Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils (Science Practice Ecological Restoration) - Softcover

Maschinski Dr., Joyce; Haskins Dr., Kristin E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1597268313 ISBN 13: 9781597268318

Publisher: Island Press, 2012

Synopsis

Considered an essential conservation tool, plant reintroductions have been conducted for many of the world's rarest plant species. The expertise and knowledge gained through these efforts constitute an essential storehouse of information for conservationists faced with a rapidly changing global climate.

This volume presents a comprehensive review of reintroduction projects and practices, the circumstances of their successes or failures, lessons learned, and the potential role for reintroductions in preserving species threatened by climate change. Contributors examine current plant reintroduction practices, from selecting appropriate source material and recipient sites to assessing population demography.

The findings culminate in a set of Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines, included in an appendix. These guidelines cover stages from planning and implementation to long-term monitoring, and offer not only recommended actions but also checklists of questions to consider that are applicable to projects around the world.

Traditional reintroduction practice can inform managed relocation-the deliberate movement of species outside their native range-which may be the only hope for some species to persist in a natural environment. Included in the book are discussions of the history, fears, and controversy regarding managed relocation, along with protocols for evaluating invasive risk and proposals for conducting managed relocation of rare plants.

Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate is a comprehensive and accessible reference for practitioners to use in planning and executing rare plant reintroductions.

About this title

About the Author

Joyce Maschinski is the conservation ecologist leading the South Florida conservation program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Kristin E. Haskins is the research scientist at The Arboretum at Flagstaff and a research assistant professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate

Promises and Perils

By Joyce Maschinski, Kristin E. Haskins, Peter H. Raven

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Island Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-59726-831-8

Contents

SOCIETY FOR ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION, 
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR PLANT CONSERVATION, 
Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Dedication, 
BOXES, 
FOREWORD, 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, 
Chapter 1 - Introduction, 
How to Use This Book, 
PART I - Review of Plant Reintroductions, 
Chapter 2 - Characterising Two Decades of Rare Plant Reintroductions, 
Chapter 3 - A Meta-Analysis of Threatened Plant Reintroductions from across the Globe, 
PART II - Reintroduction Science and Practice, 
Chapter 4 - The Critical Role of the Public: Plant Conservation through Volunteer and Community Outreach Projects, 
Chapter 5 - Genetic Considerations in Rare Plant Reintroduction: Practical Applications (or How Are We Doing?), 
Chapter 6 - Transitioning Plants to New Environments: Beneficial Applications of Soil Microbes, 
Chapter 7 - Optimal Locations for Plant Reintroductions in a Changing World, 
Chapter 8 - Strategic Decisions in Conservation: Using Species. Distribution Modeling to Match Ecological Requirements to Available Habitat, 
Chapter 9 - Using Population Viability Analysis to Plan Reintroductions, 
Chapter 10 - Influence of Founder Population Size, Propagule Stages, and Life History on the Survival of Reintroduced Plant Populations, 
Chapter 11 - Determining Success Criteria for Reintroductions of Threatened Long-Lived Plants, 
Chapter 12 - Unique Reintroduction Considerations in Hawaii: Case Studies from a Decade of Rare Plant Restoration at the Oahu Army Natural Resource Rare Plant Program, 
PART III - Managed Relocation, 
Chapter 13 - Managed Relocation: Panacea or Pandemonium?, 
Chapter 14 - Is Managed Relocation of Rare Plants Another Pathway for Biological Invasions?, 
PART IV - Synthesis and Appendices, 
Chapter 15 - Synthesis and Future Directions, 
Appendix 1 - Center for Plant Conservation Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines, 
Appendix 2 - Studies Used for Meta-Analyses, 
GLOSSARY, 
LITERATURE CITED, 
CONTRIBUTORS, 
INDEX, 
THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

JOYCE MASCHINSKI AND KRISTIN E. HASKINS

In the face of mounting numbers of plant species at risk of extinction (Gilbert 2010), increasing rates of habitat destruction, spreading invasive species, and effects of climate change (Tilman and Lehman 2001; Walther et al. 2002; Karl and Trenberth 2003), there is a great need for urgent action to preserve species before they are extirpated. This book tells a story of the good fight to save and restore some of the rarest plant species in the world. The story is a complicated but hopeful one.

The practice of plant reintroduction is preceded by many other activities. They include documenting rare species' current distributions, gathering seeds and propagules from living plants for ex situ collections, and researching species' biology and threats. In the best circumstances conservation practitioners work in tandem with land managers and the public to restore healthy, wild habitats and populations of rare species. But has plant reintroduction worked as a conservation tool? And how have plant reintroductions contributed to reintroduction science and practice?

For two decades, responsible agencies have promoted using reintroduction as a recovery strategy for endangered plant species (e.g., US Fish and Wildlife Service 1999). It is considered an essential worldwide conservation tool, and the efficacy of this conservation strategy for animals has been reviewed recently (Fischer and Lindenmayer 2000; Seddon et al. 2007), but such a critical review of plant reintroductions had not been done at the time we began writing this volume (but see Godefroid et al. 2011). A review of plant reintroductions is paramount because plant management techniques are fundamentally different from those used for animals. Herein we take stock of our progress with reintroduction in an effort to facilitate the wise decisions needed to preserve future biodiversity.

As one of the national leaders in plant conservation, the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) and its thirty-six participating institutions are devoted to preventing extinction and achieving recovery for imperiled plants native to the United States of America. Working with land managers and the public, CPC conservation officers actively secure seed and living ex situ collections and monitor, research, and restore rare species populations in the wild. Collectively they have conducted nearly 200 reintroductions throughout the United States in the last 20 years.

Fifteen years ago, CPC published Restoring Diversity with Island Press (Falk et al. 1996), which encapsulated the contemporary understanding of plant reintroductions from both political and biological perspectives. It provided a set of guidelines intended to help practitioners implement plant reintroductions. Since its publication, knowledge of the practice of restoring endangered plants has increased exponentially. This volume presents a comprehensive review of reintroduction projects and practices, the circumstances of their successes or failures, the lessons learned, and the potential role for reintroductions in preserving species threatened by climate change. These findings culminate in a revised set of guidelines for best reintroduction practice.

To assess the current status of plant reintroductions worldwide and to gain a broad sample of reintroduction circumstances, CPC initiated a multipronged approach: a web-based registry, a symposium, and this volume. The extensive CPC International Reintroduction Registry, launched in the spring of 2009, aimed to document published and unpublished reintroductions. In fall 2009, the international symposium "Evaluating Plant Reintroductions as a Plant Conservation Strategy: Two Decades of Evidence" convened in Saint Louis, Missouri. Oral presentations by plant reintroduction experts formed the basis of this volume. Attended by government personnel responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act, environmental consultants, academicians, and botanical garden scientists, the symposium served as a focal event to review plant reintroduction practice and science. Participants provided suggestions for CPC Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines and made recommendations for future directions pertaining to managed relocation (MR). This volume, organized in four parts, represents the ideas discussed at the symposium, often with passion and commitment but with good stewardship of biodiversity foremost in mind. It is noteworthy that the contributors to this volume represent professional conservationists with first-hand reintroduction experience working in government agencies and botanical gardens around the world.

Part I comprises two reviews of plant reintroductions conducted independently. Guerrant (chap. 2) presents a general overview of the database projects reported in the CPC International Reintroduction Registry. He typifies the nature and attributes of reintroduction projects, which is an essential first step for identifying information gaps. In an independent and rigorous meta-analysis of a different set of reintroductions, Dalrymple and colleagues (chap. 3) assess the efficacy of reintroductions for establishing sustainable populations. Together these provide a general context for our current knowledge about plant reintroduction science and future research needs. Because the results of any analysis will be influenced by the studies sampled, we offer a list of the specific studies used in each analysis and citations (appendix 2). These studies represent a resource for techniques and practitioners with whom readers are encouraged to correspond for informal discussions and peer review of reintroduction proposals.

Part II presents new insights related to the science and practice of reintroduction. We purposefully begin this section by outlining the critical role the public plays in plant conservation. Maschinski and colleagues (chap. 4) document the mutual benefits of volunteerism and rare plant conservation and give examples of great programs underway throughout the world. Connecting human populations to nature is vital for plant conservation.

Reintroduction requires careful planning before execution. Among the factors that may determine whether a reintroduction will be successful and acceptable to land managers is careful attention to genetics. Neale (chap. 5) reviews the tenets of restoration genetics and the limitations and benefits of various genetic techniques, and she describes protocols and future avenues for research. She provides guidelines for selection of source populations for reintroducing rare plant populations. Haskins and Pence (chap. 6) review several underused and perhaps under-appreciated aspects of plant horticulture related to reintroductions, specifically focusing on tissue culture, roots, and soil microbial mutualists.

One of the most critical factors for reintroduction success emerging from these reviews is the selection of optimal habitat. Maschinski and colleagues (chap. 7) review theory that helps explain species' distributions and give examples of experimental reintroductions that demonstrate how fine- and broad-scale variation influences population persistence. They recommend approaches for assessing appropriate sites and microhabitat for reintroductions and provide three approaches for evaluating and prioritizing potential reintroduction sites for any species.

Conserving biodiversity will face new challenges in our changing world. Refining modeling techniques to project accurately where suitable habitat for endemic plants will be under future climates, Krause and Pennington (chap. 8) use geographic information system data linked with distribution modeling algorithms. They address how these tools can be used in decision-making strategies for conserving species on public lands.

Ecological theory predicts that the greater the number of founding individuals, the more likely new populations will colonize and establish successfully. But how many is enough, and what is the best stage class to use? Addressing these questions from different perspectives, Knight (chap. 9) examines population viability analysis of natural populations, and Albrecht and Maschinski (chap. 10) analyze reintroduced populations from published literature and the CPC International Reintroduction Registry.

To declare that reintroductions are a success and have truly created viable populations, it is often necessary to compare long-term demography of the reintroduced population with that of reference natural populations. For long-lived species this requires significant ongoing resources for extended timeframes. Based on their extensive personal experience with plant reintroductions, Monks and colleagues (chap. 11) present an overview of alternative approaches for assessing reintroduction success in long-lived plants.

The world's rarest plant populations require special consideration. Kawelo and colleagues (chap. 12) provide examples of reintroductions of taxa that have fewer than fifty individuals and very limited ranges in Hawaii. Their exemplary work on military land demonstrates the challenges of on-the-ground plant conservation and the need for ongoing human assistance to remove threats, conserve ex situ collections, maintain genetic diversity, pollinate, and disperse seeds of these rare gems.

Conscientious land managers are faced with making critical decisions in a timely manner about the conservation of species destined for extirpation within the next century. With the degraded state of some habitats and overdevelopment of others, the value of introducing stocks of endangered species, which lack viable sites within their historic range, to novel sites outside of range is now being considered (Maunder 1992), but there are many objections to the idea. In Part III, Haskins and Keel (chap. 13) review the history and growing debate surrounding the use of managed relocation (MR). As an illustration of the arguments and counterarguments for MR, they present the lively discussions that resulted from the 2009 CPC symposium. They offer criteria for ranking good and bad MR proposals and suggest that any MR proposal for rare plants include documentation of and adherence to CPC Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines (appendix 1). Reichard and colleagues (chap. 14) address one of the major criticisms of MR: risk of invasion. Using weed risk assessments, they test the invasiveness of plants long established within botanical gardens in South Florida and make recommendations related to MR proposals.

In Part IV, Kennedy and colleagues synthesize findings from this volume and suggest future directions, including research needs and clarification of the possibilities and cautions for MR (chap. 15). The meta-analyses, symposium discussions, and chapter contributions culminated in the CPC Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines (appendix 1). It is our sincere hope that these guidelines will improve reintroduction success and improve species recovery while reducing frustration, costs, and labor. We invite our readers to give us feedback.

How to Use This Book

This book is intended to be a resource for students, practitioners, and conservation scientists. Each of the chapters in the first two parts has a review component, a body that relates to reintroduction practice, suggestions for future research needs, and the implications for MR. Each chapter has a conclusions section. The summary of the whole is presented in the CPC Best Reintroduction Practice Guidelines. Our goal is to provide a quick reference for practitioners to use when planning and executing rare plant reintroductions. These guidelines include not only recommended actions but also checklists of questions to consider that were influenced by Australian researchers Vallee and colleagues (2004). We have made an effort to make the presented information accessible regardless of whether English is the readers' most familiar language. To this end, we've provided a glossary of terms.

CHAPTER 2

Characterising Two Decades of Rare Plant Reintroductions

EDWARD O. GUERRANT JR.

There is enormous potential conservation value in the ability to establish new populations of rare plants. When combined with ex situ source material, reintroduction offers valuable and otherwise unavailable conservation options. Indeed, reintroduction of material stored ex situ has made the difference between extinction in the wild and continued survival.

It is almost axiomatic to argue that reintroduction projects are best structured as scientific experiments designed to test specific and explicit hypotheses (e.g., Falk et al. 1996; Kaye 2008). The reason for this is perhaps best viewed in the context of Pavlik's (1996) distinction between biological and project success in reintroduction projects. Ultimately, biological success, the establishment of self-sustaining populations, is the primary goal. But not all projects achieve biological success. Regardless of the biological outcome, however, reintroduction attempts that are structured as designed experiments have a much greater likelihood of generating reliable information about what worked, what didn't, and why, rather than projects that do only one treatment or do multiple treatments in a haphazard or undocumented manner.

To be truly successful in the long run, reintroduced populations must necessarily and repeatedly complete their entire life cycle without assistance. Guerrant postulates that anything that minimizes the extinction risk or that maximizes population growth rate of individuals in the founding population should increase long-term survival prospects (Guerrant 1996a). It is in this context that much experimentation by manipulation of environmental factors experienced by the founding populations can be viewed.

The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of a substantial sample of reintroduction projects that were documented in the CPC International Reintroduction Registry (CPCIRR; Center for Plant Conservation 2009). The goal of the registry and database is to assist the conservation community in its ongoing efforts to advance the science and improve the practice of conservation. The effort is ongoing, and readers are invited to provide information about additional projects by accessing the registry on the Center for Plant Conservation website. Any reported projects can provide additional insights to the practice of reintroduction, its successes and failures.

Materials and Methods

The CPCIRR is a tremendous resource describing work conducted by many practitioners, mostly in the United States and Australia. The earliest project about which we have information involves Pediocactus knowltonii (Cactaceae), an endangered cactus that was outplanted as seeds and cuttings in 1985 (Olwell et al. 1987; Cully 1996; Sivinski 2008). Plants first reached sexual maturity in 1997, with the first successful seedling establishment documented in 2006 (Sivinski 2008). The most recent projects in the registry were planted in 2008.

Albrecht and Maschinski (this volume) used CPCIRR and incorporated additional studies from the literature in their analyses. Dalrymple and colleagues (this volume) provide an overview of a similar but independent effort to record and learn from reintroduction events and include many projects from Europe and South Africa. (Appendix 2 provides a summary overview of the taxa used in these chapters, along with references used by each.) We suspect that, taken together, they constitute a modest sampling of the reintroduction work that has been conducted but has not been reported.

Data described here reflect projects entered into in the CPCIRR, along with published and gray literature. At the time of writing, approximately two-thirds of the reintroduction projects had been planted in the past decade, and the other third had been planted between 10 and 20 years ago, with only three projects more than 20 years old. (See appendix 2 for details.) The treatment offered here is largely descriptive and provides an account of the types and attributes of reintroductions that have been done.

Results and Discussion

As of fall 2009, the registry contained information on 145 projects that included at least basic taxonomic, location, and data source information and a narrative project description. The amount of information available about these projects varies dramatically. Eighty-nine projects included specific information about what treatments were applied and how they were implemented and reported at least some monitoring results in addition to a written description. An additional fifty-six projects had descriptions but generally lacked specific information on individual treatments and therefore were less useful for analysis.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Island Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1597268313
• ISBN 13: 9781597268318
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432