The increasing abandonment of marginal land creates new opportunities for restoration, reintroduction, and rewilding, but what do these terms mean in a rapidly and irreversibly changing world? The ‘re’ prefix means ‘back’, but it is becoming clear that the traditional use of past ecosystems as targets and criteria for success must be replaced by an orientation towards an uncertain future. Current opinions in restoration and reintroduction biology range from a defense of traditional definitions, with some modifications, to acceptance of more radical responses, including assisted migration, taxon substitution, de-extinction, and genetic modification. Rewilding attempts to minimize sustained intervention, but this hands-off approach is also threatened by rapid environmental change.

Restoration, Reintroduction, and Rewilding in a Changing World

Can on-site management mitigate nitrogen deposition impacts in non-wooded habitats?

Assessing the impact of grassland management extensification in temperate areas on multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity

Effects of root exudates on rhizosphere bacteria and nutrient removal in pond-ditch circulation systems (PDCSs) for rural wastewater treatment.

Past intensive land use complicates the successful restoration of oligotrophic species-rich grassland types. One of the major bottlenecks are the elevated nutrient levels due to fertilization, especially residual phosphorus (P). Aiming to deplete nutrients, managers often reintroduce traditional haymaking management, sometimes combined with grazing. Here, we evaluate whether this technique restores the abiotic and biotic boundary conditions for restoration of Nardus grassland. Seven grasslands were selected in Flanders, Belgium, which had elevated nutrient levels after the cessation of intensive agriculture 16–24 years ago, and which have been mown and grazed since. We compared soil and vegetation data of these postfertilization grasslands with 34 well-developed oligotrophic Nardus grasslands. Mowing and grazing did not cause community composition to resemble that of Nardus grassland. Furthermore, bioavailable P-concentrations were significantly higher in the postfertilization grasslands and P-limitation was not obtained. Restoring P-poor soil conditions through continued mowing and grazing management would take at least decades. Phosphorus-mining can shorten the restoration time by increased P-removal. Given our results, we propose a decision framework to aid planners and managers in their choice of interventions. Cost-effective efforts for restoration should be well-prepared, including measurements of important initial soil characteristics. This allows for an evaluation of “distance to target” and the selection of an effective restoration technique. These techniques may involve cutting the mowing tradition, and utilizing P-mining or topsoil removal instead.

P-removal for restoration of Nardus grasslands on former agricultural land: cutting traditions

To restore species-rich terrestrial ecosystems on ex-agricultural land, establishing nutrient limitation for dominant plant growth is essential because in nutrient-rich soils, fast-growing species often exclude target species. However, N-limitation is easier to achieve than P-limitation (because of a difference in biogeochemical behavior), biodiversity is generally highest under P-limitation. Commonly used restoration methods to achieve low soil P-concentrations are either very expensive or take a very long time. A promising restoration technique is P-mining, an adjusted agricultural technique that aims at depleting soil-P. High biomass production and hence high P-removal with biomass are obtained by fertilizing with nutrients other than P. A pot experiment was set up to study P-mining with Lolium perenne L. on sandy soils with varying P-concentrations: from an intensively used agricultural soil to a soil near the soil P-target for species-rich Nardus grassland. All pots received N- and K-fertilization. The effects of biostimulants on P-uptake were also assessed by the addition of arbuscular mycorrhiza (Glomus spp.), humic substances or phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas spp.). In our P-rich soil (111 µg POlsen/g), P-removal rate was high but bioavailable soil-P did not decrease. At lower soil P-concentrations (64 and 36 µg POlsen/g), bioavailable soil-P had decreased but the P-removal rate had by then dropped 60% despite N- and K-fertilization and despite that the target (<10 µg POlsen/g) was still far away. None of the biostimulants altered this trajectory. Therefore, restoration will still take decades when starting with ex-agricultural soils unless P-fertilization history was much lower than average.

Phosphorus mining for ecological restoration on former agricultural land.

The European Habitats Directive urges the European member states to take measures for maintaining and restoring natural habitats. In Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands, the surface area of nature reserves is intended to be enlarged with 38 000 ha and 150 000 ha, respectively, what is mainly to be realised on former agricultural land. In order to restore species rich nature habitats on former agricultural land, it is crucial to decrease the availability of nutrients and a limitation for plant growth by at least one nutrient should be ensured. The former fertilization of P in the agricultural context results in an immense P pool fixated to the soil and this is one of the main problems hindering the ecological restoration. We focus on an alternative restoration method, the phytoextraction of P, also P-mining. This is the deprivation of soil P with a crop with high P-use efficiency and non-P fertilization. This method allows the gradual transition from agricultural land use towards nature management. Up until now there have only been estimations of the P-mining duration time from the initial phase of the mining-process.
In order to estimate the P-extraction over time the experiments take place on a soil-P-chronosequence. A controlled pot experiment was set up with soil from three former agricultural sites with different soil-P-levels, Lolium perenne was sown and chemical and biological compounds were added to enhance the bioavailability of P for plant-uptake. The additives used were two concentrations of humic acids, phosphorus solubilising bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Largest effects of the soil additions on the biomass production were measured in the lowest soil-P-level. Limitation by P in the Mid and Low P soils was very pronounced. The phytoextraction of P will slow down with soil P level decreasing in time. The effect of the soil additions is discussed.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/3035876/file/3035894.pdf

Phytoextraction of phosphorus for ecological restoration: application of soil additives

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Phosphorus mining for ecological restoration on former agricultural land.

Phytoextraction of phosphorus for ecological restoration: application of soil additives