Suchergebnisse

Soils of Mediterranean drylands are characterized by a low fertility and organic matter content because of past land use and disturbances regime. The restoration of these degraded lands faces at the same time problems related to water scarcity and the unpredictability of precipitations with problems with soil physical, chemical, and microbiological properties. Organic amendments may help to improve soil properties and, consequently, enhance planted seedling establishment and performance. In this study, we assessed the C balance of 3 Mediterranean areas planted with Pinus halepensis Mill. seedlings with different treatments of biosolid application. The assessment was conducted at different times after the establishment of treatments and the C dynamics are discussed. We considered 3 biosolid types (air‐dried, fresh sludge, and composted sludge) in application doses ranging from 10 to 320 Mg (d.w.) ha−1. We quantified basal area, pine biomass, biomass of spontaneous vegetation, litter, root density, and soil organic matter. All 3 experimental restoration studies improved restoration success in terms of basal area (ranging from 15% to 300%), especially in composted biosolid at 30 Mg (d.w.) ha−1, whereas litter and, especially, root biomass increased with all biosolid treatments and times since application. Soil organic C was higher in application doses above 30 Mg (dry weight) ha−1 due to the organic matter applied with the sludges. The increment in C sequestration rates associated to these restoration treatments ranged between 0.046 and 0.293 kg C m2 yr−1. These results confirm the suitability of organic amendments as restoration technique in Mediterranean degraded drylands. ; This research was conducted within the framework of research projects funded by the Spanish Ministries of Environment (BIOMET‐608/2006/1‐4.4), the European Commission FP7 (CASCADE/GA283068), and the Government of the Valencia Region (DESESTRES‐PROMETEUII/2014/038).

Recent observations suggest that repeated fires could drive Mediterranean forests to shrublands, hosting flammable vegetation that regrows quickly after fire. This feedback supposedly favours shrubland persistence and may be strengthened in the future by predicted increased aridity. An assessment was made of how fires and aridity in combination modulated the dynamics of Mediterranean ecosystems and whether the feedback could be strong enough to maintain shrubland as an alternative stable state to forest. A model was developed for vegetation dynamics, including stochastic fires and different plant fire‐responses. Parameters were calibrated using observational data from a period up to 100 yr ago, from 77 sites with and without fires in Southeast Spain and Southern France. The forest state was resilient to the separate impact of fires and increased aridity. However, water stress could convert forests into open shrublands by hampering post‐fire recovery, with a possible tipping point at intermediate aridity. Projected increases in aridity may reduce the resilience of Mediterranean forests against fires and drive post‐fire ecosystem dynamics toward open shrubland. The main effect of increased aridity is the limitation of post‐fire recovery. Including plant fire‐responses is thus fundamental when modelling the fate of Mediterranean‐type vegetation under climate‐change scenarios. ; This research was supported by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 283068 (CASCADE). AGM was supported by the EU-funded Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action ECOHYDRY (GA660859), SB by the project DRYEX2 (CGL2017-89804-R) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and VMS by a 'Beatriu de Pinós' fellowship (2014BP-B-00056).

Restoration efforts in the Mediterranean Basin have been changing from a silvicultural to an ecological restoration approach. Yet, to what extent the projects are guided by ecological restoration principles remains largely unknown. To analyse this issue, we built an on-line survey addressed to restoration practitioners.We analysed 36 restoration projects, mostly from drylands (86%). The projects used mainly soil from local sources. The need to comply with legislation was more important as a restoration motive for European Union (EU) than for non-EU countries, while public opinion and health had a greater importance in the latter. Non-EU countries relied more on non-native plant species than EU countries, thus deviating from ecological restoration guidelines. Nursery-grown plants used were mostly of local or regional provenance, whilst seeds were mostly of national provenance. Unexpected restoration results (e.g. inadequate biodiversity) were reported for 50% of the projects and restoration success was never evaluated in 22%. Long term evaluation (>. 6 years) was only performed in 31% of cases, and based primarily on plant diversity and cover. The use of non-native species and species of exogenous provenances may: i) entail the loss of local genetic and functional trait diversity, critical to cope with drought, particularly under the predicted climate change scenarios, and ii) lead to unexpected competition with native species and/or negatively impact local biotic interactions. Absent or inappropriate monitoring may prevent the understanding of restoration trajectories, precluding adaptive management strategies, often crucial to create functional ecosystems able to provide ecosystem services. The overview of ecological restoration projects in the Mediterranean Basin revealed high variability among practices and highlighted the need for improved scientific assistance and information exchange, greater use of native species of local provenance, and more long-term monitoring and evaluation, including functional and ecosystem services' indicators, to improve and spread the practice of ecological restoration. © 2016 The Authors. ; COST Action ES1104

Restoration efforts in the Mediterranean Basin have been changing from a silvicultural to an ecological restoration approach. Yet, to what extent the projects are guided by ecological restoration principles remains largely unknown. To analyse this issue, we built an on-line survey addressed to restoration practitioners. We analysed 36 restoration projects, mostly from drylands (86%). The projects used mainly soil from local sources. The need to comply with legislation was more important as a restoration motive for European Union (EU) than for non-EU countries, while public opinion and health had a greater importance in the latter. Non-EU countries relied more on non-native plant species than EU countries, thus deviating from ecological restoration guidelines. Nursery-grown plants used were mostly of local or regional provenance, whilst seeds were mostly of national provenance. Unexpected restoration results (e.g. inadequate biodiversity) were reported for 50% of the projects and restoration success was never evaluated in 22%. Long term evaluation (> 6 years) was only performed in 31% of cases, and based primarily on plant diversity and cover. The use of non-native species and species of exogenous provenances may: i) entail the loss of local genetic and functional trait diversity, critical to cope with drought, particularly under the predicted climate change scenarios, and ii) lead to unexpected competition with native species and/or negatively impact local biotic interactions. Absent or inappropriate monitoring may prevent the understanding of restoration trajectories, precluding adaptive management strategies, often crucial to create functional ecosystems able to provide ecosystem services. The overview of ecological restoration projects in the Mediterranean Basin revealed high variability among practices and highlighted the need for improved scientific assistance and information exchange, greater use of native species of local provenance, and more long-term monitoring and evaluation, including functional and ecosystem services' indicators, to improve and spread the practice of ecological restoration. ; This work was conducted within the framework of COST of Action ES1104 on 'Arid lands restoration and combat of desertification: setting up a drylands and desert restoration hub'. FCT-MEC supported A.N. contribution by contract SFRH/BD/51407/2011 and C.B. contribution by contract Investigador FCT. The CGIAR Research Programs in Dryland Systems (CRP-DS; budget code 200008) and in Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE; budget code 950201) supported C. Z. contribution.

Restoration efforts in the Mediterranean Basin have been changing from a silvicultural to an ecological restoration approach. Yet, to what extent the projects are guided by ecological restoration principles remains largely unknown. To analyse this issue, we built an on-line survey addressed to restoration practitioners. We analysed 36 restoration projects, mostly from drylands (86%). The projects used mainly soil from local sources. The need to comply with legislation was more important as a restoration motive for European Union (EU) than for non-EU countries, while public opinion and health had a greater importance in the latter. Non-EU countries relied more on non-native plant species than EU countries, thus deviating from ecological restoration guidelines. Nursery-grown plants used were mostly of local or regional provenance, whilst seeds were mostly of national provenance. Unexpected restoration results (e.g. inadequate biodiversity) were reported for 50% of the projects and restoration success was never evaluated in 22%. Long term evaluation (> 6 years) was only performed in 31% of cases, and based primarily on plant diversity and cover. The use of non-native species and species of exogenous provenances may: i) entail the loss of local genetic and functional trait diversity, critical to cope with drought, particularly under the predicted climate change scenarios, and ii) lead to unexpected competition with native species and/or negatively impact local biotic interactions. Absent or inappropriate monitoring may prevent the understanding of restoration trajectories, precluding adaptive management strategies, often crucial to create functional ecosystems able to provide ecosystem services. The overview of ecological restoration projects in the Mediterranean Basin revealed high variability among practices and highlighted the need for improved scientific assistance and information exchange, greater use of native species of local provenance, and more long-term monitoring and evaluation, including functional and ecosystem services' indicators, to improve and spread the practice of ecological restoration.