Seizing resilience windows to foster passive recovery in the forest-water interface in Amazonian lands

Author(s)

de Paula, Felipe Rossetti ; Ruschel, Ademir Roberto ; Felizzola, Juliana Feitosa ; Frauendorf, Therese C. ; de Barros Ferraz, Silvio Frosini ; Richardson, John S.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 828, p. 13-pg., 2022-03-16.

Abstract

Forest regeneration has increased in many tropical abandoned lands and current restoration commitments in this region aim to restore over 1,400,000 km(2) of degraded land by 2030. Although regenerating forests recover biomass, biodiversity, and processes with time, the recovery trajectories may be uncertain due to past disturbances. Currently, there is a lack of knowledge to sustain the effectiveness of passive regeneration for the recovery of riparian forests and the adjacent waterbodies in the tropics, which may compromise the outcomes of ongoing and future tropical riparian restoration programs. We evaluated the drivers of riparian forest structural recovery and how this relates to stream conditions in 12 abandoned pasturelands in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. These pasturelands range across regeneration age (pasture (PA) - 0 to 4 years; young regeneration (YR) - 8 to 12 years; old regeneration (OR) -18 to 22 years) and years of past land-use (PA - 23.25 average years of past land-use, YR - 18.25, OR - 7). We compared the conditions of these sites to 4 reference sites with conserved forests (REF, >100 years), where there was no recorded pasture use in the past. Short-term responses of forests and streams to passive regeneration indicated high ecosystem resilience after low to intermediate past land-use intensity, reflected in the improvement of stream ecosystems. Such high resilience is possibly attributable to low- to intermediate-intensity pasture-related disturbances, remaining forest matrix, and residual structures (e.g. roots, sprouts, and in-stream wood) observed in the area. Our results suggest a recovery by 12 to 20 years for riparian forests of this region. However, areas degraded by intensive land-use apparently showed delayed recovery. We conclude that seizing resilience windows (defined here as the period when ecosystems retain high potential resilience is essential to foster passive recovery of riparian forests and streams more cost-effectively in the tropics. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/22679-5 - Eco-hidrological functions of riparian forests in intensity gradients of agricultural landscape management
• Grantee: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/12341-0 - Ecological functions of secondary forests and their role in stream conservation in agricultural landscapes of the Brazilian Amazon
• Grantee: Felipe Rossetti de Paula
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral