Abstracts

To develop the following abstracts, the editorial staff searches more than 100 scientific journals, professional and organizational newsletters, conference proceedings, and other resources for information relevant to ecological restoration practice and research. Please send suggested abstract sources to the editorial staff (ERjournal@aesop.rutgers.edu).

Climate Change

Retention and Restoration Priorities for Climate Adaptation in a Multi-Use Landscape. 2019. Maxwell, S.L. (Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, AUS, smaxwell@uq.edu.au), A. Reside, J. Trezise, C.A. McAlpine and J.E.M. Watson. Global Ecology and Conservation 18: e00649. doi: 10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00649

Climate change is altering species distributions on a global scale. These shifts will likely outpace natural adaptation and result in extinctions. Restoration projects must account for these changes. Maxwell et al. devised two climate-change planning scenarios to identify restoration priorities for Australia's Great Dividing Range, a large, multi-use landscape that may serve as a climate change refugium for over a thousand vertebrate species. The "balanced" scenario combines high quality habitat conservation with restoration of forestry and agricultural lands, in contrast with the "retention-focused" scenario which prioritizes retaining high quality habitat over restoration. Retention-focused efforts benefitted the most species, but many species also relied on habitat created in restored agricultural lands, which would favor the balanced restoration scenario. Though intact ecosystems provide the best defense against climate change, restoration practitioners must develop strategies to mitigate climate-driven extinction.

Coastal and Marine Communities

Landscape Context Modifies the Rate and Distribution of Predation around Habitat Restoration Sites. 2019. Duncan, C.K., B.L. Gilby (School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC 4558, Queensland, Australia, bgilby@usc.edu.au), A.D. Olds, R.M. Connolly, N.L. Ortodossi, C.J. Henderson and T.A. Schlacher. Biological Conservation 237:97–104. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.028

Landscape restoration is an important factor in returning ecological function to degraded systems. Because habitats are spatially connected, the actual location of restored habitats is critical to successful restoration outcomes. Landscape context can alter source-sink dynamics especially when target species are highly vagile. Duncan and colleagues studied the effects of oyster reef restoration on predation by fish in the Noosa River, Australia. Here, oyster reef restoration has been implemented to enhance habitat complexity for fish. Sites represented a variety of seascape contexts and the authors used underwater cameras to record predation rates by different fish species. Reef restoration sites demonstrated a dramatic increase of predation. Predation probability decreased with increasing distance from the reef, particularly in sites adjacent to mangroves and seagrasses. Newly-restored oyster reef sites likely act as the center of a fish's home range but in the presence of high-quality habitats next to a restored reef, fish populations are unlikely to move to another complex habitat. These results highlight the need to make strategic decisions to place restored habitats in heterogeneous landscapes in order to maximize ecological function.

Restoring Subtidal Marine Macrophytes in the Anthropocene: Trajectories and Future-Proofing. 2019. Wood, G. (Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation, School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. georgina.wood@unsw.edu.au), E.M. Marzinelli, M.A. Coleman, A.H. Campbell, N.S. Santini, L. Kajlich, J. Verdura, J. Wodak, P.D. Steinberg and A. Vergés. Marine and Freshwater Research 70:936–951. doi:10.1071/ MF18226

In this perspective article, Wood and colleagues review different restoration efforts and techniques aimed specifically at seaweed and seagrasses in coastal habitats. They highlight the need to be mindful of the timescale at which different species may reach a fully functional state, because this will not only affect logistics, in terms of securing funding sources, but also the fact that restored populations should be "future-proofed" by considering projected changes in temperature or other conditions. In the same context, understanding "what" to restore is also critical, as certain species may be of interest but may not cope well with future conditions. In such cases it becomes more relevant to consider restoring an...