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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
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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 Closed April 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 Logging Bare rock, toxic levels of heavy metals 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 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 Birch, aspen, and willow re-established Elevate soil pH 2) Manually planted conifers Eventual establishment of conifers
Replanting is generally effective, but what should we be planting?
What to plant? • Fast-growing invasives? • Pollution tolerant, good soil stabilizers, fast restoration • Native plant species • Restore original community • Seeds derived from local plant communities • 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
Fork-tailed storm petrel– extirpated Leach’s Storm Petrel - extirpated Rhinocerous auklet– extirpated Tufted Puffin – one site Ancient murrelet – massive decline Cassin’s auklet– extirpated
Rat eradication • Planning and environmental review • Lucy Island pilot project • Main eradication campaign in 1995 • Follow-up and monitoring
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.