Sapling Survival and Growth in a Restoration Project of a Drained Wetland Forest in Southeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT The use of pilot studies can be a useful tool in determining the most appropriate location, method and design for a large scale restoration project. This paper provides a case study where Trustees implemented a small pilot project and feasibility study to determine the best approach for a large scale oyster reef creation project. While the specific case study is the result of a CERCLA settlement (Alafia River Acid Spill of 1997), this model is transferable to other instances where Trustees are scoping for the most appropriate sites and methods to conduct settlement funded restoration. The Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment on which the case settlement was based called for creation of approximately 4 acres of oyster reef in addition to 4 acres of estuarine marsh restoration. Through an initial scoping process, the Trustees determined that more information was needed to select the most appropriate locations and techniques to implement the large scale oyster restoration project. The Trustees identified 3 general locations with potential for larger scale oyster reef creation. A portion of settlement funding was used to contract for construction and monitoring of an oyster reef pilot project to examine the efficacy of oyster reef construction at the three locations using 4 different cultch materials. At each of the locations, 4 small reefs (approximately 75’ × 20’) were constructed and monitored for spat set, oyster survival and growth as well as subsidence. A baseline construction report and final monitoring report detailed the results. In addition, a separate report was completed that outlined the feasibility of constructing a 4 acre oyster reef in Hillsborough Bay, FL. This report included several construction considerations such as local sources and costs of cultch materials, shipping/transport, staging areas, construction equipment as well as potential local contractors. This paper reports the results of the oyster pilot project and feasibility report as well as lessons learned from each approach.

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Sapling survival and growth of coniferous and broad‐leaved trees in successional highland habitats in Mexico

Applied Vegetation Science ◽

10.1111/j.1654-109x.2004.tb00598.x ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 81-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Pedro Francisco Quintana‐Ascencio ◽

Neptalí Ramírez‐Marcial ◽

Mario González‐Espinosa ◽

Miguel Martínez‐Icó

Keyword(s):

Sapling Survival ◽

Survival And Growth

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Periodic monitoring of vampire bats and rabies: a new framework for animal restoration projects in the Neotropics

10.32942/osf.io/53hda ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Fernando Gonçalves ◽

Daniel G. Streicker ◽

Mauro Galetti

Keyword(s):

Disease Transmission ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Multidisciplinary Teams ◽

Risk Area ◽

Food Web Structure ◽

Land Bridge ◽

High Risk Area ◽

Restoration Project ◽

Vampire Bats

Nowadays, restoration project might lead to increased public engagement and enthusiasm for biodiversity and is receiving increased media attention in major newspapers, TED talks and the scientific literature. However, empirical research on restoration project is rare, fragmented, and geographically biased and long-term studies that monitor indirect and unexpected effects are needed to support future management decisions especially in the Neotropical area. Changes in animal population dynamics and community composition following species (re)introduction may have unanticipated consequences for a variety of downstream ecosystem processes, including food web structure, predator-prey systems and infectious disease transmission. Recently, an unprecedented study in Brazil showed changes in vampire bat feeding following a rewilding project and further transformed the land-bridge island into a high-risk area for rabies transmission. Due the lessons learned from ongoing project, we present a novel approach on how to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate the vampire bats and rabies in rewilding projects. We pinpoint a series of precautions and the need for long-term monitoring of vampire bats and rabies responses to rewilding projects and highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary teams of scientist and managers focusing on prevention educational program of rabies risk transmitted by bats. In addition, monitoring the relative abundance of vampire bats, considering reproductive control by sterilization and oral vaccines that autonomously transfer among bats would reduce the probability, size and duration of rabies outbreaks. The rewilding assessment framework presented here responds to calls to better integrate the science and practice of rewilding and also could be used for long-term studying of bat-transmitted pathogen in the Neotropical area as the region is considered a geographic hotspots of “missing bat zoonoses”.

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Coral husbandry for ocean futures: leveraging abiotic factors to increase survivorship, growth, and resilience in juvenile Montipora capitata

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13534 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 657 ◽

pp. 123-133

Author(s):

JR Hancock ◽

AR Barrows ◽

TC Roome ◽

AS Huffmyer ◽

SB Matsuda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Abiotic Factors ◽

Larval Rearing ◽

Abiotic Conditions ◽

Montipora Capitata ◽

Reef Restoration ◽

Juvenile Corals ◽

Bleaching Response ◽

The Face ◽

Survival And Growth ◽

Global And Local

Reef restoration via direct outplanting of sexually propagated juvenile corals is a key strategy in preserving coral reef ecosystem function in the face of global and local stressors (e.g. ocean warming). To advance our capacity to scale and maximize the efficiency of restoration initiatives, we examined how abiotic conditions (i.e. larval rearing temperature, substrate condition, light intensity, and flow rate) interact to enhance post-settlement survival and growth of sexually propagated juvenile Montipora capitata. Larvae were reared at 3 temperatures (high: 28.9°C, ambient: 27.2°C, low: 24.5°C) for 72 h during larval development, and were subsequently settled on aragonite plugs conditioned in seawater (1 or 10 wk) and raised in different light and flow regimes. These juvenile corals underwent a natural bleaching event in Kāne‘ohe Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i (USA), in summer 2019, allowing us to opportunistically measure bleaching response in addition to survivorship and growth. This study demonstrates how leveraging light and flow can increase the survivorship and growth of juvenile M. capitata. In contrast, larval preconditioning and substrate conditioning had little overall effect on survivorship, growth, or bleaching response. Importantly, there was no optimal combination of abiotic conditions that maximized survival and growth in addition to bleaching tolerances. This study highlights the ability to tailor sexual reproduction for specific restoration goals by addressing knowledge gaps and incorporating practices that could improve resilience in propagated stocks.

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Modeling cetacean habitat use in an urban coastal area in southeastern Brazil

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13313 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 642 ◽

pp. 227-240

Author(s):

L Lodi ◽

R Tardin ◽

G Maricato

Keyword(s):

Habitat Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Linear Models ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Buffer Zone ◽

Humpback Whales ◽

Southeastern Brazil ◽

Major Influence ◽

Cetacean Species ◽

Few Data

Most studies of cetacean habitat use do not consider the influence of anthropogenic activities. We investigated the influence of environmental and anthropogenic variables on habitat use by humpback Megaptera novaeangliae and Bryde’s whales Balaenoptera brydei off the coast of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Although there are 2 marine protected areas (MPAs) in this area, few data are available on cetacean habitat use or on the overlap of different cetacean species within these MPAs. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the MPAs and propose a buffer zone to better protect the biodiversity of the study area. We conducted systematic surveys and developed spatial eigenvector generalized linear models to characterize habitat use by the species in the study area. Habitat use by humpback whales was influenced only by depth, whereas for Bryde’s whales there was the additional influence of anthropogenic variables. For Bryde’s whales, which use the area for feeding, sea surface temperature and the distance to anchorages had a major influence on habitat use. We also showed that neither of the MPAs in the study area adequately protects the hotspots of either whale species. Most of the humpback whale grid cells with high sighting predictions were located within 2 km of the MPAs, while areas of high sighting prediction of Bryde’s whales were located up to 5 km from the MPAs, closer to beaches. Our findings provide important insights for the delimitation of protected areas and zoning of the MPAs.

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Mechanisms leading to recruitment inhibition of giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera by an understory alga

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13550 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 657 ◽

pp. 59-71

Author(s):

BA Beckley ◽

MS Edwards

Keyword(s):

Field Experiments ◽

Local Community ◽

Kelp Forest ◽

Macrocystis Pyrifera ◽

Forest Recovery ◽

Kelp Forests ◽

Giant Kelp ◽

Combined Effects ◽

Life Stages ◽

Survival And Growth

The forest-forming giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera and the communities it supports have been decreasing across their native ranges in many parts of the world. The sudden removal of giant kelp canopies by storms increases space and light for the colonization by understory macroalgae, such as Desmarestia herbacea, which can inhibit M. pyrifera recovery and alter local community composition. Understanding the mechanisms by which algae such as D. herbacea interact with M. pyrifera can provide insight into patterns of kelp forest recovery following these disturbances and can aid in predicting future community structure. This study experimentally tested the independent and combined effects of two likely competitive mechanisms by which D. herbacea might inhibit recovery of M. pyrifera in the Point Loma kelp forest in San Diego, California (USA). Specifically, we conducted field experiments to study the individual and combined effects of shade and scour by D. herbacea on the survival of M. pyrifera microscopic life stages, and the recruitment, survival, and growth of its young sporophytes. Our results show that scour had the strongest negative effect on the survival of M. pyrifera microscopic life stages and recruitment, but shade and scour both adversely affected survival and growth of these sporophytes as they grew larger. Canopy-removing storms are increasing in frequency and intensity, and this change could facilitate the rise of understory species, like D. herbacea, which might alter community succession and recovery of kelp forests.

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Abundance Estimates of Guiana Dolphins (Sotalia guianensis; Van Bénéden, 1864) Inhabiting an Estuarine System in Southeastern Brazil

Aquatic Mammals ◽

10.1578/am.45.1.2019.56 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 45 (1) ◽

pp. 56-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Aline B. de Mello ◽

Julia M. B. Molina ◽

Maja Kajin ◽

Marcos C. de O. Santos

Keyword(s):

Southeastern Brazil ◽

Estuarine System ◽

Sotalia Guianensis ◽

Abundance Estimates

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Dalechampia margarethiae (Euphorbiaceae), a New Species from Southeastern Brazil

Systematic Botany ◽

10.1600/036364419x15710776741350 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 832-837

Author(s):

Rafaela Alves Pereira-Silva ◽

Sarah Maria Athiê-Souza ◽

André Laurênio de Melo ◽

W. Scott Armbruster

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Southeastern Brazil ◽

Espírito Santo ◽

Floral Resin ◽

Espirito Santo ◽

A New Species

Abstract—A new species of Dalechampia from southeastern Brazil, belonging to Dalechampia sect. Dioscoreifoliae, is described and illustrated here. Dalechampia margarethiae is a twining vine occurring exclusively in Espírito Santo state. Its pseudanthia are similar to those of D. peckoltiana and D. pentaphylla, but D. margarethiae differs in a set of important characters, including having cylindrical, down-curved style tips, staminate flowers at anthesis having unreflexed sepals with stamens born on unelongated columns, whitish floral resin, and simple, entire, cordate leaves.

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