In the era of ongoing global change, restoration efforts must lead to self-sustainable ecosystems resilient to environmental changes. Thus, it is necessary that restoration aims at achieving not only target species richness and composition, but also high genetic diversity of plant populations. 

Nevertheless, species- and gene-level biodiversity are rarely examined together in the context of restoration, although high genetic diversity of plant populations is a fundamental factor ensuring long-term success of restoration.

Restored alvar of Üügu, on the northern coast of Muhu island, Western Estonia

Landscape-scale dispersal is a crucial process linked to the recovery of vegetation and maintaining both species and genetic diversity. The paper reviews the linkages between landscape-scale dispersal of plants and the recovery of species richness and genetic diversity of plants following habitat restoration. In addition to the availability of species pools constituting of genetically diverse plant populations, the recovery of landscape-scale dispersal depends on ensuring high structural connectivity between habitats. Furthermore, because many plant species require biotic vectors for effective dispersal, generating favourable conditions for the movement of seed and pollen vectors is a crucial step in fostering functional connectivity. Due to the significance of landscape-scale dispersal for long-term restoration success, we argue that monitoring functional connectivity, i.e. dispersal of seeds and pollen, should be an essential part in monitoring frameworks. In particular, tools of the evolving discipline of landscape genetics have a high potential to inform about landscape-scale dispersal following restoration. Nevertheless, when evaluating landscape-scale dispersal, it is important to consider potential time lags in the response of species and genetic patterns to habitat fragmentation as well as to restoration. We suggest that assessing the consequences of restoration for functional connectivity does not only provide indication about restoration success, but can deliver valuable empirical evidence for improving the theory of plant dispersal.

Citation: Aavik, T., & Helm, A. (2017). Restoration of plant species and genetic diversity depends on landscape‐scale dispersal. Restoration Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/rec.12634 (link to full text)

Guidelines for improving landscape-scale dispersal during habitat restoration. The graph provides an overview of alternative steps that need to be taken to maximize landscape-scale dispersal during restoration, depending on the context of the landscape, where habitats will be restored. Answering “Yes” to any question does not necessarily indicate that choices from the other path should not be considered, e.g. even in landscapes with relatively good structural connectivity, rotational grazing or improvement of conditions for the movement of pollinators may be strongly recommended. (Fig 1 from the paper)

Abstract: