Leah L. Bremer

Does plantation forestry restore biodiversity or create green deserts? A synthesis of the effects of land-use transitions on plant species richness

Plantations are established for a variety of reasons including wood production, soil and water conservation, and more recently, carbon sequestration. The effect of this growing land-use change on biodiversity, however, is poorly understood and considerable debate exists as to whether plantations are ‘green deserts’ or valuable habitat for indigenous flora and fauna. This paper synthesizes peer-reviewed articles that provide quantitative data on plant species richness in plantations and paired land uses, most often representative of pre-plantation land cover. The results of this synthesis suggest that the value of plantations for biodiversity varies considerably depending on whether the original land cover is grassland, shrubland, primary forest, secondary forest, or degraded or exotic pasture, and whether native or exotic tree species are planted. The results of this study suggest that plantations are most likely to contribute to biodiversity when established on degraded lands rather than replacing natural ecosystems, such as forests, grasslands, and shrublands, and when indigenous tree species are used rather than exotic species. These findings can help guide afforestation and reforestation programs, including those aimed at increasing terrestrial carbon sequestration.

Compensation for ecosystem services: an evaluation of efforts to achieve conservation and development in Ecuadorian páramo grasslands

Ecosystem services programmes have been advocated for their potential to join conservation and poverty alleviation efforts, integrate working landscapes, and provide a flow of ecosystem services upon which populations rely. Ecuadorian paramo grasslands have rapidly become the focus of compensation for ecosystem services (CES) programmes intended to conserve hydrologic services, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. This paper reviews CES programmes in Ecuadorian paramos using a combination of semi-structured interviews with project personnel, policy makers and community leaders involved in CES programme development, document analysis, and archival research. Findings indicate that, in some cases, CES schemes can support local development, with potential to contribute to poverty alleviation; however, measures of programme effects on poverty were lacking. The programmes fell across the spectrum of activity-reducing to activity-enhancing, with some functioning as protected areas and others integrating working landscapes; however, designation of land as protected did not necessarily imply more restrictive use. Finally, these cases all reflect scenarios in which limited information is available linking land use with ecosystem services production and underscore the idea that adequate understanding of ecosystem production functions continues to be a barrier to development of effective programmes, particularly where the provision of multiple ecosystem services is anticipated.

Process matters: a framework for conducting decision-relevant assessments of ecosystem services

Ecosystem Service Assessments (ESAs) have become a popular tool for science-based policy. Yet, there are few guidelines for developing an ESA to inform a decision-making process. This is an important area of inquiry since the process of conducting an ESA is likely to affect the quality of results and their influence on decisions. Drawing on the lessons of conducting ESAs around the world, we propose a set of enabling conditions and a framework for carrying out ESAs that foster high-quality results and drive action. Our framework includes an emphasis on iterative stakeholder engagement, advancing science to address policy needs, and capacity-building through six general steps: (1) scope the process, (2) collect and compile data, (3) develop scenarios, (4) analyze ecosystem services, (5) synthesize results, and (6) communicate knowledge. Our experience indicates that using this framework to conduct an ESA can generate policy-relevant science and enhance uptake of information about nature’s benefits in decisions.

Effects of Land-Use Change on Water in Andean Páramo Grassland Soils

Mountain environments, including the Andean páramo grasslands of Ecuador, are important water source areas. They are often sites of programs and policies intended to achieve multiple management objectives, such as carbon sequestration, biological conservation, and water resource protection; yet such environments are often data poor. This creates challenges for programs that compensate landowners for protecting ecosystem services and uncertainty regarding which land uses are compatible. For example, does afforestation for carbon sequestration complement or hinder efforts to protect water resources in Andean páramos? We compared characteristics of high-elevation soil profiles at sites in two Ecuadorian páramo study areas and measured soil–water properties to assess whether changes in land use affected the soil hydrology. Using a space-for-time substitution, we compared soils in plantations of pines and Polylepis racemosa in grasslands with different grazing and burning regimes. Methods included soil description in soil pits; soil moisture measurement in soil pits and across surface transects; tracer studies of soil–water movement; and laboratory determination of bulk density, particle size, and humic acid composition. Of the land uses examined, only afforestation significantly affected soil moisture, whereas soil properties did not differ among grassland burning and grazing regimes. The results suggest that afforestation of páramos hinders the production of water and they underscore the need for further investigation to inform the trade-offs needed in managing páramo landscapes to support multiple ecosystem services.

Estimating Cost-Effectiveness of Hawaiian Dry Forest Restoration Using Spatial Changes in Water Yield and Landscape Flammability under Climate Change

Abstract: Resource managers increasingly seek to implement cost-effective watershed restoration plans for multiple ecosystem service benefits. Using locally adapted ecosystem service tools and historical management costs, we quantified spatially explicit management costs and benefits (in terms of groundwater recharge and landscape flammability) to assist a state agency in evaluating cobenefits for a predefined restoration scenario (focused on biodiversity benefits) and to prioritize an expanded restoration scenario in the state-managed Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a watershed ( Hawai‘i) now and under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 midcentury climate scenario. Restoring all available areas increases recharge by ∼1.74 million m3/yr (5% of recharge over the entire watershed) under the current climate and does not meaningfully change recharge under RCP 8.5 midcentury, whereas climate change decreases recharge by ∼50%. For landscape flammability, climate change increases the median and maximum probability of fire occurrence across all land use scenarios, and full restoration results in the greatest reduction in landscape flammability under both current and RCP 8.5 midcentury climate scenarios. We demonstrate that location and type of forest restoration influence overall cost-effectiveness of restoration, providing insights for landscape planning for ecosystem services under a limited budget. Across all scenarios, capturing potential benefits at low elevations requires greater expenditures (

Changes in carbon storage with land management promoted by payment for ecosystem services

13,161/ ha) than at high elevations (

A linked land-sea modeling framework to inform ridge-to-reef management in high oceanic islands

5,501/ ha) due mainly to the substantial costs of removing Pennisetum setaceum (fountain grass), the dominant land cover below 1,000 m. If management focuses on groundwater recharge only, the most cost-effective areas occur at high elevations (>1,000 m), with ample fog interception, although recharge benefits decline across the landscape under RCP 8.5 midcentury. Focusing instead on cost-effective landscape flammability reduction as the primary management objective shifts emphasis toward dry low-elevation areas under the current climate. However, under the RCP 8.5 midcentury scenario, the most cost-effective areas for flammability management shift toward higher elevations with greater potential overlap with recharge benefits.

Bringing multiple values to the table: assessing future land-use and climate change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi

RESEARCH ARTICLE The effects of check dams and other erosion control structures on the restoration of Andean bofedal ecosystems Brett D. Hartman 1,2 , Bodo Bookhagen 1,3 , Oliver A. Chadwick 4 Restoring degraded lands in rural environments that are heavily managed to meet subsistence needs is a challenge due to high rates of disturbance and resource extraction. This study investigates the efficacy of erosion control structures (ECSs) as restoration tools in the context of a watershed rehabilitation and wet meadow (bofedal) restoration program in the Bolivian Andes. In an effort to enhance water security and increase grazing stability, Aymara indigenous communities built over 15,000 check dams, 9,100 terraces, 5,300 infiltration ditches, and 35 pasture improvement trials. Communities built ECSs at different rates, and we compared vegetation change in the highest restoration management intensity, lowest restoration management intensity, and nonproject control communities. We used line transects to measure changes in vegetation cover and standing water in gullies with check dams and without check dams, and related these ground measurements to a time series (1986–2009) of normalized difference vegetation index derived from Landsat TM5 images. Evidence suggests that check dams increase bofedal vegetation and standing water at a local scale, and lead to increased greenness at a basin scale when combined with other ECSs. Watershed rehabilitation enhances ecosystem services significant to local communities (grazing stability, water security), which creates important synergies when conducting land restoration in rural development settings. Key words: Aymara, human-environment system, indigenous people, land restoration, NDVI, wet meadow Implications for Practice • Check dams increase bofedal vegetation and standing water at a local scale but can also lead to landscape-level effects that extend beyond the surface area covered by check dams. • The effects of large-scale and long-term restoration efforts need to be evaluated in the context of environmental change resulting from regional shifts in climate and land use. • Check dams and other erosion control structures can increase grazing stability and water security for local com- munities. When land restoration is aligned with the provi- sion of ecosystem services, indigenous people are capable of achieving extensive areas of land restoration even under continued agriculture and grazing management. Introduction Significant portions of the world’s tropics have been degraded by human use, with land degradation concentrated in dryland montane areas managed by the rural poor (Bridges & Oldeman 1999; Lambin et al. 2003; Bai et al. 2008). Local and indigenous people can be effective at ecosystem restoration, provided there is sufficient social coordination and mobilization (e.g. Walters 2000; Long et al. 2003; Mingyi et al. 2003; Stringer et al. 2007; Blay et al. 2008). However, restoration efforts in rural environ- ments that are heavily managed to meet subsistence needs are November 2016 Restoration Ecology Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 761–772 often complicated by high levels of disturbance from agricul- ture, grazing, fire, and biomass harvest (Brown & Lugo 1994; Lamb et al. 2005). To improve restoration success in rural devel- opment settings, there is a need to better understand restoration dynamics where land use pressure is high and management objectives include restoring ecosystem services important to local communities (e.g. grazing stability and water security). A geographic region where intensive management by rural poor populations has led to environmental degradation is the Central Andes of South America (Ellenberg 1979; Sarmiento & Frolich 2002). The Central Andes are dominated by dry, tropical montane Puna grasslands composed of bunchgrasses, rosette-forming herbs, and dwarf shrubs in upland positions, and bofedal vegetation composed of rosette-forming herbs and cushion-forming species in seeps, springs, wet meadows, and floodplains (Squeo et al. 2006). Large portions of the Central Author contributions: BDH, BB OAC designed research; BDH performed research; BDH, BB analyzed data; BDH, BB, OAC wrote the manuscript. 1 Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A. 2 Address correspondence to B. D. Hartman, email hartman@geog.ucsb.edu 3 Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Street 24-25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany 4 Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A.

“Water Is Life”: Local Perceptions of Páramo Grasslands and Land Management Strategies Associated with Payment for Ecosystem Services

Declining natural resources have led to a cultural renaissance across the Pacific that seeks to revive customary ridge-to-reef management approaches to protect freshwater and restore abundant coral reef fisheries. Effective ridge-to-reef management requires improved understanding of land-sea linkages and decision-support tools to simultaneously evaluate the effects of terrestrial and marine drivers on coral reefs, mediated by anthropogenic activities. Although a few applications have linked the effects of land cover to coral reefs, these are too coarse in resolution to inform watershed-scale management for Pacific Islands. To address this gap, we developed a novel linked land-sea modeling framework based on local data, which coupled groundwater and coral reef models at fine spatial resolution, to determine the effects of terrestrial drivers (groundwater and nutrients), mediated by human activities (land cover/use), and marine drivers (waves, geography, and habitat) on coral reefs. We applied this framework in two ‘ridge-to-reef’ systems (Hā‘ena and Ka‘ūpūlehu) subject to different natural disturbance regimes, located in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Our results indicated that coral reefs in Ka‘ūpūlehu are coral-dominated with many grazers and scrapers due to low rainfall and wave power. While coral reefs in Hā‘ena are dominated by crustose coralline algae with many grazers and less scrapers due to high rainfall and wave power. In general, Ka‘ūpūlehu is more vulnerable to land-based nutrients and coral bleaching than Hā‘ena due to high coral cover and limited dilution and mixing from low rainfall and wave power. However, the shallow and wave sheltered back-reef areas of Hā‘ena, which support high coral cover and act as nursery habitat for fishes, are also vulnerable to land-based nutrients and coral bleaching. Anthropogenic sources of nutrients located upstream from these vulnerable areas are relevant locations for nutrient mitigation, such as cesspool upgrades. In this study, we located coral reefs vulnerable to land-based nutrients and linked them to priority areas to manage sources of human-derived nutrients, thereby demonstrating how this framework can inform place-based ridge-to-reef management.

Scenario planning with linked land-sea models inform where forest conservation actions will promote coral reef resilience

As ecosystem service assessments increasingly contribute to decisions about managing Earth’s lands and waters, there is a growing need to understand the diverse ways that people use and value landscapes. However, these assessments rarely incorporate the value of landscapes to communities with strong cultural and generational ties to place, precluding inclusion of these values— alongside others—into planning processes. We developed a process to evaluate trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services across land-use scenarios and under climate change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi, a tropical dry ecosystem where water, fire, biodiversity, and cultural values are all critical considerations for land management decisions. Specifically, we combined participatory deliberative methods, ecosystem service models, vegetation surveys, and document analysis to evaluate how cultural services, regulating services (groundwater recharge, landscape flammability reduction), biodiversity, and revenue: (1) vary across four land-use scenarios (pasture, coffee, agroforestry, and native forest restoration) and (2) are expected to vary with climate change (representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5 mid-century scenario). The native forest restoration scenario provided high cultural, biodiversity, and ecosystem service value, whereas coffees strongest benefit was monetary return. The agroforestry scenario offered the greatest potential in terms of maximizing multiple services. Pasture had relatively low ecological and economic value but, as with native forest and agroforestry, held high value in terms of local knowledge and cultural connection to place. Climate change amplified existing vulnerabilities for groundwater recharge and landscape flammability, but resulted in few shifts in the ranking of land-use scenarios. Our results demonstrate that cultural services need not be sacrificed at the expense of other management objectives if they are deliberately included in land-use planning from the start. Meaningfully representing what matters most to diverse groups of people, now and under a changing climate, requires greater integration of participatory methods into ecosystem service analyses.