Abstracts, Reviews, and Meetings

SER Avignon 2010

Plenary session abstracts of the 7th SER European Conference on Ecological Restoration. T. Dutoit, E. Buisson, F. Isselin-Nondedeu, organizers. Held August 23–27, 2010, in Avignon, France. www.seravignon2010.org

Restoring Natural Capital—A Priority for Global Society: Getting Scientists, Economists and Politicians to Work Together. 2010. Aronson, J. (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, CEFE/CNRS-UPR 5175, Montpellier, james.aronson@cefe.cnrs.fr). Plenary session 1, August 24.

Increasing human population growth and resource consumption place ever greater demands on all ecosystems to deliver goods and services. Thus we must alter consumption patterns and increase our ability and will to restore impaired ecosystems. This will require new paradigms about our relationship with Nature and long-term investments in restoring natural capital (RNC). Like conservation, restoration should be seen as an investment rather than a cost. And both pay well, when total economic value is considered, and human wellbeing and true wealth are given greater priority. Examples from the Mediterranean region, the European Community, and elsewhere will show that economists, engineers, applied ecologists, and everyone concerned with the environment need—and can—work together toward a sustainable and desirable future. By making explicit the mutually reinforcing linkages between environmental and economic well-being, the multiple benefits achieved through RNC can play a crucial role in bridging ideological or professional divides and can open a promising road toward policies of sustainability.

Ecobiogeographical Features and Threats within the Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot. 2010. Médail, F. (Mediterranean Institute of Ecology and Palaeoecology, UMR CNRS-IRD 6116, Aix-Marseille University (University Paul Cézanne), Europôle méditerranéen de l'Arbois, BP 80, F 13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 04, France, f.medail@univ-cezanne.fr). Plenary session 2, August 24.

The biotic originality of Mediterranean ecosystems is due to complex interactions between a highly heterogeneous historical biogeography and unique ecological processes. Among the 34 hotspots of species diversity in the world, this ecoregion also constitutes a hotspot of human population density and growth, which inevitably raises serious conservation problems. What distinguishes Mediterranean landscapes is their long history with humans. Changes in Mediterranean biodiversity are therefore most closely linked with human population pressures. At present, the Mediterranean ecoregion is facing rapid and previously unknown global environmental changes, with important repercussions in structure and function. Habitat destruction and fragmentation are increasing, notably along the coasts. The 10 regional hotspots of plant biodiversity are seriously threatened by the severity and speed of current and forecasted environmental changes. Therefore, it is necessary to launch a conservation biogeography framework at the Mediterranean Basin scale. Biogeography furnishes the requisite tools to identify crucial conservation areas in today's context of global change, such as the 50 or so "glacial" refugia that have provided suitable habitats for plants during unfavorable climatic periods. Refugia preservation may be critical because they encompass the bulk of genetic diversity and endemism of Mediterranean plants. Thus a better understanding of ecological processes of the past, including the less-often studied local persistence of species, should improve management decisions related to conservation and restoration ecology.

Restoring Forest Wilderness Areas in Europe: Over Passing Oxymorons to Face Well-Founded Stakes. 2010. Vallauri, D. (WWF, 6 rue des Fabres, 13001 Marseille, dvallauri@wwf.fr). Plenary session 3, August 24.

In a motion voted in February 2009, the European Parliament calls the Commission to develop actions on wilderness areas. A wilderness conference hosted during the Czech presidency of the Council of EU (Prague, May 2009) followed. Aiming to restore wilderness in Europe has been criticized as an oxymoron, for two main reasons. First, the common culture of western and Mediterranean Europe emphasizes the millenary history of nature transformation. The questions of how ecologically and culturally relevant is wilderness, what are the aims for such policy, and how much wilderness is left today require some deliberation to avoid misunderstandings. Second, given the bioengineering and restoration approaches implemented in some part of Europe, in terms of goals and methods, restorationists could question the compatibility between restoration science and wilderness. In this session, we synthesize and discuss 1) the available data on forest wilderness areas in Europe; 2) the...