Experimental rewilding may restore abandoned wood-pastures if policy allows

Large herbivores play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous defaunation processes have produced cascade effects on plant community composition, vegetation structure, and even climate. Wood-pastures were created by traditional management practices that have maintained open structures and biodiversity for millennia. In Europe, despite the broad recognition of their biological importance, such landscapes are declining due to land-use changes. This calls for finding urgent solutions for wood-pasture conservation. To test whether introducing an ecological replacement of an extinct wild horse could have positive effects on wood-pasture restoration, we designed a 3-year rewilding experiment. Horses created a more open wood-pasture structure by browsing on seedlings and saplings, affected tree composition via selective browsing and controlled the colonization of woody vegetation in grassland-dominated areas. Thus, rewilding could be a potential avenue for wood-pasture restoration and biodiversity conservation. However, such benefits may not materialize without a necessary paradigm and political shift.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01320-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Linking contemporary river restoration to economics,technology, politics,and society: Perspectives from a historical case study of the Po River Basin,Italy

River restoration is a novel paradigm of ‘mirescape’ (land-and-water-scape) management that developed along with the emergence of aquatic ecology. River restoration can be seen as the application of an ecological perspective to return rivers to nature. However, the river restoration paradigm is also the contemporary iteration of historical phases of mirescape management. We review the long and varied recorded history of the Po River in northern Italy as a case study to illustrate the transformations and common themes of mirescape management. We find, first, that significant changes in mirescape management and river condition only occur in the context of larger social, political, technological and economic transformations. Second, we show how particular cultural understandings, economic interests, technological innovations and political powers have driven particular paradigms of mirescape management. These have tended towards increasing territorial separation of wet and dry. We find, third, that these separations lead not only to increasing economic precariousness for many, but also to increasingly severe disasters. We conclude that river restoration faces social and political challenges to becoming relevant at a mirescape scale, due to its lack of integration with land management, or with current social, political, technological and economic transformations. To act on this conclusion, we suggest philosophically aligned social movements that river restoration could work with to improve impact and uptake.     

Economic assessment of rewilding versus agri-environmental nature management

Policies aiming at improving biodiversity often consist of costly agri-environmental schemes, i.e. subsidized grazing or mowing of semi-natural areas. However, these practices have widely been found to be insufficient to mitigate biodiversity loss. Rewilding, i.e. restoring natural processes in self-sustaining biodiverse ecosystems, has been proposed as an alternative and is hypothesized to be a more cost-efficient approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Rewilding requires the availability of large natural areas which are not allocated for farming, forestry, and infrastructure to avoid potential conflicts over the use of the area. We perform an ex-ante private cost–benefit analysis of the establishment of four large nature reserves for rewilding in Denmark. We analyse the economic effects of changing from summer grazing in nature areas in combination with cultivated fields and forestry to the establishment of nature reserves in four case areas. We consider two scenarios involving conversion of agriculture and forestry areas into natural areas in combination with either extensive year-round cattle grazing or rewilding with wild large herbivores. In two case areas, it appears possible to establish large nature areas without incurring extra costs. Additionally, rewilding further reduces costs compared to year-round cattle grazing. Two opposing effects were dominant: increased economic rent occurred from the shift from summer grazing to year-round grazing or rewilding, while cessation of agriculture and forestry caused opportunity costs.     

生态恢复背景下喀斯特地区植被覆盖的时空变化——以黔中地区为例

为了揭示退耕还林(草)、封山育林和石漠化综合治理等生态恢复工程驱动下喀斯特地区的植被覆盖度的时空变化情况,以黔中为研究区,利用2000年、2005年和2010年三期的MODIS影像数据,通过NDVI像元二分模型法,对研究区植被覆盖进行了动态变化评估。结果表明:2000年到2010年,极高植被覆盖度面积持续增长,高植被覆盖度面积持续减少,极低植被覆盖度、低植被覆盖度和中等植被覆盖度面积先增后减,植被覆盖总体呈现转好趋势;此外,植被覆盖景观斑块数减小,平均斑块面积增大,香农多样性指数减小,表明这一时期内植被覆盖景观的破碎化程度逐渐降低,生态恢复工程取得良好实效。     

植被类型对黄土高原露采矿山复垦土壤碳循环功能基因的影响

植被恢复可有效地改善矿区生态环境,提升生态服务功能,促进生态系统固碳增汇.但目前矿区植被恢复影响土壤碳循环相关功能基因的机制尚缺乏深入研究.为此,采集黄土高原黑岱沟露天矿排土场复垦区草地(GL)、灌丛(BL)、针叶林(CF)、阔叶林(BF)和针阔混交林(MF)共25个表层土壤样品,利用实时荧光定量PCR技术测定土壤碳循环功能基因绝对丰度,探究不同植被类型对土壤碳循环相关功能基因的影响及内在机制.结果表明：(1)不同植被类型对矿区复垦土壤化学性质和碳循环相关功能基因丰度影响差异显著(P<0.05),GL和BL对土壤有机碳、全氮和硝态氮的积累显著优于CF(P<0.05);(2)所有碳固定基因中rbcL、acsA和mct的丰度最高,BF土壤中碳循环相关功能基因丰度高于其它类型,与BF土壤中的铵态氮和BG酶活性较高及易氧化有机碳和脲酶活性较低密切相关.碳降解和甲烷代谢功能基因丰度与铵态氮和BG酶活性呈显著的正相关,与有机碳、全氮、易氧化有机碳、硝态氮和脲酶活性呈显著的负相关(P<0.05);(3)不同植被可直接影响土壤BG酶活性或影响土壤硝态氮含量从而间接作用于BG酶活性,从...     

Investigation on the eco-toxicity of lake sediments with the addition of drinking water treatment residuals

Drinking water treatment residuals(WTRs) have a potential to realize eutrophication control objectives by reducing the internal phosphorus(P) load of lake sediments. Information regarding the ecological risk of dewatered WTR reuse in aquatic environments is generally lacking, however. In this study, we analyzed the eco-toxicity of leachates from sediments with or without dewatered WTRs toward algae Chlorella vulgaris via algal growth inhibition testing with algal cell density, chlorophyll content, malondialdehyde content, antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase activity, and subcellular structure indices. The results suggested that leachates from sediments unanimously inhibited algal growth, with or without the addition of different WTR doses(10% or 50% of the sediment in dry weight) at different p H values(8–9), as well as from sediments treated for different durations(10 or 180 days). The inhibition was primarily the result of P deficiency in the leachates owing to WTR P adsorption, however, our results suggest that the dewatered WTRs were considered as a favorable potential material for internal P loading control in lake restoration projects, as it shows acceptably low risk toward aquatic plants.     

深圳荔枝湖富营养化综合治理工程效果研究

分析和比较了深圳荔枝湖综合治理工程运行9个月内不同湖区水体的叶绿素a、总磷、总氮及透明度的变化,探讨了综合治理工程对城市富营养化湖泊荔枝湖的水质改善情况.结果表明,治理工程运行期间全湖湖水营养水平控制在较低水平(总磷＜0.1 mg·L-1,总氮＜1.5 mg·L-1),四湖区藻类水平北湖区(16.77μg·L-1)和东湖区(21.45μg·L-1)较低,南湖区(35.83μg·L-1)、西湖区(32.69μg·L-1)相对较高,全湖水体透明度提高(全湖平均＞0.5 m);治理工程将湖水水质由劣Ⅴ类改善为Ⅳ类,由重富营养化水平改善为富营养化水平.     

水生维管束植物在修复受损水环境中的选择与配置

水生维管柬植物通过对污染物的吸收、富集,与藻类的竞争或他感抑制作用以及根际水生生态系统的协同作用等方式实现对受损水环境的修复,是一种与建设污水处理厂互补的水环境修复技术。着重指出利用水生维管束植物在修复受损水环境应用中的科学选择与配置,尤其是应优先考虑选择少量先锋物种,以便尽快恢复水环境生态系统的基本结构和功能以及生物多样性;重视各种生活型水生植物的合理搭配,优势互补,稳定有效地发挥各自的生态功能;注意考虑水生植物种群配置在生长期上的密切衔接及群落优势中的季节性演替等;并佐以实例为实际应用提供参考。     

神农架大九湖亚高山湿地环境背景与生态恢复

针对神农架林区大九湖亚高山湿地退化问题,在联合科学考察基础上,分析区域环境背景状况及生态退化原因,提出湿地保护、利用和生态恢复相关建议。调查内容包括：区域地形地貌状况,地质构造、地层、岩溶发育规律和落水洞分布状况,河流水系的分布、流量变化和水质状况,沼生植被的分布和演替规律,湿地演变过程及人类活动对湿地影响等方面。〖JP2〗研究发现：神农架大九湖湿地演变和土地利用结构变化受水利工程直接影响,1986年以来大规模开挖人工沟渠、疏通落水孔、排干沼泽开垦种植等活动,是湿地生态环境退化的重要因素;湿地退化主要反映为湖泊水面消失、沼泽湿地退化、湿地生态系统向陆生生态系统演化,生物多样性减少,泥炭资源遭受破坏,水质下降。根据调查结果,从原则、措施方案、管理机构、产业、资金等方面对大九湖湿地的保护、利用和生态恢复提出建议。     

Hydrobiogeochemical Controls on Riparian Nutrient and Greenhouse Gas Dynamics: 10 Years Post‐Restoration

Little is known about the impact of agricultural legacy on subsurface biogeochemical processes in the years following restoration of riparian wetlands (WLs). More knowledge is also needed on the relative importance of seasons, precipitation events, and inputs of water and nutrients driving nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), and greenhouse gas (GHG) (N₂O, CO₂, CH₄) dynamics in these systems. This investigation of a riparian zone comprising a restored WL area and a nonrestored well‐drained alluvium (AL) area in the United States Midwest revealed that despite successful hydrological restoration a decade earlier, biogeochemical conditions in the WL area remained less anoxic than in natural WLs, and not significantly different from those in the AL area. No significant differences in N, P, S, and C compound concentrations or fluxes were observed between the AL and WL areas. Over the duration of the study, nitrate (NO₃^?) and soluble reactive phosphorus appeared to be primarily driven by hillslope contributions. Ammonium (NH₄⁺), sulfate (SO₄^2?), and CO₂ responded strongly to seasonal changes in biogeochemical conditions in the riparian zone, while N₂O and CH₄ fluxes were most influenced by large rewetting events. Overall, our results challenge overly simplistic assumptions derived from direct interpretation of redox thermodynamics, and show complex patterns of solutes and GHGs at the riparian zone scale.