BioRest: Local- and landscape-scale effects on biodiversity after stream restoration

Project description

We have three main objectives:

• Determine how and where to best apply restoration methods in a catchment to achieve increased (i.e., recovered) biodiversity based on factors such as morphologic complexity, landscape heterogeneity, and organism source
• To determine which factor (or set of factors) has the greatest effect on biodiversity of the 'entire' community (i.e., fish, macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and riparian vegetation): morphologic complexity, restoration method, time since restoration, or organism source?
• To determine how potential complexity and organism source changes throughout the catchment and in which parts of the catchment we expect to achieve greatest (or lowest) biodiversity

The BioRest project is run by researchers at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science at Umeå University.

Publications:

Dietrich, A. L., L. Lind, C. Nilsson & R. Jansson. 2014. The use of phytometers for evaluating restoration effects on riparian soil fertility. Journal of Environmental Quality 43:1916-1925.
Dietrich, A. L., C. Nilsson & R. Jansson. 2015. Restoration effects on germination and survival of plants in the riparian zone: a phytometer study. Plant Ecology 216:465-477.
Nilsson, C., A. Aradottir, D. Hagen, G. Halldórsson, K. Høegh, R. Mitchell, K. Raulund-Rasmussen, K. Svavarsdóttir, A. Tolvanen, S.D. Wilson. 2016. Evaluating the process of ecological restoration. Ecology and Society 21(1):41. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08289-210141.
Nilsson, C., L. E. Polvi, J. Gardeström, E. M. Hasselquist, L. Lind & J. M. Sarneel. 2015. Riparian and in-stream restoration of boreal streams and rivers: success or failure? Ecohydrology 8:753-764.