RESTORATION & REVITALIZATIONReading AssignmentStandard Conservation IdeasPreservation has not preservedEcological RestorationOther Early Ecological RestorationRevegetation of MinesPollution RegulationWetlandsEndangered and Threatened SpeciesBasis for ListingIUCNIllinois Endangered and Threatened Species Protection BoardSingle Species ManagementRECONSTRUCTIONHuman Knowledge & Species ExistenceREVITALIZATIONHow to RevitalizeProcesses altered by manRestoring historic regimesAbundance BoundsExotic SpeciesExploitation ProcessesProducing Seed of rare PlantsVOCABULARYExam 3 #14Exam 3 #1411UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 NybergRESTORATION &RESTORATION & REVITALIZATIONREVITALIZATIONLegal Legal preservationpreservation has not proved to be has not proved to be sufficient to preserve natural communities. sufficient to preserve natural communities. RestorationRestoration activities are diverse and activities are diverse and includes includes revitalizationrevitalization of natural communities of natural communities which uses knowledge of relationships which uses knowledge of relationships among species to keep populations in the among species to keep populations in the assemblage balanced.assemblage balanced.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg22Reading AssignmentReading Assignment• Chapter 55 has a ‘preservation’ point of view, but introduces restoration in 55.5.• ‘Ecological Restoration’ has become a business activity. Money for restoration is generated from wetland protection and mining laws (as well as governments and individuals).Standard Conservation Ideas• Land Preservation– Stopping exploitation (with laws and fences) is sufficient to preserve the natural community.• Single species management (a piece of ecological restoration)– Providing resources and/or removing threats to particular species will enhance population.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg44Preservation has not preservedPreservation has not preserved• Assemblages of species are dynamic and respond to abiotic and biotic change• Preservation has not proved to be sufficient (albeit necessary) to maintain assemblages of species within natural bounds.• Preservation alters conditions and species respond to the new conditions.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg55Ecological RestorationEcological Restoration• Ecological Restoration attempts to restore attributes of ecological function/services.• Perhaps the earliest restoration of ecological services was wastewater treatment.• Wastewater treatment concentrates the oxidation of waste to reduce the BOD of the water entering the river, lake or ocean.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg66Other Early Ecological RestorationOther Early Ecological Restoration• Promotion of services and knowledge to reduce soil erosion.• Development of stocking programs for fish and game.• Regulations concerning restoration of the condition of land after strip mining.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg77RevegetationRevegetation of Minesof Mines• The development of vegetation on the overburden can be greatly accelerated in various ways.• Revegetation of strip mines is now a requirement in all jurisdictions.• Understanding how to do that effectively is part of ecological restoration.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg88Pollution RegulationPollution Regulation• Industry may produce materials (chemicals) that reduce ecological function.• When the negative impact of those products is understood, individuals may lobby for regulations (laws) to minimize future impacts.• For many years people dumped waste as a way to get it away from where it was generated.• Regulations protect the population from harmful chemicals by controlling disposal and making disposal safer.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg99WetlandsWetlands• Wetlands are very important to natural communities – ‘hotspot’ of diversity• Currently policy of US government is ‘no net loss’ of wetlands.• Development of land with wetlands requires payment of $ to build wetlands off site (or a plan to retain wetland on site).• $ have generated a mitigation industry.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg1010Endangered and Threatened SpeciesEndangered and Threatened Species• Endangered Species Act passed in 1973.• US Fish and Wildlife Service has responsibility for designating species as Endangered or Threatened.• Endangered means in imminent danger of going extinct.• Threatened means likely to become endangered.• Applies to taxa lower than species.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg1111Basis for ListingBasis for Listing• How is a species determined to be endangered or threatened?– Small population size. – Found in only a few places.– >30% decline in the last 10 years or 3 generations.• The E&T list dominated by taxa which always had a limited distribution often associated with special habitat, such as caves.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg1212IUCNIUCN• The World Conservation Union• http://www.iucn.org/• Maintains a “Red list” of the extinction status of many animal taxa (all vertebrates plus others)• Species Survival Commission– Specialist Groups within SSC, e.g., the shark groupExam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg1313Illinois Endangered and Threatened Illinois Endangered and Threatened Species Protection BoardSpecies Protection Board• Illinois maintains a list of E & T species • The list is dynamic.– Additions• I was involved in the successful effort to add Franklin’s Ground Squirrel.– Removals• River otter, slender wheat grass, and many othersSingle Species Management• Focus of attention and knowledge gathering on a species usually provides a means of enhancing its population.• Raptors, both those on and not on the E&T list, have benefited from the ban on DDT, which thinned the egg shell.Exam 3 #14Exam 3 #14UIC UIC BioSBioS 101 Nyberg101 Nyberg1515RECONSTRUCTIONRECONSTRUCTION• One restoration activity attempts to build native prairies on land that was farmed.• These efforts have focused on plant communities normally doing nothing with animals.• Prairie reconstructions tend to have much more grass and taller plants than original prairie.• Most prairie