Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession (Springer ... - Inecol

Key Points
6
Manipulation of Succession
Karel Prach, Rob Marrs, Petr Pyˇsek, and Rudy van Diggelen
1. Ecological restoration can be achieved using either unassisted succession,
a manipulation of spontaneous succession, or technical restoration. We describe
each of these approaches and suggest under what circumstances each
of them can be used.
2. There are two principal directions by which succession can be manipulated
to attain a target, either to accelerate it or to reverse it if it has proceeded
beyond the target. Manipulation of both the physical environment and the
biota are considered.
3. Examples are given from mining sites, abandoned fields, secondary grasslands,
heathlands, and wetlands in Europe.
6.1 Introduction
Succession comprises many ecological processes that underpin all ecological
restoration and ecological restoration is a manipulation of these processes to
achieve its goals. This means it is essential to understand how succession operates,
and when and how to manipulate it. The main goals of manipulating
succession are to (i) increase the natural value of degraded ecosystems; this
goal is often restricted to an effort to increase species diversity (Perrow and
Davy 2002) but it may not be desirable if, for example, alien species are a component
of the increased diversity; (ii) increase ecosystem productivity, which
is important in those parts of the world where any increase in productivity
is desirable from a socioeconomic perspective (Wali 1992, Whisenant 1999);
(iii) increase ecosystem services, for example, to protect against soil erosion,
erect buffer zones against pollution, or to improve the aesthetic quality of a site
(van Andel and Aronson 2006). A fundamental starting point for any restoration
scheme is to define both the starting conditions and the target ecosystem or
endpoint. In this chapter, we will restrict our attention to targets with a high natural
value, where successional processes and their manipulation are important,
and ignore the productivity and service targets. We attempt to address the question:
Under what circumstances is it possible to rely on unassisted spontaneous
121