José María Rey-Benayas

Restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity: conflicts and opportunities

Ecological restoration is becoming regarded as a major strategy for increasing the provision of ecosystem services as well as reversing biodiversity losses. Here, we show that restoration projects can be effective in enhancing both, but that conflicts can arise, especially if single services are targeted in isolation. Furthermore, recovery of biodiversity and services can be slow and incomplete. Despite this uncertainty, new methods of ecosystem service valuation are suggesting that the economic benefits of restoration can outweigh costs. Payment for Ecosystem Service schemes could therefore provide incentives for restoration, but require development to ensure biodiversity and multiple services are enhanced and the needs of different stakeholders are met. Such approaches must be implemented widely if new global restoration targets are to be achieved.

Restoring forests: What constitutes success in the twenty-first century?

Forest loss and degradation is occurring at high rates but humankind is experiencing historical momentum that favors forest restoration. Approaches to restoration may follow various paradigms depending on stakeholder objectives, regional climate, or the degree of site degradation. The vast amount of land requiring restoration implies the need for spatial prioritization of restoration efforts according to cost-benefit analyses that include ecological risks. To design resistant and resilient ecosystems that can adapt to emerging circumstances, an adaptive management approach is needed. Global change, in particular, imparts a high degree of uncertainty about the future ecological and societal conditions of forest ecosystems to be restored, as well as their desired goods and services. We must also reconsider the suite of species incorporated into restoration with the aim of moving toward more stress resistant and competitive combinations in the longer term. Non-native species may serve an important role under some circumstances, e.g., to facilitate reintroduction of native species. Propagation and field establishment techniques must promote survival through seedling stress resistance and site preparation. An improved ability to generalize among plant functional groups in ecological niche adaptations will help to overcome site-limiting factors. The magnitude and velocity of ongoing global change necessitates rapid responses in genetics that cannot be naturally induced at valid temporal and spatial scales. The capacity for new concepts and technologies to be adopted by managers and accepted by society will depend on effective technology transfer and a community-based approach to forest restoration. The many benefits human society gains from forests requires that forest restoration considers multiple objectives and approaches to minimize trade-offs in achieving these objectives.

Freshwater Wetland Plant Communities of Northern Belize: Implications for Paleoecological Studies of Maya Wetland Agriculture

Plant species composition and standing crop in relation to soil and water characteristics were studied to determine which environmental variables are responsible for structure and distribution of marshes in northern Belize. Sampling sites were located in the floodplains of the Rio Hondo and New River and within karstic depressions in the interfluves of the two rivers. Relationships among environmental variables and the occurrence of the individual marsh types, in particular those dominated by Cladium jamaicense, Eleocharis cellulosa, and Typha domingensis were investigated using canonical correspondence analysis. Discriminant analysis was used to select a reduced set of variables for predicting the distribution of dominant species. Eleocharis cellulosa marshes dominated areas with soil and water of high conductivity due to high content of gypsum and calcium carbonate. Nutrient concentrations, namely nitrogen and phosphorus, were very low. Conditions were rather similar in sawgrass marshes (Cladium jamaicense), except for higher water depth and lower conductivity. Marshes dominated by Typha domingensis occupied areas with higher content of nitrogen and phosphorus. Discriminant functions developed for these three marsh communities can be used to help interpret paleoecological data and infer ancient Maya impacts upon marsh development.

Placing empirical limits on metapopulation models for terrestrial plants

Both island-biogeographic (dynamic) and niche-based (static) metapopulation models make predictions about the distribution and abundance of species assemblages. We tested the utility of these models concerning such predictions for terrestrial vascular plants using data from 74 landscapes across the globe. We examined correlations between species frequency and local abundance and shapes of the species frequency distribution. No data set met all of the predictions of any single island-biogeographic metapopulation model. In contrast, all data sets met the predictions of the niche-based model. We conclude that in predicting the distribution of species assemblages of plants over scales greater than 10–1 km, niche-based models are robust while current metapopulation models are insufficient. We discuss limitations in the assumptions of the various models and the types of empirical observations that they will each have to deal with in further developments.

The differential influences of human-induced disturbances on tree regeneration community: a landscape approach

C. Zamorano-Elgueta was supported by a CON- ICYT pre-doctoral fellowship (Government of Chile), the European Comission (Project contract DCI-ENV/ 2010/222-412), the Chilean NGO Forest Engineers for Native Forest (Forestales por el Bosque Nativo, www. bosquenativo.cl) and project REMEDINAL-2 (Comu- nidad de Madrid, S2009/AMB-1783). L. Cayuela was supported by project REMEDINAL-2. This work is part of the objectives of projects CGL2010-18312 (CICYT, Ministerio de Economia y Competividad de Espana). The authors acknowledge the valuable support of Vero nica Piriz, Cony Becerra, Rodrigo Gangas, Oscar Concha, Eduardo Neira and staff from the Valdivian Coastal Reserve, as well as the National Forest Service of Chile (Corporacion Nacional Forestal)

Coinciden los espacios naturales potegidos con las áreas relevantes de diversidad de herpetofauna en España peninsular y Baleares

Actualmente, la nocion del progreso supera los economicistas limites del pasado e incorpora la proteccion del medio ambiente, la defensa de los ecosistemas y la preservacion de los recursos naturales para las generaciones futuras como una de sus principales finalidades. Uno de los problemas que mas dano ocasiona a estos recursos naturales son los incendios forestales. En este trabajo se aborda el estudio de la incidencia de los incendios forestales en la Comunidad Valenciana durante la ultima decada y como se ha desarrollado el mecanismo para la repoblacion con especies forestales a partir de bancos de germoplasma.La Laguna de Fuente de Piedra fue declarada Reserva Integral por la Junta de Andalucía en 1984 (Ley 1/1984, de 9 de Enero, BOJA no 4 de 10 de Enero de 1984). Esta Ley fija los límites de la Reserva Integral de 6.5 Km de largo por 2.5 Km de ancho, así como los límites de la Zona Periférica de Protección (Figura 1). La superficie total es de 6.689 ha, que incluye una serie de humedales de importancia para el establecimiento de vegetación y fauna características. Se encuentra situada al Norte de la provincia de Málaga, junto al pueblo del mismo nombre (coordenadas geográficas 37o 6` N y 4o 46` O), en la cuenca hidrográfica endorreíca de Fuente de Piedra.

Forest biomass density across large climate gradients in northern South America is related to water availability but not with temperature

Understanding and predicting the likely response of ecosystems to climate change are crucial challenges for ecology and for conservation biology. Nowhere is this challenge greater than in the tropics as these forests store more than half the total atmospheric carbon stock in their biomass. Biomass is determined by the balance between biomass inputs (i.e., growth) and outputs (mortality). We can expect therefore that conditions that favor high growth rates, such as abundant water supply, warmth, and nutrient-rich soils will tend to correlate with high biomass stocks. Our main objective is to describe the patterns of above ground biomass (AGB) stocks across major tropical forests across climatic gradients in Northwestern South America. We gathered data from 200 plots across the region, at elevations ranging between 0 to 3400 m. We estimated AGB based on allometric equations and values for stem density, basal area, and wood density weighted by basal area at the plot-level. We used two groups of climatic variables, namely mean annual temperature and actual evapotranspiration as surrogates of environmental energy, and annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality, and water availability as surrogates of water availability. We found that AGB is more closely related to water availability variables than to energy variables. In northwest South America, water availability influences carbon stocks principally by determining stand structure, i.e. basal area. When water deficits increase in tropical forests we can expect negative impact on biomass and hence carbon storage.

“Ramón Margalef, ecólogo de la biosfera. Una biografía científica”, de Narcís Prat, Joandoménec Ros y Francesc Peters, 2015

Bonache, J., de Mingo-Sancho, G., Serrada, J., Amengual, P., Perales, J., Martinez, R., Rodado, S., Albornos, E. 2016. Long-term monitoring and evaluation in Spanish National Parks Network. Ecosistemas 25(1): 31-48. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2016.25-1.05 The Spanish National Parks Network, consisting of a selection of natural spaces containing a representative sample of the main existing natural systems in Spain, is a very appropriate setting for research and long-term monitoring, in which the rules protects and promotes the improvement of knowledge and its application to management. In this regard, the National Parks Agency develops, in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities and with specific Scientific advise, a Research Program and a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan of the National Parks Network, latter having programs of ecological, sociological monitoring and functional. The article briefly explains the various monitoring initiatives underway, with examples of outcomes in each: mapping of natural systems, productivity monitoring through remote sensing, monitoring plant health, common bird monitoring, studies of social perception etc. Future prospects and areas for improvement of long-term monitoring in the National Parks Network are explained taking into account the synergies with the LTER Network, which is useful for monitoring in National Parks, especially concerning the application of comparable protocols and information management.