Go big to help species go home
Von Holle, B., Yelenik, S., & Gornish, E. S. (2020). Restoration at the landscape scale as a means of mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Current Landscape Ecology Reports, 5, 85-97. PDF.
Summary
Restoration goes hand in hand with invasive species management, as increasing native diversity can help reduce further invasions through biotic resistance (Beaury et al. 2019). In a changing climate, a key goal of restoration is to facilitate the movement of native species so that they can keep up with warming. However, individual conservation and restoration projects may not be able to facilitate native species range shifts because isolated populations have few opportunities for the gene flow with other populations that would support adaptation. Von Holle et al. (2020) challenge conservation and restoration professionals to think bigger. They argue that landscape-scale conservation and restoration are critical for supporting biodiversity because it allows for multiple sites focused on similar processes and goals. For example, a network of sites all focused on supporting the climate-driven range shifts of a species of conservation concern are more likely to lead to the successful establishment of that species. Similarly, landscape-scale restoration reduces barriers for species to move on their own and supports species with large range requirements. Von Holle et al. note that a lot of these ideas are still conceptual - very few experiments have been put into practice. This underscores the critical need for coordination and networking of invasive species and restoration practitioners and scientists to begin experimenting with the movement of native species.
Take home points
Landscape-scale restoration is rare. Only 9% of articles identified by Von Holle et al. (2020) were at the landscape scale. The majority of restoration is local.
Local restoration projects would be more climate-smart with increased coordination between sites. A network of local projects focused on similar biodiversity goals has a higher likelihood of success.
Management implications
Landscape-scale restoration goals related to ecosystem function (e.g., increasing biomass and carbon sequestration) were more commonly reported than goals related to maintaining biodiversity. These goals can sometimes conflict, as fast growing, non-native species may be better at adding biomass.
There are few landscape-scale projects focused on biodiversity outcomes and none include climate change. Given the rapid pace of climate change, this lack of knowledge necessitates large-scale experimentation with climate-smart restoration.
Climate-smart restoration experiments must start by identifying restoration goals and measuring biodiversity before the project begins.
Related papers: McKone & Hernandez, 2021, Updated ESA guidelines
Keywords: Climate-smart restoration, assisted migration