Ecological Restoration: Exam 1

The current SER definition of ecological restoration includes the process of _________ recovery of an ecosystem that has been _________, __________, or _________:

assisting, damaged, degraded, or destroyed

What is the first step in the restoration process?

determine the restoration goal(might,not,be,true,because,it,was,not,correct,on,the,quiz)

In the reading by Katz (2018), he argues against viewing ecological restoration as:

moral repair

In a Primary Succession situation, which of the following is true?

most or all vegetation is gone and the area must be colonized from outside

Which of the following is not a trait that would identify a collectivistic culture?

never living or working in isolation

How far back should we restore to?

none of the above

Plant-soil feedbacks influence

the soil physical, biological, and chemical environment

Describe 3 reasons why the concept of reciprocal restoration is important to restoration.

- Considers humans as a part of the ecosystem -Giving back to the ecosystem rather than only extracting from it -Land and culture are inseparable: Cultural revitalization leads to land restoration

Explain how you might identify constraints on a restoration project.

-Understand disturbance regime -Biogeochemical feedbacks/exotic or novel species -Herbivory/ trophic interactions -seed source/ species pool/ landscape connectivity -Global/ regional/ environmental changes

Briefly summarize Katz's (2018) argument against seeing ecological restoration a moral repair.

1) Seeing ecological restoration as moral repair is a human-centric view of restoration 2) The individuals are not being saved, so there is no trust being restored 3) Ecosystem is restored to human values

According to Higgs et al. (2014) what is the value of historical knowledge in restoration projects?

History can provide information and reference, enrich cultural connections, and help reveal the future.

Why is the State and Transition Model of succession important for, and often used in the development of ecological restoration projects?

Holdridge's model gives a ecosystem type that can be restored to to give a base map, and Westoby's state and transition model gives an understanding of the pathways that can lead to different states

What do all restorations provide?

Hope, optimism, and opportunities to support a growing population

What is the leading underlying driver of ecosystem degradation?

Human population growth

In Evans and Davis 2018, what does the "conflation" of indigenous and sustainable practices mean? Why would it be critiqued?

Indigenous practices do not necessarily equate to sustainable practices. Many cultures lived unsustainably, and it is reductive to assume that every tribe lived in perfect harmony with the earth.

Which of the following is true about succession in forested sites?

Post-disturbance logging and tree planting can limit the duration and species richness in early-successional forests.

Which of the following Rs are important to sustenance of cultural revitalization and land restoration?

Respect, Reciprocity, Relationship

In the United States, which historic events caused the emergence of conservation ethic? How was the era of conservation initiated?

SMCRA Act of 1977 coal mining reclamation was undertaken as a physical reconstruction rather than a biological one. SMCRA was focused on reclamation, but many felt that bar was too low

Traits of a collectivist culture

Social rules focus on promoting selflessness, working as a group, doing what's best for society, families and communities have a central role

Describe two similarities and three differences between TEK and Scientific knowledge.

TEK: cultural sustainability, everyday experiences, multi-generational, understanding relationshipsSci Knowledge: hypothesis based on knowledge (inductive vs deductive) explains observations and makes predictions -TEK provides specific, local environmental knowledge, and knowledge of ecosystem relationships, which when used in institutional settigns creates a code of ethics for governing

What is the Bonn Challenge?

The ICUN and several European countries pledged to have 150 million hectares restored by 2020

What is one way in which restoration in the US might be different than somewhere else (like Europe)?

The US has a shorter history of urban use, so many natural places were left uninhabited, so restoration to a fully natural use is possible. Europe aims for more reconciliation, to create habitat within the urban fabric

Explain how community assembly and trait-based ecology can collectively be used in selecting plant species.

Trait based planting can help guide an ecosystem to the desired restoration outcome

How does trait-based ecology differ from functional ecology?

Trait-based ecology uses the phenotypic characteristics of organisms to study biodiversity responses to environmental change. We define 'functional traits' as characteristics strictly inherent to the organism, requiring no reference to external conditions

Describe the difference between primary and secondary succession?

When natural communities are developed in barren habitat with no soil or extremely less soil, it is called primary succession. Abiotic factors such as water, wind, and species like algae and lichen have a significant role to play in primary succession. Secondary succession is defined as the development of natural communities on land in the presence of soil but the absence of natural vegetation due to some natural calamities or human-induced activities.

Which of the following land-use "boxes" is most often converted into another land-use type?

Wilderness

Disturbance is defined as_____________

a discrete, punctuated killing, displacement, or damaging of one or more individuals that directly or indirectly creates an opportunity for new individuals to establish.

In the film "The Man Who Planted Trees" the shepherd became a beekeeper because:

a) He wanted to increase ecological interactions that would increase biodiversity

The state-and-transition model of succession:

acknowledges that succession pathways can be complex and may lead to convergence at a single community, or divergence to multiple communities.

Which of the following disciplines might you want to involve in a restoration project?

all of the above

Which of the following is a life history strategy associated with early successional plants?

all r-strategists

The herbivory of which plant community can further ecological succession:

annuals

In Traditional Ecological Knowledge (the film), which of the following is not incorporated into Mechoopda Tribal community view on willows:

as a mass producing plant that can increase productivity by grafting.

Which of the following is true in applying the Holdridge classification system:

it is not applicable in Central Illinois

The concept that the long term successional trajectory of vegetation is strongly influenced by the species composition of the initial colonizers is referred to as __________.

founder effects

Which of the following is false regarding Clements (1916) and Gleason's (1926,1939) view of succession?

gleason believed despite multiple possible starting points, succession would proceed to a specific climax stage within a given climate

Which of the following is not true pertaining to the following statement? Soils are:

homogenous

Fill in the blanks using the options below. The well-being of the _____is intrinsically tied to the well-being of the _____________ and the ________________.

land, community, individual

The final step in the restoration process is:

maintaining the ecosystem through adaptive management

Plants labeled as nitrogen-fixing plants (such as legumes) are:

make associations with bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air

Reclamation is defined as:

making disturbed sites habitable for the species that were originally present

What do stable aggregates provide for soil microbes that the soil environment cannot?

microhabitats

According to the NDN show, what is a more appropriate way to describe science to differentiate it from TEK?

modern science

Which of the following is not an example of how ecosystem services can be valued?

modulating

Which of the following restoration actions cannot guide community assembly?

none of the above

Which of the following is NOT a possible benefit of ecological restoration?

none of the above, all are possible benefits -improving air quality -improving soil health - ensuring sustainability of natural resources -provide economic gain

Why are teams of experts needed to accomplish restoration goals?

restoration is complex and needs many viewpoints across multiple disciplines to achieve restoration goals.

In the plant-soil interface, which of the following contributes to carbon sequestration?

root exudation when plants are alive, plant decomposition aboveground, plant decomp below ground, soil aggregate formation. (all-of-the-above)

According to Higgs et al. (2014), Restoration "v2.0" differs from traditional restoration

v2.0 uses historical knowledge as a guide not a template

What does the Humpty Dumpty effect refer to in restoration?

we must understand the processes that control recovery because we cannot reassemble broken pieces of ecosystems.

Traits of an individualistic culture

Uniqueness, self-sufficiency, Autonomy, Independence

The African Restoration Initiative has:

Has completely restored 81% it's restoration from start to finish

What is community assembly?

a) The study of community composition and organization.

Mitigation is:

compensating for environmental damage

Which of the following is true about plant-soil feedbacks:

they help restore high diversity plant communities.

How is TEK used in ecological modelling?

to make predictions about historic land use of native communities taking future ecology trajectories into account

Plants with low specific leaf area and high density tissues are better adapted to survive in low resource environments because:

trade-offs evolved for these specific traits based on the environment because smaller leaves with high densities may have better storage capacities based on their environment (A & C)

According to the NDN show podcast episode, which of the following words in TEK are problematic, and why?

traditional, because cultures are adaptable and not a historic momento

Describe 4 factors that drive succession and one example of each.

trait-based attributes of organisms human disturbances herbivory carbon/nitrogen balance

What is the name of the science upon which the practice of ecological restoration is based?

restoration ecology

Which of the following is not product of the multiple stable states model?

directional succession

Please describe why restoration is a human conduct and why it is culturally mediated.

- The value of the ecosystem is tied to the culture using it, so restoration looks different to different cultures

List and describe three problems with using historical ecosystem composition for establishing the goal of restoration projects?

-How far back do you go? -Ecosystems are dynamic and everchanging -Climate change will force ecosystems to change and adapt

How might individualistic cultures and collectivistic cultures be different in their pursuit of accomplishing a restoration? Please describe an example for each culture.

-Individualistic cultures will expect the singular entity that degraded an ecosystem to fix it, and see ecosystem services as a benefit for each individual -Collectivistic cultures will look at restoration for the community, and will restore to different standards for different reasons

Initiative 20x20 refers to

A pledge between 8 countries to restore 20 million hectares of degraded land in Central and South America by 2020

Define succession

A process of development involving changes in species composition and community processes over time

Explain how aboveground plant inputs differ from belowground plant inputs.

Aboveground plant inputs include leaf litter and decaying organic matter (more carbon) Belowground plant inputs include root exudates and dead root DOM (more microbes, organic matter, chemicals)

Describe the concept of "ecological trajectory."

An ecological trajectory describes the developmental pathway of an ecosystem through time. In restoration, the trajectory begins with the unrestored ecosystem and progresses towards the desired state of recovery that is expressed in the goals of a restoration project and embodied in the reference ecosystem.

What does the UN decade of ecosystem restoration provide that other initiatives lack?

An ecosystem approach to integrated land management, water resource protection, and biodiversity loss

Describe the difference between community assembly and assembly rules and how they could become barriers to restoration.

Community assembly how organisms control transitions between alternative stable states assembly rules: patterns of colonization, species are reduced through filters (dispersal/abiotic/biotic)

Swanson et al. (2011) discuss why early-successional ecosystems are so important in maintaining ecosystem biodiversity. Explain how early successional stages influence biodiversity and why some traditional forest management activities may negatively influence biodiversity.

Early successional stages have high productivity of plant species, complex food webs, large nutrient fluxes, high structural and spatial variability. Leaves a legacy that allows sustained biodiversity of later successional states, immediate replanting can stop these legacies and connections from forming and reduce richness

In "The Man Who Planted Trees," what did the villagers lack that caused distance, chaos, and contributed to the degradation of the land?

Ecological values, respect for the land, and connectivity across communities

The 1980s definition of ecological restoration is "the process of altering a site to establish a defined indigenous historic ecosystem. The goal of this process is to emulate the structure and function of the specified ecosystem". What is the problem with this definition?

Ecosystems are dynamic so restoring an ecosystem to a certain point in history cannot be done.

According to Alan Watson Featherstone, what things should ecological restoration reconnect?

People with nature to become a part of the ecosystem -the web of life

The SMCRA act of 1977:

b) created a fund to pay for cleanup of mines abandoned before 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) prohibits surface coal mining within the boundaries of any unit of the National Park System. SMCRA also provides the NPS with authority over permitting decisions regarding external surface coal mining. Numerous surface coal mining operations exist or are proposed near NPS units nationwide. Protection of downstream water resources as well as air, wildlife, habitat, and visual resource impacts are often factors that must be addressed in the development of this resource. If a surface coal mine operation is proposed near a park boundary and the NPS has reason to believe that the operation will adversely affect park resources, then the NPS becomes a joint permitting agency with the appropriate lead agency (Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) or state agency).coal mining reclamation was undertaken as a physical reconstruction rather than a biological one. SMCRA was focused on reclamation, but many felt that bar was too low

In what part of the stable state (cup-and-ball) theory does active restoration apply?

between the cups in the multiple stable states model

Outside of reference conditions, how do we evaluate the importance of our restoration goals prior to any site visitation?

c) by examining community values and defining ecosystem services

Plant-soil feedbacks are:

changes to soil properties caused by plants, which in turn influence plant performance

Regulation of what industry contributed greatly to the modern concept of ecological restoration?

coal mining

When primary succession follows a severe disturbance, vegetation changes from a community governed by dynamics of colonization to one governed by_______?

competition for resources

Briefly describe the difference between ecological restoration and restoration ecology?

ecological restoration - the practice of restoring restoration ecology - the concepts / tools / models

Which of the following will facilitate passive restoration in a project?

establishing wildlife corridors and excluding herbivores from sensitive areas

In restoration, trait-based ecology can be used to:

promote ecosystem function and services

What is the correct term for the science of inventing, establishing & maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people work, live or play?

reconciliation ecology

What is the name of the process of repairing damaged ecosystem functions, with the goal of raising productivity for some beneficial use?

rehabilitation ecology

What are roots unable to do to change the soil environment in the root zone?

release allelopathic properties outside the root zone

Which of these is not a property likely to be found in the first colonizing plants of a primary succession site?

strong competitor against other species

Why would it be important to restore plant community structure into an ecosystems? How would the plant community structure look like in a forest vs. tallgrass prairie?

structure impacts function, and allowing some of the pieces of an ecosystem to reassemble will allow processes to be restored

Which of the following was NOT a feature of the Clementsian view of Ecological Succession?

succession happens in transition stages between stable states.

Why are there more studies on succession vs. community assembly?

successional theory is a commonly challenged topic

Ecosystem multifunctionality is:

the ability of an ecosystem to provide multiple services

What creates multiple stable states within an environment?

the filters involved in assembly rules

The era of conservation is thought to be over. Instead, the world is considered to be heading for an era of restoration. Why might this be so?

the idea of reclaimation "from the era of conservation" did not provide sufficient standards of environmental damage, and restoration offers a higher standard for environmental damage.

According to the NDN show podcast episode, when working with different communities of people, what is the most important thing to consider?

the language and words used to communicate.

Which of the following is not a plant ecological strategy considered in restoration projects?

the number of allelopathic compounds