Resource Database

Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

In celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May 2018, Wiley has put together a special collection of over 100 research articles from 12 journals highlighting important contributions to advancing the understanding, protection, and preservation of biodiversity. Articles come from numerous fields in the natural and social sciences. They are free to share, read and download for a limited time.

Global Arid Zone Project – Progress in global dryland restoration

Drylands are some of the most difficult areas to restore, but paradoxically have only seen a small fraction of terrestrial ecology (6%) and restoration (<5%) studies. The Global Arid Zone Project, first conceived in 2018 and launched later that year, is aimed at building a continuously growing restoration tool that collates existing data into a usable data center. By compiling a unique global database on dryland ecosystem restoration, we hope to provide the ability to explore drivers of restoration success at an unprecedented scale. Here, we present the first analysis of the database. Our results were assembled from datasets across 174 sites on six continents, encompassing 594,065 observations of 671 plant species. Findings provide reason for optimism. Seeding in drylands had a clear positive impact on the presence of plant species. However, dryland restoration is also a risky proposition: 17% of the projects completely failed, with no establishment of any seeded species, and consistent declines were found in seeded species as projects matured. We also focus in on North American drylands, assessing changes in success through time, evolutions in seed mix design, and overarching patterns of native versus exotic seed success.

Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources

The Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources (RNGR) website is a popular resource for those who grow or outplant native plants for reforestation, restoration, or conservation. The site hosts a national directory of forestry and conservation nurseries, a calendar of relevant events, and access to a repository of approximately 15,000 articles  (searchable and free to download). The site also includes pages specific to tropical plants, tribal nurseries, and seed.

Roadside revegetation: An integrated approach to establishing native plants and pollinator habitat

The roadsides of the United States play an important role in the conservation of declining wild pollinators and in supporting the health of managed pollinators. The An Integrated Approach to Establishing Native Plants and Pollinator Habitat program provides current best practices for planning, designing, and implementing a revegetation project that will also create habitat for pollinators. The web resource offers a comprehensive Roadside Revegetation Report detailing the complete roadside revegetation process, from project initiation, through monitoring and management. It is also home to the Ecoregional Revegetation Application online tool and a Roadside Revegetation online library.

SER Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) Program

SER’s Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) Program encourages a high professional standard for those who are designing, implementing, overseeing, and monitoring restoration projects throughout the world.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
By developing criteria for restoration practitioners to be approved for CERP, and continuing education requirements for maintenance or certification, the CERP program contributes to activity B10. Certified practitioners, in turn, can contribute to activities C1, C3, C4, and C5 regarding restoration planning and implementation, and activities D1, D2, and D3 regarding project monitoring.

Restoration Resource Center (RRC)

SER’s Restoration Resource Center (RRC) provides hundreds of examples of restoration projects, as well links to science, technology and traditional knowledge about restoration from around the world. A wide variety of other resources to assist with restoration planning can also be found on the SER website.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The RRC contains many resources relevant to Group of activities C and D. Of particular importance for is a restoration directory of expertise, and a resource database that can be filtered by publication year, resources type, title, author, and keyword. A project database provides many examples of restoration implementation (C5), and contribute to sharing lessons learned, in line with activity D3.

Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) Knowledge Base

This knowledge base provides access to a comprehensive database of resources related to forest and landscape restoration in a wide range of aspects. More specifically, it provides access to an online user-friendly platform where users can find guidance from planning and implementation to the ongoing management and monitoring of a restoration project.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This resource includes information on many aspects of FLR including assessment of degradation / restoration opportunities (activities A1 and A2), governance (activities B1 and B6), and implementation (activity C5), and monitoring (Group D). Documents such as Global guidelines for the restoration of degraded forests and landscapes in drylands, outline monitoring and evaluation programs including assessment (D1), adaptive management (D2), and sharing lessons learned (D3).

Bonn Challenge Barometer

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
By providing a common platform for countries to report on the outcomes of their FLR strategies along standard criteria, the Bonn Challenge Barometer allows for the sharing of lessons learned and exchange of information, in line with Activity D3.

Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP)

The Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) is a global initiative to promote and coordinate the development and delivery of biodiversity indicators for use by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other biodiversity-related conventions, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national and regional agencies. The website allows users to browse a range of indicators related to Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as a library of resources for the development of national-scale indicators.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The BIP resource provides tools to identify relevant indicators for assessing multiple restoration objectives directly relevant to CBD goals and targets (D1), to test and refine indicators (D2), and to develop monitoring and reporting systems (D3).

US Army Corps of Engineers Ecosystem Restoration Gateway

Ecosystem Restoration is one of the primary missions of the Civil Works program. The purpose of Civil Works ecosystem restoration activities is to restore significant ecosystem function, structure, and dynamic processes that have been degraded. Ecosystem restoration efforts involve a comprehensive examination of the problems contributing to the system degradation, and the development of alternative means for their solution. The intent of restoration is to partially or fully reestablish the attributes of a naturalistic, functioning, and self-regulating system.

US Army Corps of Engineers Management Measures Digital Library

The purpose of this site is to identify and describe examples of selected ecosystem engineering features or management measures and their components. This site is not intended to be a design manual, but rather to provide sufficient information to stimulate plan formulation and assist planners in identifying what’s out there and to “visualize” how a management measure or engineering feature may be applicable to their project.

Ecological Management & Restoration (EMR) Project Summaries

The Australasian journal Ecological Management & Restoration (EMR) is open to submission of short summaries (or groups of linked summaries) of 300-700 words on any interesting ecosystem rehabilitation or restoration project in Australia that is already showing good or promising results. These project summaries are published on an open-access website managed by the journal’s editorial team. They are not a peer-reviewed manuscript type in EMR, but are checked for clarity and content by the project summaries editor.

Restoration Evidence

Restoration Evidence is a free resource developed by the Endangered Landscapes Programme that aims to make ecological restoration more effective by providing evidence about the effectiveness of specific restoration actions. The searchable website contains summaries of scientific research on the effects of actions to restore habitats, in order to support decision making. Actions are categorized by the target habitat or species. Summaries of evidence are available for the ecological restoration of forests, peatland vegetation, shrublands and heathlands, and farmland, and for restoration actions aimed at enhancing populations of birds, amphibians, bees, bats and primates.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This resource is particularly relevant for Activity C1 in that it helps assess the ecological appropriateness of different restoration measures for different ecosystems or particular taxonomic groups. Its grounding in scientific research also makes us of existing science, in line with Activity C5.

Rewilding complex ecosystems

Humans have encroached upon a majority of Earth’s lands. The current extinction crisis is a testament to human impacts on wilderness. If there is any hope of retaining a biodiverse planetary system, we must begin to learn how to coexist with, and leave space for, other species. The practice of “rewilding” has emerged as a method for returning wild lands, and wildness, to landscapes we have altered. Perino et al. review this concept and present a framework for implementing it broadly and in a way that considers ongoing human interaction.

Standards of Practice to Guide the UN Decade on Ecosystem

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2021–2030 as the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The Decade offers an opportunity to substantially advance restoration practice, science, and policy, but to do so requires a shared vision of ecosystem restoration and the principles that underpin it, as well as clear standards for what constitutes best practice. Towards this end, UN Decade partners engaged in a multi-stage process to collaboratively develop principles and standards of practice for ecosystem restoration, based on existing published guidance from a broad range of restorative activities and input from over 400 experts in the field. The principles and standards provide the essential tenets of ecosystem restoration that should be followed to maximize net gain for native biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, and human well-being, across all biomes, sectors and regions. This webinar will consider the 10 principles underpinning the UN Decade, and the development of guidance or best practices for planning, implementing, and monitoring and evaluation of restoration projects.

Coral Restoration: Sharing Knowledge for the Enhancement of Restoration Practices

Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) has been working to reverse the functional extinction of endangered reef-building corals and restore coral reefs in Florida (USA) since 2007. In that time, CRF has returned over 215,000 corals to Florida’s Coral Reef, restoring more than 34,000 square meters of degraded marine habitat. The success of our large-scale coral husbandry and reef restoration efforts has paved the way for other important restoration activities in the Florida Keys and beyond. In this webinar, hosted by SER, Jessica Levy (Director of Restoration Strategy, CRF) will present on CRF’s in-situ coral propagation and restoration efforts. Jessica will also discuss advancements in coral restoration methods made over the years, with a focus on how shared learning experience can help to scale the success of restoration efforts around the world.

Launching the New Seed Information Database with the INSR

The new SID provides user-friendly access to essential information on seed weight, storage behavior, germination requirements, and other traits. The database currently hosts 182,232 records from 54,803 plant taxa. All records contained within the database are publicly available under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY 2.0.

SID, originally developed and maintained by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (RBGK), was slated to be discontinued due to an agency compliance issue. Upon hearing about the impending closure, SER’s INSR and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew worked together to ensure the preservation of this critical database, which serves as an invaluable and reliable source of information on native seeds for restoration practitioners across the globe.

The Nature Restoration Law: challenges for the scientific community

SER Europe, liaised with INBO-Flanders in the fifth installment in the Alternet Science-Policy Interface seminar series on 27 February 2023. This free, open webinar was organized jointly by Alternet – SERE – INBO, on the subject of the Nature Restoration Law.

On 22 June 2022, the European Commission launched its proposal for an ambitious Nature Restoration Law that promotes a planned, science-based approach to better tackle both the biodiversity and climate crisis, in coordination with other existing European legislation. It is a potential game-changer for the implementation of nature-based solutions in our urban, agricultural, forestry and river/floodplain ecosystems and for boosting the resilience and integrity of the ecosystems in our protected areas.

Currently, discussions are ongoing within the European Council and the European Parliament, and it is likely that the law will be passed by the end of 2023, followed by immediate implementation in all member states in 2024. The urgency is high, and the timing is extremely tight. During the webinar, the law will be introduced, and we explore and discuss the challenges for the scientific community to support the implementation of the law.

This webinar was an activity of the 2023 SER Partnership Fund Project “SERE4NRL: Advocacy for the European Union Nature Restoration Law – A model for Global Restoration Policy”.

Programme

• Maurice Hoffmann, chair Alternet: Welcome and introduction.
• Jordi Cortina-Segarra, chair Society for Ecological Restoration Europe: Welcome and introduction SERE.
• Karolina D’Cunha, Deputy Head of Natural Capital and Ecosystems Health Unit at the European Commission: Introduction to the EC proposal of a Nature Restoration Law.
• Kris Decleer, senior researcher INBO and board member SERE: Challenges for the scientific community.
• Discussion, moderated by Juliette Young (INRAE)

Coral-Focused Climate Change Adaptation and Restoration Based on Accelerating Natural Processes: Launching the “Reefs of Hope” Paradigm

The demise of coral reefs due to climate change is now a certainty, and investing in restoration without facing this reality risks failure. A new coral-focused paradigm is proposed, based on helping coral reefs adapt to rising temperature, ensuring that as many coral species as possible survive locally over time. Genebank nurseries of bleaching resistant corals are secured in cooler waters, to prevent their demise as heat stress increases. From nurseries corals are harvested to create nucleation patches of genetically diverse pre-adapted corals, which become reproductively, ecologically and biologically viable at reef scale, spreading over time. This “Reefs of Hope” paradigm, modelled on tropical forest restoration, creates dense coral patches, forming fish habitat immediately. The fish increase coral and substratum health, which in turn enhances natural larval-based recovery processes. Incoming coral recruits, attracted to the patch, are expected to be inoculated by heat adapted algal symbionts, becoming resitant to bleaching.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
Highly relevant new restoration paradigm for coral reefs

SER-MWGL Webinar: Managing Midwestern Ecosystems in the Face of Changing Climate

A panel of experts and practitioners in Midwest ecosystems and ecological restoration will discuss the study, planning and management of Midwestern ecosystems (woodlands, savannas, prairies and wetlands) in light of the reality of climate change. The panelists will give a short presentation discussing land management and insights into changing ecosystems, and then we will take both questions and comments from the audience to enhance the discussion.

Plenary 1. Towards a Decade of Social-Ecological Restoration

Plenary. Stefan Leiner

W6.1 Education and Training in Ecological Restoration: Restoring hope – opportunities for international and inter-generational knowledge exchange

W4. Rewilding: challenges and opportunities

Plenary 2. The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: an opportunity to upscale restoration and to share good practices in Europe by 2030

S5. Restoration Monitoring

Plenary 3. The European Green Deal and Systemic approaches to Nature Restoration

S1.1 Restoration measures for landscape connectivity and implementation of Green Infrastructure

S1.2 Restoration measures for landscape connectivity and implementation of Green Infrastructure

Plenary 4. Scaling up action for resilient wetland landscapes.