Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil

Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.

     

Biotic systems to mitigate landfill methane emissions.

Landfill gases produced during biological degradation of buried organic wastes include methane, which when released to the atmosphere, can contribute to global climate change. Increasing use of gas collection systems has reduced the risk of escaping methane emissions entering the atmosphere, but gas capture is not 100% efficient, and further, there are still many instances when gas collection systems are not used. Biotic methane mitigation systems exploit the propensity of some naturally occurring bacteria to oxidize methane. By providing optimum conditions for microbial habitation and efficiently routing landfill gases to where they are cultivated, a number of bio-based systems, such as interim or long-term biocovers, passively or actively vented biofilters, biowindows and daily-used biotarps, have been developed that can alone, or with gas collection, mitigate landfill methane emissions. This paper reviews the science that guides bio-based designs; summarizes experiences with the diverse natural or engineered substrates used in such systems; describes some of the studies and field trials being used to evaluate them; and discusses how they can be used for better landfill operation, capping, and aftercare.     

Chemically mediated competition between microbes and animals: microbes as consumers in food webs

Microbes are known to affect ecosystems and communities as decomposers, pathogens, and mutualists. However, they also may function as classic consumers and competitors with animals if they chemically deter larger consumers from using rich food-falls such as carrion, fruits, and seeds that can represent critical windfalls to both microbes and animals. Microbes often use chemicals (i.e., antibiotics) to compete against other microbes. Thus using chemicals against larger competitors might be expected and could redirect significant energy subsidies from upper trophic levels to the detrital pathway. When we baited traps in a coastal marine ecosystem with fresh vs. microbe-laden fish carrion, fresh carrion attracted 2.6 times as many animals per trap as microbe-laden carrion. This resulted from fresh carrion being found more frequently and from attracting more animals when found. Microbe-laden carrion was four times more likely to be uncolonized by large consumers than was fresh carrion. In the lab, the most common animal found in our traps (the stone crab Menippe mercenaria) ate fresh carrion 2.4 times more frequently than microbe-laden carrion. Bacteria-removal experiments and feeding bioassays using organic extracts of microbe-laden carrion showed that bacteria produced noxious chemicals that deterred animal consumers. Thus bacteria compete with large animal scavengers by rendering carcasses chemically repugnant. Because food-fall resources such as carrion are major food subsidies in many ecosystems, chemically mediated competition between microbes and animals could be an important, common, but underappreciated interaction within many communities.     

Chemical and biological characterization of non-extractable sulfonamide residues in soil

For sulfonamides, the formation of non-extractable residues has been identified by laboratory testing as the most relevant concentration determining process in manured soil. Therefore, the present study has been focused on the chemical and biological characterization of non-extractable residues of ¹⁴C-labeled sulfadiazine or sulfamethoxazole. In laboratory batch experiments, the test substances were spiked via standard solution or test slurry to microbially active soil samples. After incubation periods of up to 102 d, a sequential extraction technique was applied. Despite the exhaustive extraction procedure, sulfadiazine residues mainly remained non-extractable, indicating the high affinity to the soil matrix. The remobilization of non-extractable ¹⁴C-sulfadiazine residues was monitored in the activated sludge test and the Brassica rapa test. Only small amounts (<3%) were transferred into the extractable fractions and 0.1% was taken up by the plants. In the Lumbricus terrestris test A, the release of non-extractable ¹⁴C-sulfamethoxazole residues by the burrowing activity of the earthworms was investigated. The residues mainly remained non-extractable (96%). The L. terrestris test B was designed to study the immobilization of ¹⁴C-sulfamethoxazole in soil directly after the test slurry application. The mean uptake by earthworms was 1%. Extractable and non-extractable residues amounted to 5% and 93%, respectively. Consequently, the results of all tests confirmed the high affinity of the non-extractable sulfonamide residues to the soil matrix.     

Improving ozonation to remove carbamazepine through ozone-assisted catalysis using different NiO concentrations

The carbamazepine (CBZ) abatement is herein evaluated using catalytic ozonation at different NiO concentrations as catalyst: 100, 300, and 500 mg      

Urban wild meat consumption and trade in central Amazonia

The switch from hunting wild meat for home consumption to supplying more lucrative city markets in Amazonia can adversely affect some game species. Despite this, information on the amounts of wild meat eaten in Amazonian cities is still limited. We estimated wild meat consumption rates in 5 cities in the State of Amazonas in Brazil through 1046 door-to-door household interviews conducted from 2004 to 2012. With these data, we modeled the relationship between wild meat use and a selection of socioeconomic indices. We then scaled up our model to determine the amounts of wild meat likely to be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers in central Amazonia. A total of 80.3% of all interviewees reported consuming wild meat during an average of 29.3 (CI 11.6) days per year. Most wild meat was reported as bought in local markets (80.1%) or hunted by a family member (14.9%). Twenty-one taxa were cited as consumed, mostly mammals (71.6%), followed by reptiles (23.2%) and then birds (5.2%). The declared frequency of wild meat consumption was positively correlated with the proportion of rural population as well as with the per capita gross domestic product of the municipality (administrative divisions) where the cities were seated. We estimated that as much as 10,691 t of wild meat might be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers within central Amazonia, the equivalent of 6.49 kg per person per year. In monetary terms, this amounts to US$21.72 per person per year or US$35.1 million overall, the latter figure is comparable to fish and timber production in the region. Given this magnitude of wild meat trade in central Amazonia, it is fundamental to integrate this activity into the formal economy and actively develop policies that allow the trade of more resilient taxa and restrict trade in species sensitive to hunting.     

Shifting elasmobranch community assemblage at Cocos Island—an isolated marine protected area

Fishing pressure has increased the extinction risk of many elasmobranch (shark and ray) species. Although many countries have established no‐take marine reserves, a paucity of monitoring data means it is still unclear if reserves are effectively protecting these species. We examined data collected by a small group of divers over the past 21 years at one of the world's oldest marine protected areas (MPAs), Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica. We used mixed effects models to determine trends in relative abundance, or probability of occurrence, of 12 monitored elasmobranch species while accounting for variation among observers and from abiotic factors. Eight of 12 species declined significantly over the past 2 decades. We documented decreases in relative abundance for 6 species, including the iconic scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) (?45%), whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) (?77%), mobula ray (Mobula spp.) (?78%), and manta ray (Manta birostris) (?89%), and decreases in the probability of occurrence for 2 other species. Several of these species have small home ranges and should be better protected by an MPA, which underscores the notion that declines of marine megafauna will continue unabated in MPAs unless there is adequate enforcement effort to control fishing. In addition, probability of occurrence at Cocos Island of tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), Galapagos (Carcharhinus galapagensis), blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus), and whale (Rhincodon typus) sharks increased significantly. The effectiveness of MPAs cannot be evaluated by examining single species because population responses can vary depending on life history traits and vulnerability to fishing pressure.     

Seasonal variation and social correlates of androgen excretion in male redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus)

The aim of this study was to examine effects of seasonal and social factors on male androgen excretion in a seasonally breeding primate living in multimale-multifemale groups. By combining detailed behavioural observations (>2,500 h) on 3 groups of redfronted lemurs living in Kirindy Forest/Madagascar with non-invasive hormone analysis of >800 faecal samples collected concomitantly from the same animals, we tested predictions on: (1) the effect of social status on immunoreactive testosterone (iT) excretion; (2) seasonal variation of iT across reproductive periods; and (3) the relationship between aggression and iT excretion. The study lasted 14 months, covering two mating and one birth season. The results revealed that males fall into two distinct social classes, with one dominant male and several subordinate males in each group. In contrast to our prediction, the behavioural differences between these two classes were not reflected by differences in androgen levels, making physiological suppression of testicular function an unlikely mechanism of male reproductive competition. As expected for a seasonally breeding animal, iT values were elevated during the mating season. Androgen levels tracked the increase in the rate of reproductive aggression during the mating season as predicted by the challenge hypothesis. An increase in aggression due to spontaneous social instability outside the mating season, however, was not linked to a parallel rise of iT. Furthermore, the highest iT levels were obtained during the birth season, which may be part of a male strategy to remain aggressive during this period of high infanticide risk. These findings suggest that redfronted lemurs do not respond with increases in androgens to short-term challenges and that high androgen levels instead correlate with longer-lasting and predictable situations, such as the mating and birth seasons.     

Behavioural and metabolic adaptations of marine isopods to the rafting life style

Rafting on floating objects is a common dispersal mechanism for many marine invertebrates. In order to identify adaptations to the rafting life style, we compared behavioural and metabolic characteristics of two isopods, the obligate rafter Idotea metallica and the facultative rafter Idotea baltica. In laboratory experiments, I. metallica showed low locomotive activity and a tight association to the substratum. Idotea baltica, in contrast, was more active with more frequent excursions in the surrounding water column. Oxygen consumption rates were similar in both species. Idotea metallica fed on zooplankton making this species widely independent of autochthonous food resources of the raft. Feeding rates and digestive enzyme activities were low in I. metallica. Reduced egestion rates may indicate slow gut passage and, thus, efficient resorption of nutrients. Efficient food utilization and the ability to accumulate high amounts of storage products, i.e. lipids, indicate a possible adaptation of I. metallica to low food availability or starvation. The feeding behaviour of I. baltica, in contrast, was more herbivorous and appeared wasteful and inefficient. Low lipid contents in I. baltica also indicate poor storage reserves. Thus, I. baltica requires a permanent access to food.