Restoration Study Guide for Midterm

Conceptual Model

shows the most important cause-and-effect relationships w/in an ecosystem and how drivers of change affect ecosystem

Identification of Conceptual Models

1) drivers/stressors (forces that change attributes)

2) ecological effects/attributes (outcomes)

Six Drivers of Ecological Change

1) Habitat conversion

2) Pollution

3) Overexploitation of species

4) Invasive Species

5) Climate Change

6) Natural Drivers

Six Ecological Effects

1) Population Declines ( small pops are more vulnerable)

2) Habitat fragmentation

3) Introduced Species (native genotypes are important)

4) Species interactions (rivet popping, Persian rug- unraveling tapestry)

5) Disturbance and Succession

6) Ecosystem Decline (trophic levels shift, ddd vs. reference community)

Why is Assessing Ecological Effects Hard?

1) ddd may be indirect to the community effected

2) Multiple stressors are hard to tease apart

3) Human-caused changes vs. natural changes

Levels of Diagnoses

1) Ecoregion

2) Landscape

3) Site Analysis (plants, species, interactions)

4) Species Analysis (mark, age structure)

Synoptic (Interactive) Assessment

How resilient an ecosystem is (genetics allow them to rebound)

Resilience

The ability of an ecosystem to recover on its own

Establishing Goals

S- specific

M- measurable

A- achievable

R- realistic

T- time-based

Novel Ecosystems

No reference community because they didn’t exist in the past (ex) rain gardens

Components of Restoration Plan

1) Problems addressed

2) What needs to be done

3) How will others know (signage and communication)

4) monitoring the change

5) supports (attracting donors and volunteers, granting agencies)

6) How will intentions and progress be communicated (report)

Overview of Planning Process

1) Conceptual model (how goals will be achieved, scope, info for future conditions, and how to address them)

2) Hypothetical scenarios to see which option of restoration is best

3) Implementation Plan

Vegetative Reproduction

not sexual (identical offspring), roots, rhizomes and stolons, leaves, thallus (mass of cells)

Sexual Reproduction

pollination (pollen delivered from stamen to stigma) through pollen tube, 2 sperm (one for fertilization, the other for making the fruit)

Plants can be Self-fertile plants (faculative-sometimes), (obligate- only), (separate flowers- do both), or Outcrossing Plants (sometimes or only)

Bird Plants

red, tubular for hummingbirds

Bee Plants

purple (UV), landing pad for clumsy flier

Butterfly Plants

lots of flowers together (sensitive to wind), semitubular

Moth Plants

bloom dusk and dawn, white (visible), smell strongly

Beetle Plants

strong, unpleasant smell, heat

Fly Plants

smell bad, early-season flowers, meat colored, heat

Bat Plants

open at night, open for bats to feed and hover OR provide perches

Small Mammal Flowers

long stem for climbing

Wind Plants

ton of pollen or propellers

Water Plants

Water tension sucks in the male flower to female

1) Sustainability/Fitting In

NA, died of chicken pox, smallpox, flu

2) Manifest Destiny

Europeans had a divine calling to take control, Doctrine of Discovery (improvement- make NA like Europeans, own land and cut down trees)

3) Preservation (John Muir)

want future generations to experience OG land, keep as is

4) Conservation (Aldo Leopold)

Management, (doing stuff), take care of it

5) Restoration 1988 Society for Ecological Restoration, William Jordan 3)

restoring damaged ecosystems, patch pieces of prairie together

6) Reconciliation Ecology (Michael Rosenzweig)

Win-win ecology

Restoration Ecology

coming alongside nature to help it, assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been damaged, degraded, and destroyed

Foundational Considerations in RE

A. What happened?

B. Who was affected?

C. What can be done?

D. What is the goal and success?

E. Who will do it?

6) planning, design, installation, maintenance

CW

coefficient of wetness,

• -5 needs WET

• +5 needs DRY

CC

Coefficient of Conservatism

• 0= grows everywhere

• 10= need an undisturbed particular habitat

Use middle range in RE (don’t take over but don’t die immediately)

Dominion Model

Triangle, humans on top

European approach

Indigenous Model

Humans are equal with animals, circle, Robin Kimmerer

Seva (Sanskrit)

Heart, we are here to help other species thrive, we are the only altruistic ones

Critical Zone

fragile skin on earth where life occurs, we are messing up the balance between critcal zone and not critical zone (chems, N, oil)

Why use rescued plants?

cheaper, save local genetics, moving important elements that didn’t exist back in (microbiomes)

Rhizosphere

area around root tips that change chemical composition of soil, dead cells come off root cap (microbes) and attract bacteria, meristematic = cells keep dividing and keeps growing, produce mucilage (slime)

Assimilation and dissimilation

building uo of molecules to become more complex, vice versa

Dead Zone and Eutrophication

oxygen decreases because there are alot of decomposers eating dead algal blooms due to the high nutrients from the Mississippi river, this leads to a decrease in fish

Bioassay

Put soil in the greenhouse and see what grows and is there. If it’s too nutrient-rich, leave it and let it decrease (stockpiles). Sometimes poor soils are easier to restore than fertile ones (native plants vs. weeds)

Bioremediation

using living organisms to reduce the harm of toxins (South Field ex)

Wetlands and Wastewater

put sewage into wetlands and let them process it

Natural Recolonization

1) Remove barriers and just let it grow

2) Entrapment microsites, nurse plants, catalysts

Seed or transplant?

• want control for end result?

• $

• availibilty of seeds nearby

• area