Restoration, Reclamation, & Reintroduction

BIOL 4160

Presentation Info

• Symposium-style 10-12 minute presentation with 3 min Q&A afterward

• Focus is on your review paper, with (suggested) increased emphasis on global patterns

• Marking scheme posted on website• Showcase all your hard work on your

independent paper!

Seminars

March 22 – Undergrad March 29 – TRU ClosedApril 5 – Build Native Plant Garden

*permission has been granted to dig outside!

Approaches

• Re-creation or restoration of habitat• Ex situ conservation in zoos, aquaria,

seed banks, cryobanks, etc.• Captive breeding for reintroduction

All measures of last resort

Ecological restoration: practice of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed- Building habitat for endangered

species- Restore a dwindling community type- Revitalize ecosystem services- Reestablish site topography,

hydrology, and soils

Restoration ecology

Can trace its roots to Japan in 800 A.D. – 1600 A.D.

- Loss of forest had led to erosion, lowland flooding, low crop yields

- Leaders urged citizens to plant tree seedlings, eventually leading to nationwide forest restoration and management

Diamond 2005

Different damage, different intervention

Mining Operation

Bare rock, toxic levels of heavy metals

Logging

Still have mature trees and a rich seed bank on productive soil

Remediation: active removal of pollutants from the environment

Bioremediation: Use of plants and bacteria to accumulate heavy metals and toxins to restore soil health

Remediation: sulfur dioxide

Mordor?

Smelting Operations

Remediation: sulfur dioxide

Vast area of mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest destroyed by sulfur dioxide emissions from a smelting facility nearby

Emissions killed vegetation, lowered soil pH, and altered soil composition

1) Applied ground limestone

Elevate soil pH

Birch, aspen, and willow re-established

2) Manually planted conifers

Eventual establishment of conifers

Replanting is generally effective, but what should we

be planting?

What to plant?

• Fast-growing invasives?o Pollution tolerant, good soil stabilizers,

fast restoration

• Native plant speciesoRestore original community

• Seeds derived from local plant communitieso Local adaptation

Fitness (survival x flower production) negatively related to genetic distance between source and resident populations

Fitness (survival x size) decreased with both genetic and environmental distance

Recovery through eradication

Leach’s Storm Petrel - extirpated

Tufted Puffin –one site

Fork-tailed storm petrel–extirpated

Rhinocerous auklet–extirpated

Cassin’s auklet–extirpated

Ancient murrelet –massive decline

Rat eradication

1) Planning and environmental review2) Lucy Island pilot project3) Main eradication campaign in 19954) Follow-up and monitoring

Placement of bait stations across the island

Effects on non-target species

• Loss of ravens through secondary poisoning

• Loss of ravens through primary poisoning

• Brodifacoum residue detected in crows, song sparrows, bald eagles, but no population declines

Effects on rats

• Rats took a total of 14,500 baits• Baits placed out in July 1995, by

August 1995 no rats caught in snap traps, only activity seen near camps

• Few cases of rats found in 1995, but by summer 1996, no evidence of rats.