RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Restoration enhances wetland biodiversity and ecosystem service supply, but results are context-dependent: a meta-analysis
A1 Meli, Paula
A1 Rey Benayas, José María
A1 Balvanera, Patricia
A1 Martínez Ramos, Miguel Ángel
K1 Wetlands
K1 Ecosystems
K1 Biodiversity
K1 Humedales
K1 Ecosistemas
K1 Biodiversidad
K1 Ciencia
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Science
K1 Environmental science
AB Wetlands are valuable ecosystems because they harbor a huge biodiversity and provide key services to societies. When natural or human factors degrade wetlands, ecological restoration is often carried out to recover biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES). Although such restorations are routinely performed, we lack systematic, evidence-based assessments of their effectiveness on the recovery of biodiversity and ES. Here we performed a meta-analysis of 70 experimental studies in order to assess the effectiveness of ecological restoration and identify what factors affect it. We compared selected ecosystem performance variables between degraded and restored wetlands and between restored and natural wetlands using response ratios and random-effects categorical modeling. We assessed how context factors such as ecosystem type, main agent of degradation, restoration action, experimental design, and restoration age influenced post-restoration biodiversity and ES. Biodiversity showed excellent recovery, though the precise recovery depended strongly on the type of organisms involved. Restored wetlands showed 36% higher levels of provisioning, regulating and supporting ES than did degraded wetlands. In fact, wetlands showed levels of provisioning and cultural ES similar to those of natural wetlands; however, their levels of supporting and regulating ES were, respectively, 16% and 22% lower than in natural wetlands. Recovery of biodiversity and of ES were positively correlated, indicating a win-win restoration outcome. The extent to which restoration increased biodiversity and ES in degraded wetlands depended primarily on the main agent of degradation, restoration actions, experimental design, and ecosystem type. In contrast, the choice of specific restoration actions alone explained most differences between restored and natural wetlands. These results highlight the importance of comprehensive, multi-factorial assessment to determine the ecological status of degraded, restored and natural wetlands and thereby evaluate the effectiveness of ecological restorations. Future research on wetland restoration should also seek to identify which restoration actions work best for specific habitats.
SN 1932-6203
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/21417
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/21417
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia
DS MINDS@UW
RD 16-abr-2024