@article {142307, title = {Explore before you restore: Incorporating complex systems thinking in ecosystem restoration}, journal = {JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY }, year = {2024}, month = {03/2024}, abstract = {

1. The global movement for ecosystem restoration has gained momentum in response to the Bonn Challenge (2010) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER, 2021-2030). While several science-based guidelines exist to aid in achieving successful restoration outcomes, significant variation remains in the outcomes of restoration projects. Some of this disparity can be attributed to unexpected responses of ecosystem components to planned interventions.

2. Given the complex nature of ecosystems, we propose that concepts from Complex Systems Science (CSS) that are linked to non-linearity, such as regime shifts, ecological resilience and ecological feedbacks, should be employed to help explain this variation in restoration outcomes from an ecological perspective.

3. Our framework, Explore Before You Restore, illustrates how these concepts impact restoration outcomes by influencing degradation and recovery trajectories. Additionally, we propose incorporating CSS concepts into the typical restoration project cycle through a CSS assessment phase and suggest that the need for such assessment is explicitly included in the guidelines to improve restoration outcomes.

4. To facilitate this inclusion and make it workable by practitioners, we describe indicators and methods available for restoration teams to answer key questions that should make up such CSS assessment. In doing so, we identify key outstanding science and policy tasks that are needed to further operationalize CSS assessment in restoration.

5. Synthesis and applications. By illustrating how key Complex Systems Science (CSS) concepts linked to non-linear threshold behaviour can impact restoration outcomes through influencing recovery trajectories, our framework Explore Before You Restore demonstrates the need to incorporate Complex Systems thinking in ecosystem restoration. We argue that inclusion of CSS assessment into restoration project cycles, and more broadly, into international restoration guidelines, may significantly improve restoration outcomes.

}, doi = { https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14614}, author = {Maes, S. L. and Perring, M. P. and Cohen, R. and Akinnifesi, F. K. and Bargues-Tobella, A. and Bastin, J. -f. and Bauters, M. and Bernardino, P. N. and Brancalion, P. H. S. and Bullock, J. M. and Ellison, D. and Fayolle, A. and Fremout, T. and Gann, G. D. and Hishe, H. and Holmgren, M. and Ilstedt, U. and Mahy, G. and Messier, C. and Parr, C. L. and Ryan, C. M. and Sacande, M. and Sankaran, M. and Scheffer, M. S. and Suding, K. N. and Van Meerbeek, K. and Verbeeck, H. and Verbist, B. J. P. and Verheyen, K. and Winowiecki, L. A. and Muys, B.} } @article {108394, title = {Contrasting Effects of Grazing vs Browsing Herbivores Determine Changes in Soil Fertility in an East African Savanna}, journal = {ECOSYSTEMS }, year = {2022}, month = {03/2022}, abstract = {

We used a long-term herbivore removal experiment where paired exclosure-open treatments were established at the Mpala Research Centre, Laikipia, Kenya, in 1999 to examine changes in soil nitrogen (N) at nutrient-rich glades and adjacent nutrient-poor bushland sites after almost two decades of herbivore removal. Glades in this landscape are created by large inputs of dung and urine from previous long-term corralling of cattle in an otherwise nutrient-poor matrix of woodland (bushland). We predicted (1) a net gain of soil nutrients at bushland sites (that is, inputs of nutrients \> losses) and (2) a net loss of soil nutrients at glade sites (that is, inputs of nutrients \< losses) following herbivore exclusion. As expected, soil N increased (by 28\% after 17 years) with herbivore removal, but remained largely unchanged in the presence of herbivores at low-nutrient bushland sites. However, contrary to our expectations, soil total N in nutrient-rich glades also increased (+ 18\%) when herbivores were removed, but declined when grazed (- 11\%). Although the underlying mechanisms are unclear, we suggest that increased N fixation by Acacia spp., combined with increased canopy cover and associated tree leaf litter, resulted in elevated soil N following browser removal in low-nutrient bushland sites, while grazer-induced increases in the rate of N transformations between organic and mineral forms resulted in a more "open" N cycle (as evidenced by higher N mineralization rates and foliar N), with increased potential for N loss in gaseous forms, in grazed nutrient-rich glade sites. Grazers and browsers thus appear to affect the N cycle and create and reinforce heterogeneity in unique ways.

}, doi = {10.1007/s10021-022-00748-7}, author = {Coetsee, C. and Wigley, B. J. and Sankaran, M. and Ratnam, J. and Augustine, D. J.} } @article {102995, title = {Grasslands half-full: investigating drivers of spatial heterogeneity in ungulate occurrence in Indian Terai}, journal = {JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY }, year = {2021}, month = {11/2021}, abstract = {

Grassland ecosystems have declined in their extent globally, driving declines in wild ungulate populations. Even within the remnant grasslands, ungulate distribution is highly heterogeneous for reasons that are not well understood. This in turn undermines both local and landscape level conservation efforts for these often-neglected ecosystems and the herbivores they support. We investigated grassland-ungulate relationships in the Terai region of North India, where wild ungulates are patchily distributed across alluvial grasslands, a besieged ecosystem. Specifically, we posited that spatial variation in grassland habitat use by swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii duvaucelii), hog deer (Axis porcinus) and spotted deer (Axis axis) would be explained by community composition, palatability of key grasses, and fire and flooding regimes in grasslands. Hierarchical clustering and multivariate ordination revealed that three dominant tall-grass communities and the narrowly distributed and more palatable short grass Cynodon-Oryza community were only marginally influenced by fire and flood histories. Ungulate habitat use, assessed using occupancy models for spatially correlated data, indicated that hog deer were ubiquitously distributed across the grasslands in the park (habitat use probability, Psi = 0.92, SE = 0.05) utilizing a diverse range of grassland types, while spotted deer (Psi = 0.80, SE = 0.17) and swamp deer (Psi = 0.45, SE = 0.10) occurrence within grasslands was relatively lower. Grass height and grassland extent positively influenced habitat use of swamp deer and spotted deer, respectively. However, grassland community composition, fire history, flood history and palatability were relatively uninformative predictors of fine-scale habitat use. Our study provides a robust baseline for future monitoring of grasslands and ungulates as well as insights for the design and implementation of grassland management interventions.

}, doi = {10.1111/jzo.12939}, author = {Rastogi, S. and Chanchani, P. and Sankaran, M. and Warrier, R.} } @article {71096, title = {Tree diversity and carbon storage cobenefits in tropical human-dominated landscapes}, journal = {Conservation Letters}, year = {2020}, month = {01/2020}, abstract = {

A lack of spatial congruence between carbon storage and biodiversity in intact forests suggests limited cobenefits of carbon-focused policies for conserving tropical biodiversity. However, whether the same applies in tropical human-dominated landscapes (HDLs) is unclear. In India{\textquoteright}s Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot, we found that while HDL forests harbor lower tree diversity and aboveground carbon stocks than relatively intact forests, positive diversity{\textendash}carbon correlations are more prevalent in HDLs. This is because anthropogenic drivers of species loss in HDLs consistently reduce carbon storing biomass volume (lower basal area), and biomass per unit volume (fewer hardwood trees). We further show, using a meta-analysis spanning multiple regions, that these patterns apply to tropical HDLs more generally. Thus, while complementary strategies are needed for securing the irreplaceable biodiversity and carbon values of intact forests, ubiquitous tropical HDLs might hold greater potential for synergizing biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

}, doi = {10.1111/conl.12699}, author = {Osuri, A. M. and Machado, Siddarth and Ratnam, J. and Sankaran, M. and Ayyappan, N and Muthuramkumar, S and Parthasarathy, N and P{\'e}lissier, R and Ramesh, B R and DeFries, R and Naeem, S} } @article {62771, title = {A thorny issue: Woody plant defence and growth in an East African savanna}, journal = {JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY}, volume = {107}, year = {2019}, month = {07/2019}, pages = {1839-1851}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2745.13140}, author = {Wigley, BJ and Coetsee, C and Augustine, DJ and Ratnam, J and Hattas, D and Sankaran, M.} } @article {5217, title = {Seed size predicts community composition and carbon storage potential of tree communities in rainforest fragments in India{\textquoteright}s Western Ghats}, journal = {Journal of Applied Ecology }, volume = {53}, year = {2016}, month = {03/2016}, pages = {837-845}, doi = {10.1111/1365-2664.12626}, author = {Osuri, A. M and Sankaran, M.} } @article {5221, title = {Ecosystem monitoring and forest census studies in South Asia (Meeting Report)}, journal = {Current Science}, volume = {180}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {1779 {\textendash} 1782}, author = {Marthews, T. R. and Nelaballi, S. and Ratnam, J. and Sankaran, M.} } @article {5220, title = {Non-stationary and non-linear influence of ENSO and Indian Ocean Dipole on the variability of Indian monsoon rainfall and extreme rain events}, journal = {Climate Dynamics}, volume = {45}, year = {2015}, pages = {175-184.}, author = {Krishnaswamy, J. and Vaidyanathan, S. and Rajagopalan , B. and Bonell, M. and Sankaran, M. and Bhalla, R. S. and Badiger, S.} } @article {5219, title = {Perceptions of priority issues in the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in India}, journal = {Biological Conservation }, volume = {187}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {201-211}, author = {Varma, V. and Ratnam, J. and Viswanathan, V. and Osuri, A. M. and Biesmeijer, J. C. and Madhusudan, M. D. and Sankaran, M.} }