Global analysis of seagrass restoration: the importance of large‐scale planting

Journal of Applied Ecology - Tập 53 Số 2 - Trang 567-578 - 2016
Marieke M. van Katwijk1, Anitra Thorhaug2, Núria Marbà3, Robert J. Orth4, Carlos M. Duarte3,5,6, Gary A. Kendrick6, Inge Althuizen1, Elena Balestri7, Guillaume Bernard8, Marion L. Cambridge6, Alexandra H. Cunha9, Cynthia Durance10, Wim Giesen1,11, Qiuying Han12, Shinya Hosokawa13, Wawan Kiswara14, Teruhisa Komatsu15, Claudio Lardicci7, Kun‐Seop Lee16, Alexandre Meinesz17, Masahiro Nakaoka18, Katherine R. O’Brien19, E.I. Paling20, Chris Pickerell21, Aryan M. A. Ransijn1, Jennifer Verduin22
1Department of Environmental Science Faculty of Science Institute for Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen The Netherlands
2Greeley Laboratories Institute for Sustainable Forestry School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Yale University Prospect St New Haven CT 06511 USA
3Department of Global Change Research IMEDEA (CSIC‐UIB) Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats C/Miguel Marqués 21 07190 Esporles Spain
4Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA
5King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) Thuwal 23955‐6900 Saudi Arabia
6The UWA Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway Crawley 6009 WA Australia
7Dipartimento di Biologia Pisa University Via Derna 1 56126 Pisa Italy
8GIPREB (Gestion Intégrée pour la Prospective et la Réhabilitation de l'Etang de Berre) 13 Cours Mirabeau 13130 Berre‐l’Étang France
9Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR) Edificio 7 Universidade do Algarve Campus de Gambelas 8005‐139 Faro Portugal
10Precision Identification 3622 West 3rd Avenue Vancouver BC V6R 1L9 Canada
11Euroconsult Mott MacDonald P.O. Box 441 6800 AK Arnhem The Netherlands
12Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research(YIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes, YICCAS, Yantai, Shandong 264003, China
13Marine Environmental Information Group Port and Airport Research Institute Nagase Yokosuka Kanagawa 239‐0826 Japan
14Research Centre for Oceanography Indonesian Institute of Sciences Jl. Pasir Putih No. 1, Ancol, Timur Jakarta Utara 14430 Indonesia
15Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa 277-8564, Japan
16Department of Biological Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan, 609-735, Korea.
17EA ECOMERS 4228 University Nice Sophia Antipolis F‐06108 Nice 2 France
18Akkeshi Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Akkeshi, Hokkaido 088-1113, Japan
19School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
20Ichthys Onshore LNG 11/14 Winnellie Road Winnellie NT 0820 Australia
21Marine Program Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County 423 Griffing Avenue, Suite 100 Riverhead NY 11901 USA
22School of Veterinary and Life Sciences Environmental and Conservation Sciences Murdoch University South Street Murdoch 6150 Perth WA Australia

Tóm tắt

Summary In coastal and estuarine systems, foundation species like seagrasses, mangroves, saltmarshes or corals provide important ecosystem services. Seagrasses are globally declining and their reintroduction has been shown to restore ecosystem functions. However, seagrass restoration is often challenging, given the dynamic and stressful environment that seagrasses often grow in. From our world‐wide meta‐analysis of seagrass restoration trials (1786 trials), we describe general features and best practice for seagrass restoration. We confirm that removal of threats is important prior to replanting. Reduced water quality (mainly eutrophication), and construction activities led to poorer restoration success than, for instance, dredging, local direct impact and natural causes. Proximity to and recovery of donor beds were positively correlated with trial performance. Planting techniques can influence restoration success. The meta‐analysis shows that both trial survival and seagrass population growth rate in trials that survived are positively affected by the number of plants or seeds initially transplanted. This relationship between restoration scale and restoration success was not related to trial characteristics of the initial restoration. The majority of the seagrass restoration trials have been very small, which may explain the low overall trial survival rate (i.e. estimated 37%). Successful regrowth of the foundation seagrass species appears to require crossing a minimum threshold of reintroduced individuals. Our study provides the first global field evidence for the requirement of a critical mass for recovery, which may also hold for other foundation species showing strong positive feedback to a dynamic environment. Synthesis and applications. For effective restoration of seagrass foundation species in its typically dynamic, stressful environment, introduction of large numbers is seen to be beneficial and probably serves two purposes. First, a large‐scale planting increases trial survival – large numbers ensure the spread of risks, which is needed to overcome high natural variability. Secondly, a large‐scale trial increases population growth rate by enhancing self‐sustaining feedback, which is generally found in foundation species in stressful environments such as seagrass beds. Thus, by careful site selection and applying appropriate techniques, spreading of risks and enhancing self‐sustaining feedback in concert increase success of seagrass restoration.

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