Abstract
Enhancing resilience in formerly degraded ecosystems is an important goal of restoration ecology. However, evidence for the recovery of resilience and its underlying mechanisms require long-term experiments and comparison with reference ecosystems. We used data from an experimental prairie restoration that featured long-term soil heterogeneity manipulations and data from two long-term experiments located in a comparable remnant (reference) prairie to (1) quantify the recovery of ecosystem functioning (i.e., productivity) relative to remnant prairie, (2) compare the resilience of restored and remnant prairies to a natural drought, and (3) test whether soil heterogeneity enhances resilience of restored prairie. We compared sensitivity and legacy effects between prairie types (remnant and restored) and among four prairie sites that included two remnant prairie sites and prairie restored under homogeneous and heterogeneous soil conditions. We measured sensitivity and resilience as the proportional change in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) during and following drought (sensitivity and legacy effects, respectively) relative to average ANPP based on 4 pre-drought years (2014-2017). In nondrought years, total ANPP was similar between remnant and restored prairie, but remnant prairie had higher grass productivity and lower forb productivity compared with restored prairie. These ANPP patterns generally persisted during drought. The sensitivity of total ANPP to drought was similar between restored and remnant prairie, but grasses in the restored prairie were more sensitive to drought. Post-drought legacy effects were more positive in the restored prairie, and we attributed this to the more positive and less variable legacy response of forb ANPP in the restored prairie, especially in the heterogeneous soil treatment. Our results suggest that productivity recovers in restored prairie and exhibits similar sensitivity to drought as in remnant prairie. Furthermore, creating heterogeneity promotes forb productivity and enhances restored prairie resilience to drought.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ashley A Wojciechowski
- Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - John M Blair
- Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
| | - Scott L Collins
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Sara G Baer
- Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Drenning P, Chowdhury S, Volchko Y, Rosén L, Andersson-Sköld Y, Norrman J. A risk management framework for Gentle Remediation Options (GRO). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 802:149880. [PMID: 34525755 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Gentle Remediation Options (GRO) are remediation measures involving plants, fungi, bacteria, and soil amendments that can be applied to manage risks at contaminated sites. Several studies and decision-support tools promote the wider range of benefits provided by GRO, but there is still skepticism regarding GRO implementation. Key issues that need to be better communicated are the various risk mitigation mechanisms, the required risk reduction for an envisioned land use, and the time perspective associated with the risk mitigation mechanisms. To increase the viability and acceptance of GRO, the phytomanagement approach implies the combination of GRO with beneficial green land use, gradually reducing risks and restoring ecosystem services. To strengthen the decision basis for GRO implementation in practice, this paper proposes a framework for risk management and communication of GRO applications to support phytomanagement strategies at contaminated sites. The mapping of the risk mitigation mechanisms is done by an extensive literature review and the Swedish national soil guideline value model is used to derive the most relevant human health exposure pathways and ecological risks for generic green land use scenarios. Results indicate that most of the expected risk mitigation mechanisms are supported by literature, but that knowledge gaps still exist. The framework is demonstrated to support the identification of GRO options for the case study site given two envisioned land uses: biofuel park and allotment garden. A more easily understandable risk management framework, as proposed here, is expected to act as a communication tool to educate decision-makers, regulatory bodies and other stakeholders for better understanding of risk mitigation mechanisms and preliminary timeframes of various GRO, particularly in the early stages of a brownfield redevelopment project.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul Drenning
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden; Water & Environment West, COWI AB, 414 58 Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Shaswati Chowdhury
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Yevheniya Volchko
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Lars Rosén
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Yvonne Andersson-Sköld
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden; National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, 581 95 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Jenny Norrman
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Stratton AE, Kuhl L, Blesh J. Ecological and Nutritional Functions of Agroecosystems as Indicators of Smallholder Resilience. FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.543914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
|
4
|
Rinot O, Levy GJ, Steinberger Y, Svoray T, Eshel G. Soil health assessment: A critical review of current methodologies and a proposed new approach. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2019; 648:1484-1491. [PMID: 30340293 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2018] [Revised: 08/20/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2018] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The wellbeing of soils is crucial for securing food production worldwide. The soil health (SH) concept has been introduced due to an evolving understanding that soil is not just a growing medium for crops but that it provides a foundation for other essential ecosystem services (ES). The SH concept requires development of a holistic index for reliable and quantitative assessment of soil wellbeing related to the effects of different soil management practices and land uses. The aims of this paper are to: (1) review current approaches and methods to assess SH, (2) highlight the role of soil ES in characterizing soil function and (3) propose a new approach to assess SH via monitoring of ES provided by soils. We introduce a brief critical review of the following three main steps required for assessment of common SH indices: (1) selection of relevant attributes; (2) quantification and scoring approaches; and (3) integration of the selected attributes to construct the SH index. These steps usually include statistical or expert opinion-based approaches. In addition, we present a new approach that highlights the relevance and importance of soil ES, i.e., provisioning, regulating and supporting services that must be quantified for comprehensive assessment of soil functions and for fitting models that relate selected soil attributes to ES. This will allow practitioners and scholars to identify the most significant and universal attributes, quantify the relative contribution of each attribute to each ES, and subsequently assess the overall health of soils.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Oshri Rinot
- Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Israel.
| | - Guy J Levy
- Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Israel
| | - Yosef Steinberger
- The Mina & Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Tal Svoray
- Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
| | - Gil Eshel
- Soil Erosion Research Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Guan Y, Kang R, Liu J. Evolution of the field of ecological restoration over the last three decades: a bibliometric analysis. Restor Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/rec.12899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yingjie Guan
- School of Environment; Harbin Institute of Technology; Harbin 150090 China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering; Southern University of Science and Technology; Shenzhen 518055 China
| | - Ruipeng Kang
- School of Environment; Harbin Institute of Technology; Harbin 150090 China
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering; Southern University of Science and Technology; Shenzhen 518055 China
| | - Junguo Liu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering; Southern University of Science and Technology; Shenzhen 518055 China
- State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Surface Water-Groundwater Pollution Control; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology; Shenzhen 518055 China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Stockdale EA, Griffiths BS, Hargreaves PR, Bhogal A, Crotty FV, Watson CA. Conceptual framework underpinning management of soil health—supporting site‐specific delivery of sustainable agro‐ecosystems. Food Energy Secur 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/fes3.158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Anne Bhogal
- ADAS Gleadthorpe Meden Vale, Mansfield Notts UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Ludwig M, Wilmes P, Schrader S. Measuring soil sustainability via soil resilience. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 626:1484-1493. [PMID: 29054651 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.10.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Revised: 10/05/2017] [Accepted: 10/06/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Soils are the nexus of water, energy and food, which illustrates the need for a holistic approach in sustainable soil management. The present study therefore aimed at identifying a bioindicator for the evaluation of soil management sustainability in a cross-disciplinary approach between soil science and multi-omics research. For this purpose we first discuss the remaining problems and challenges of evaluating sustainability and consequently suggest one measurable bioindicator for soil management sustainability. In this concept, we define soil sustainability as the maintenance of soil functional integrity. The potential to recover functional and structural integrity after a disturbance is generally defined as resilience. This potential is a product of the past and the present soil management, and at the same time prospect of possible soil responses to future disturbances. Additionally, it is correlated with the multiple soil functions and hence reflecting the multifunctionality of the soil system. Consequently, resilience can serve as a bioindicator for soil sustainability. The measurable part of soil resilience is the response diversity, calculated from the systematic contrasting of multi-omic markers for genetic potential and functional activity, and referred to as potential Maximum Ecological Performance (MEPpot) in this study. Calculating MEPpot will allow to determine the thresholds of resistance and resilience and potential tipping points for a regime shift towards irreversible or permanent unfavorable soil states for each individual soil considered. The calculation of such ecosystem thresholds is to our opinion the current global cross-disciplinary challenge.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marie Ludwig
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Intitute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute of Biodiversity, Bundesallee 50, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany.
| | - Paul Wilmes
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
| | - Stefan Schrader
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Intitute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute of Biodiversity, Bundesallee 50, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Cumming GS, Allen CR. Protected areas as social-ecological systems: perspectives from resilience and social-ecological systems theory. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2017; 27:1709-1717. [PMID: 28618079 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2016] [Revised: 04/27/2017] [Accepted: 05/16/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Conservation biology and applied ecology increasingly recognize that natural resource management is both an outcome and a driver of social, economic, and ecological dynamics. Protected areas offer a fundamental approach to conserving ecosystems, but they are also social-ecological systems whose ecological management and sustainability are heavily influenced by people. This editorial, and the papers in the invited feature that it introduces, discuss three emerging themes in social-ecological systems approaches to understanding protected areas: (1) the resilience and sustainability of protected areas, including analyses of their internal dynamics, their effectiveness, and the resilience of the landscapes within which they occur; (2) the relevance of spatial context and scale for protected areas, including such factors as geographic connectivity, context, exchanges between protected areas and their surrounding landscapes, and scale dependency in the provision of ecosystem services; and (3) efforts to reframe what protected areas are and how they both define and are defined by the relationships of people and nature. These emerging themes have the potential to transform management and policy approaches for protected areas and have important implications for conservation, in both theory and practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Graeme S Cumming
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia
- Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa
| | - Craig R Allen
- U.S. Geological Survey, Nebraska Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68583, USA
| |
Collapse
|