Plenary sessions with abstracts
Eight keynotes speakers have been invited by the scientific committee, they will realise an oral presentation during plenary sessions at the beginning of morning and of the afternoon from 24 to 27 August 2010. They have been selected for they capacity to attract all the participants of the congress in the major topics of the congress. Plenary sessions will be organised in the incredible room of the "Conclave room" restored in the spirit of its medieval functions !!!
Tuesday August 24th, 9.30 - 10.15 am (Conclave room)
1. James Aronson, CNRS-CEFE, Montpellier, France and USA
Tuesday August 24th, 10.15 - 11.00 am (Conclave room)
2. Frédéric Médail, IMEP, Université Paul Cézanne, Marseille, France
Tuesday August 24th, 2.00 - 2.45 pm (Conclave room)
3. Daniel Vallauri, WWF, Marseille, France
Wednesday August 25th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
4. Jordi Cortina Segarra,Universidad de Alicante, España.
Thursday August 26 th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
5. José Mª Rey Benayas,Universidad de Alcalá, España
Thursday August 26th, 2.00 - 2. 45 pm (Conclave room)
6. Vasilios P. Papanastasis, University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Friday August 27th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
7. Roland Bobbink, B-WARE Research Center, The Netherlands
Friday August 27th, 2.00 - 2.45 pm (Conclave room)
8. Kareen Keenleyside, Parks Canada, Gatineau, Québec, Canada
Plenary session 1
Tuesday August 24th, 9.30 - 10.15 am (Conclave room)
Restoring natural capital - a priority for global society: getting scientists, economists and politicians to work together
Dr. James Aronson
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, (CEFE/CNRS-UPR 5175) Montpellier, France and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. james.aronson@cefe.cnrs.fr
Increasing human population growth and resource consumption place ever-greater stresses and demands on all ecosystems to deliver goods and services from them. Thus, we must alter consumption patterns and increase our ability and our will to restore impaired ecosystems and enhance their ability to maintain biodiversity and provide goods and services. This will require new paradigms about our relationship with Nature, and long-term investments in restoring natural capital (RNC). Like conservation, restoration should be seen as an investment rather than a cost. And, both of them pay well, when total economic value is considered, and when human wellbeing and true wealth are given greater priority than GDP or other measures of non-economic growth. Examples from the Mediterranean region, the European Community, and elsewhere, will be used to show that economists, engineers, applied ecologists and everyone concerned with ecosystem services and the environment need to – and can - work together and seek the way forward towards a sustainable and desirable future. By making explicit the mutually-reinforcing linkages between environmental and economic well-being, the multiple benefits achieved through RNC can play a crucial role in bridging ideological or professional divides and can open a promising road toward policies of sustainability.
Trained in tropical botany and applied plant ecology of arid, semi-arid and mediterranean- climate regions, my current efforts concern both conceptual and methodological aspects of the restoration of all sorts of damaged ecosystems, both natural and socio-ecological. To construct meaningful references and select realistic objectives and tools to guide and carry out ecological restoration, a study of both past and present human ecology is crucial, especially when working in developing countries. Accordingly, emphasis is given to collaboration and integration of ecosystem ecology, ecological engineering and the social sciences, notably economy, environmental ethics and law. Issues related to energy, water and global climate change also increasingly emerge as transversal themes, under the general rubrics Restoring Natural Capital and Restoring Social Capital. Additionally, I continue a long-standing study of the ecology, biogeography and potential for restoration of tree canopies in arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean climate zones around the world. More about James Aronson
Plenary session 2
Tuesday August 24th, 10.15 - 11.00 am (Conclave room)
Eco-biogeographical features and threats within the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot
Pr. Dr. Frédéric Médail
Mediterranean Institute of Ecology and Palaeoecology (IMEP, UMR CNRS-IRD 6116), Aix-Marseille University (University Paul Cézanne), Europôle méditerranéen de l'Arbois, BP 80, F 13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 04. France. f.medail@univ-cezanne.fr
The biotic originality of Mediterranean ecosystems can be explained by complex interaction between a highly heterogeneous historical biogeography and unique ecological processes. If the Mediterranean Basin is among the 34 hotspots of species diversity in the world, this ecoregion constitutes also an hotspot of human population density and growth, which inevitably raises serious conservation problems. What characterises Mediterranean landscapes and habitats much more than in any other region in the world is their long-lasting common history with humans. Most of the ups and downs in Mediterranean biodiversity are therefore closely linked with human population pressures, which have changed many times through the long common history of ecological systems and human societies. At present, the Mediterranean ecoregion is faced to rapid and previously unknown global environmental changes, with important repercussions in structure and function. Since one century, habitat destruction and fragmentation are increasing, notably along the coasts inducing severe population depletion and profound changes in the dynamics of biological interactions. The 10 regional hotspots of plant biodiversity are indeed seriously threatened by the severity of the current and forecasted environmental changes. Due to the quickness of these impacts, it is necessary to launch a conservation biogeography framework at the Mediterranean Basin scale. Biogeography can furnish the requisite tools to identify crucial conservation areas in today’s context of global change. This is the case of the about fifty "glacial" refugia that have provided suitable habitats for plants during unfavourable climatic periods. Refugia preservation may be critical for an optimal evolutive conservation, because they encompass the bulk of genetic diversity and endemism of Mediterranean plants. Thus, a better understanding of ecological processes of the past, including the less often studied local persistance of species, should improve management decisions related to conservation and restoration ecology.
I am Professor of plant ecology and biogeography at the University Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III, and the leader of a scientific department at the Mediterranean Institute of Ecology and Palaeoecology (IMEP, UMR CNRS-IRD 6116). My broad research interests include the ecology, biogeography and conservation of plants around the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions. How to better preserve plant biodiversity at several geographical scales, from conservation genetics and phylogeography to community ecology, constitutes the vital lead of my investigations. The major aims are identifying important conservation areas (regional hotspots of diversity and endemism, glacial refugia) at the scale of Mediterranean Basin or at a regional scale (Maritim Alps, Corsica...), and exploring the patterns and processes related to plant richness and endemism. I have also performed several researches devoted to insular ecology and about the ecological and evolutionary consequences of biological invasion induced by alien plants on coastal and island habitats. My current researches are focused on the biogeographical processes linked to the origin and evolution of the Mediterranean flora, and their implications towards a conservation biogeography framework in the Mediterranean isoclimatic area. More about Frédéric Médail
Plenary session 3
Tuesday August 24th, 2.00 - 2.45 pm (Conclave room)
Restoring forest wilderness areas in Europe: over passing oxymorons to face well-founded stakes.
Dr. Daniel Vallauri(1), Erika Stanciu(2)
(1) WWF, 6 rue des Fabres, 13001 Marseille, dvallauri@wwf.fr
(2) WWF Danube Carpathian program office and Europark federation, Str. Lunga 39, RO-500035 Brasov, Romania, erikas@zappmobile.ro
In a motion voted in Febuary 2009, the European Parliament calls the Commission to develop actions on wilderness areas, including the goal of “where necessary restoration of Europe's last wilderness areas (…)”. A conference hosted during the Czech presidency of the Council of EU (Prague, May 2009) followed and aimed to “(i) raise the profile of wilderness and wild areas in Europe; (ii) recommend an agenda for protection and restoration of such areas (...)”. On a scientific and practical point of view, the problem of aiming to restore wilderness in Europe has been criticised by some as an oxymoron, for two main reasons (i) the common culture in the Old World, especially western and mediterranean countries of Europe, emphasises the millenary-long history of nature transformation. The questions of a European definition of wilderness (ecologically and culturally relevant, aims for such policy and also how much wilderness is left today), require some development and clarifications in order to avoid mis-understandings and (ii) considering main bioengineering and restoration approaches implemented in some part of Europe, in terms of goals chosen (rehabilitation or reallocation > restoration ; cultural landscapes > spontaneaous dynamics) and methods implemented (active > passive), the compatibility between restoration science and wilderness could question restorationists. In the paper, based on forest ecosystems, we will first synthesise and discuss 1) the available data on forest wilderness areas in Europe ; 2) the multiple concepts behind wilderness (gradient of naturalness, of human footprint, of wildness ; maturity, ancientness, spontaneous dynamics, connectivity, functional integrity…) ; 3) develop links with ecological restoration concepts (reference ecosystem, irreversibility threshold, target ecosystem, restoration trajectory, landscape approach) ; 4) present some european or global field examples to discuss the variety of stakes, goals and approaches for forest lansdcape restoration. WWF believe those developments could help to find a way out from these apparent oxymorons and help developing the scientific basis of a EU policy on wilderness areas.
Daniel Vallauri is 41 year-old and gets its PhD of the University of Marseille in forest restoration (1997). After several experiences abroad, he is, since 2000, responsible for WWF of the forest conservation program. He is acting nationaly and abroad. Its carreer and achievements concern forest ecology, conservation and restoration in France, the Mediteranean basin and tropical countries (Malaysai, Madagascar, overseas territories of France). He is the main author of various research publications and reports, has been co-editor of three recent books (including one on forest restoration worldwide) and coordinator of several conferences on naturalness. he is currently both working on forest restoration and forest wilderness areas. about Daniel Vallauri
Plenary session 4
Wednesday August 25th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
Making Science happen. Linking research and practice to restore degraded drylands
Dr. Jordi Cortina Segarra
Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Alicante. Apartado de correos 99. 03080 Alicante, España. jordi@ua.es
Drylands cover 41% of the Earth's land surface and sustain 38% of the global population. Their extent will probably increase in the next future following climatic change and increased human pressure, specially in developing countries. The surface area of drylands affected by desertification is estimated at 10-20% of this land, making this one of the worst environmental problems worldwide, often closely related to poverty. Numerous actions to prevent and combat desertification have been launched in recent decades. Among them, ecological restoration actions show great potential to recover landscape ability to provide goods and services, and contribute to human welfare. Recent advances in our understanding of dryland ecology have improved traditional restoration techniques and fostered the development of new technology. But scientific progress and restoration programs often run in different directions. While the former deepens our knowledge on the composition and dynamics of dryland ecosystems, the later are frequently anchored on old paradigms and driven by unsupported approaches. This is the result of failures on both sides. A compromise between researchers, practitioners and policy makers is urgently needed to fill this gap and develop integrated participative and adaptive management programs built on sound scientific grounds. Various tools may help to bridge the gap between science and practice and improve the efficiency and the social impact of ecological restoration. These include (1) new socio-ecological approaches, where cost-effectiveness of ecological restoration is evaluated considering both biophysical and social impacts; (2) networks of pilot and demonstration projects, where technologies are tested at a management scale and the most successful implemented in representative well documented projects can be used as examples, (3) stakeholder platforms to develop collaborative management, (4) accessible data bases and ICT tools, to reciprocally exchange knowledge, and (5) the design and implementation of new funding schemes that will make these efforts sustained and worth. We will illustrate this framework by introducing PRACTICE, an EC action to try addressing these issues for a large range of desertification syndromes worldwide.
During the doctorate (University of Barcelona) and the post-doctorate (Colorado State University), I studied various aspects of the relations ground - plant and specially the effects of plants on the properties of the ground. From my incorporation in the University of Alicante I concentrated my research in the study of the degradation of ecosystems and their restoration. I study at present the functioning of some Mediterranean ecosystems, as well as techniques for the restoration of degraded ecosystems, by including some phases of the production of plants and the use of organic waste for the recovery of the fertility of degraded grounds. More about Jordi Cortina Segarra
Plenary session 5
Thursday August 26 th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
Perspectives in restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes
Pr. Dr. José Mª Rey Benayas
Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Alcalá, E-28871 - Alcalá de Henares (España), josem.rey@uah.es
Ecological restoration is widely used to reverse the environmental degradation caused by human activities. A meta-analysis of 89 restoration assessments in a wide range of ecosystem types across the globe indicates that ecological restoration increased provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services by 44% and 25%, respectively. However, values of both remained lower in restored than in intact reference ecosystems. At this global scale, increases in biodiversity and ecosystem service measures following restoration were positively correlated. Cultivation and cropping are major causes of degradation and destruction of natural ecosystems throughout the world, and farmland currently extends on more than 40% of the land’s surface. ‘Passive restoration’, whereby abandoned agricultural land undergoes secondary succession, is often slow owing to biotic and abiotic limitations. ‘Active restoration’ by planting trees can be very expensive if large areas are to be restored. We suggest “woodland islets” as an alternative approach to designing ecological restoration in extensive agricultural landscapes, particularly in low productivity environments. This approach allows conciliate farmland production, conservation of values linked to cultural landscapes, enhancement of biodiversity and provision of a range of ecosystem services. If “further research is needed”, “action is desperately needed”. Thus, we are implementing demonstrative restoration projects of this conciliation in Mediterranean areas. Restoration actions are accompanied by a variety of social and educational values including citizen science.
José M. Rey Benayas
Plenary session 6
Thursday August 26th, 2.00 - 2. 45 pm (Conclave room)
Restoration of degraded Mediterranean rangelands
Pr. Dr. Vasilios P. Papanastasis
School of Forestry and Natural Environment. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.vpapan@for.auth.gr
Rangelands amount to 52% of the Mediterranean basin countries thus making the largest land use type of the region. They are characterized by a large variety of plant communities and a high biodiversity. At the same time, they are considered as the most degraded natural resources as a result of misuse by human activities, particularly livestock husbandry. Their degradation is mainly attributed to overgrazing which leads to elimination of plant cover and soil erosion. For restoration of degraded rangelands total banning of livestock grazing is generally proposed so that they are converted to woodlands though natural succession or reforestation is practised so that animals are excluded from their use. Research findings over the last few decades however suggest that Mediterranean ecosystems and rangelands in particular have been evolved with the presence of livestock and grazing exclusion may result in more serious degradation than overgrazing. As a matter of fact, undergrazing and land abandonment may also result in rangeland degradation due to fuel accumulation and the subsequent devastated wildfires. Restoration of degraded grazing lands can be achieved by adjusting the grazing management rather than by totally excluding livestock, in case that only the biotic function of rangelands has been damaged. However, if the abiotic function has been also affected then additional measures besides adjusted grazing management is needed. In any case, grazing management should be an essential part of the restoration plan. The various options of restoration of degraded rangelands are analyzed and discussed and case studies from several parts of the Mediterranean region are provided.
Dr
Plenary session 7
Friday August 27th, 9.00 - 9.45 am (Conclave room)
Biogeochemical constraints and restoration perspectives after degradation by atmospheric nitrogen deposition
Dr. Roland Bobbink
B-WARE Research Centre, Radboud University, P.O. Box 6558, 6503 GB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; email: r.bobbink@b-ware.eu
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition, from both oxidised (NOy) and reduced (NHx) compounds, is nowadays one of the main threats for biodiversity in European (semi-) natural ecosystems of high conservational value. Long-term nitrogen input from the atmosphere may cause eutrophication, soil acidification and/or ammonium toxicity. The severity of these impact depends on the biogeochemistry of the particular ecosystem, but is especially severe under oligo- to mesotrophic, weakly buffered soil conditions. Long-term field trials have been set up in deteriorated dry grassland and heathland sites since the early 1990s to counteract the severe impacts of N pollutants. The first aim was to restore former soil conditions, as we feel that rehabilitation of ecosystems should start with recreating appropriate abiotic conditions. Removal of the vegetation and top soil (‘sod cutting’), liming or a combination of measures were used depending on the actual biogeochemical constraint after the degradation. The effectiveness was evaluated by following the soil chemistry and plant composition during a 10-12 years period. In this presentation an overview of the experimental restoration measures and the main factors of success or failure are presented. Several (combination of) measures proved to be successful in restoring appropriate soil conditions and a low productive sward. A full recovery of plant diversity was, however, seriously limited when the characteristic species had already disappeared, especially in dry conditions or when it was impossible to increase the soil buffer capacity after acidification. Additional measures to counteract the dispersal limitation of many endangered species may be needed.
Roland Bobbink is director and senior scientist at B-WARE Research Centre,
Plenary session 8
Friday August 27th, 2.00 - 2.45 pm (Conclave room)
A global approach to ecological restoration in protected areas
Karen Keenleyside
Ecological Integrity Branch, Parks Canada, 25, rue Eddy, 4ième étage (25-4-S) Gatineau (Québec) K1A 0M5, Canada. Karen.Keenleyside@pc.gc.ca
The establishment and effective management of well-connected networks of protected areas are seen as a major part of the solution to global conservation challenges such as biodiversity loss, land use conversion, over-exploitation of resources, and climate change. However protected areas rarely contain complete unaltered ecosystem, particularly in densely populated regions. Despite growing international attention to the values and practice of ecological restoration and its scientific and policy context, the global protected area community lacks clear, consistent decision-making guidance for ecological restoration. In recognition of this gap, the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas is developing best practice guidance for ecological restoration in protected areas. This guidance will be based on the Canadian approach, which builds upon the foundation work of the Society for Ecological Restoration International and is described in Principles and Guidelines for Ecological Restoration in Protected Natural Areas. IUCN members have agreed that the global guidance should support ecological restoration activities in protected areas that ensure ecological success (i.e., are effective), are practical and affordable (i.e., efficient), enable and encourage meaningful participation, support and commitment of indigenous and local communities, and recognize and embrace interrelationships between people, culture and nature (i.e., are engaging). This presentation highlights challenges and issues being addressed through this work, and invites conference participants to offer suggestions to further its objectives.
Kareen Keenleyside is currently a senior science and policy advisor with Parks Canada's Ecological Integrity Branch. She led the development of national guidance for ecological restoration in Canada's protected areas and is currently contributing to a similar initiative internationally. Her other responsibilities include the development of strategic policy direction on climate change for Parks Canada as well as guidance on other park management issues. Keenleyside has completed numerous strategic plans, policy documents, scientific reviews, and original research in subject areas as diverse as ecological restoration, climate change, protected areas, environmental quality guidelines, environmental indicators, invasive alien species, northern circumpolar issues, environmental monitoring, environmental toxicology, and human and ecosystem health. Her greatest achievement is helping to raise two daughters and continuing to cook tasty meals for her family while making significant contributions to ecosystem management in Canada. More about Karen Keenleyside