Executive SummaryMining has been, and remains, an integral part of human existence from Stone Age... more Executive SummaryMining has been, and remains, an integral part of human existence from Stone Age quarries through to the iron and coal that fueled the industrial revolution, to the new materials needed to support the shift to renewable energy. Mining and mining products are major contributors to national economies with mining value tripling in the past two decades. As of 2020, the global mining footprint was 57,000 km2 and growing at a faster rate now than any other time in human history. Much of this footprint is operational, but in many areas where mining is now complete, the sites represent major environmental liabilities. Although site stabilization and managing waste materials remains a challenging part of mine closure in many parts of the world, the environmental liability of these sites means more than being just safe, stable, and nonpolluting, with companies increasingly expected to restore ecosystems that are representative of their pre‐mined (natural) state. The Internati...
Extinction rates are expected to increase during the Anthropocene. Current extinction rates of pl... more Extinction rates are expected to increase during the Anthropocene. Current extinction rates of plants and many animals remain unknown. We quantified extinctions among the vascular flora of the continental United States and Canada since European settlement. We compiled data on apparently extinct species by querying plant conservation databases, searching the literature, and vetting the resulting list with botanical experts. Because taxonomic opinion varies widely, we developed an index of taxonomic uncertainty (ITU). The ITU ranges from A to F, with A indicating unanimous taxonomic recognition and F indicating taxonomic recognition by only a single author. The ITU allowed us to rigorously evaluate extinction rates. Our data suggest that 51 species and 14 infraspecific taxa, representing 33 families and 49 genera of vascular plants, have become extinct in our study area since European settlement. Seven of these taxa exist in cultivation but are extinct in the wild. Most extinctions occurred in the west, but this outcome may reflect the timing of botanical exploration relative to settlement. Sixty‐four percent of extinct plants were single‐site endemics, and many occurred outside recognized biodiversity hotspots. Given the paucity of plant surveys in many areas, particularly prior to European settlement, the actual extinction rate of vascular plants is undoubtedly much higher than indicated here.
Taxonomic treatments of Pilosocereus in the Andean and Caribbean regions have varied widely. Rece... more Taxonomic treatments of Pilosocereus in the Andean and Caribbean regions have varied widely. Recent authors often recognized three species only (P. lanuginosus, P. polygonus, and P. royenii), while Britton & Rose in 1920 (sub Cephalocereus) recognized 18 species in the same region. A revision of Pilosocereus is necessary, and it was carried out by the study of both herbarium specimens and living plants. Twelve species of Pilosocereus are recognized in the present paper for the Andean and Caribbean regions, including one new combination, i.e. P. curtisii, and one new species, i.e. P. jamaicensis. Typifications are provided for several names, including the Linnaean basionym Cactus royenii. Morphological descriptions, distributions, and an identification key of the recognized species are provided.
A document that provides standards to guide practitioners, operational personnel, planners, manag... more A document that provides standards to guide practitioners, operational personnel, planners, managers, regulators, and funding agencies involved in restoring degraded ecosystems anywhere in the world- whether terrestrial, freshwater, coastal or marine.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Evans and Davis claim the SER Standards use a “pure naturalness” model for restoration baselines ... more Evans and Davis claim the SER Standards use a “pure naturalness” model for restoration baselines and exclude most cultural ecosystems from the ecological restoration paradigm. The SER Standards do neither. The SER Standards consider both “natural” ecosystems (that are unequivocally not cultural) and “similar” cultural ecosystems as suitable reference models. Furthermore, Evans and Davis propose assessing whether a cultural ecosystem exhibits “good, bad, or neutral impacts from humans on ecosystems” as the basis for reference models. We argue that such an approach would overlook the indispensability of native ecosystem benchmarks to measure human impacts and provide a springboard for social‐ecological restoration.
Aunque el Estado de Florida (Estados Unidos) ha adoptado las directrices de la UICN en cuanto a l... more Aunque el Estado de Florida (Estados Unidos) ha adoptado las directrices de la UICN en cuanto a la aplicación de los criterios de conservación relacionados a su fauna, existe un vacío en términos de que ciertas especies pueden ser protegidas a pesar de no encontrarse en la lista de especies amenazadas y recibir algún nivel de protección. El Parque Nacional Everglades (Florida) es un hábitat crítico para un número de especies raras y otras varias docenas enlistadas como En Peligro o Amenazadas. Sin embargo, un dilema es la interacción entre especies. En este caso, la mosca endémica Melanagromyza miamensis oviposita sus huevos en la inflorescencia de la orquídea Trichocentrum undulatum. En ella, las larvas se desarrollan gen- eralmente matando al tallo. Este es un ejemplo de la interacción entre dos especies, una ampliamente dis- tribuida pero localmente incluida bajo la categoría de Críticamente Amenazada (CR) (T. undulatum) y la especie endémica (M. miamensis). De es...
The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is an international non-profit organization with mem... more The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is an international non-profit organization with members in 70 countries. SER advances the science, practice and policy of ecological restoration to sustain biodiversity, improve resilience in a changing climate, and re-establish an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. SER is a dynamic global network, linking researchers, practitioners, land managers, community leaders and decision-makers to restore ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Via its members, publications, conferences, policy work, and outreach, SER defines and delivers excellence in the field of ecological restoration. Document development. International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration (the Standards) was developed through consultation with professionals within the Society for Ecological Restoration and their peers in the global scientific and conservation communities. The first edition was launched in 2016 at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cancún, Mexico. This event brought together key stakeholders from across the international policy arena, many of whom had been instrumental in driving the global initiatives to implement large-scale environmental restoration programs. Because the Standards were written as a living document to be modified and expanded through consultation and use by stakeholders, the launch included an open invitation for stakeholder input, to both improve the document and promote broad use. Subsequently, over a multi-year consultation period, SER invited input and review from a diverse spectrum of people and organizations contributing to ecological restoration. Key stakeholders contacted for comment included the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) including its Science-Policy Interface, Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, and members of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR). In 2017, SER partnered with the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management to deliver an invited Forum on Biodiversity and Global Forest Restoration at which the SER Standards were reviewed (SER and IUCN-CEM 2018). SER also organized a symposium on the SER Standards and an open Knowledge Café at the 2017 SER World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Additional input was received at other events, including the 9 th Ecosystem Services Partnership World Conference in Shenzhen, China in 2017. To capture the perspectives of the SER community, SER invited online feedback via its website and sent an online survey to SER members, affiliates, and stakeholders. SER has also considered and responded to feedback from published critiques in its journal, Restoration Ecology. All comments received during the consultative review process were considered in the revision process. The second edition of the Standards was approved by the SER Science and Policy Committee, and the SER Board of Directors on 18 June 2019. As with the first edition, this version will be revised and improved as the discipline evolves through science, practice, and adaptive management. The Standards are compatible with and expand on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation (Conservation Measures Partnership 2013) and complement the REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards (REDD+ SES 2012), and other conservation standards and guidelines. Contributors. Levi Wickwire provided assistance during document development. Karen Keenleyside contributed content to the original version. Andre Clewell's inspiration and ideas led to the attributes list and circle template (Fig. 4; Appendix 2), Kayri Havens assisted with adapting Appendix 1 on selection of seeds and other propagules, and Craig Beatty contributed to Section 4, Part 3 on global restoration initiatives. We thank the following translators of the first edition:
Background. Agave sisalana is a cultigen from Mexico. In 1833 it was brought to Florida by Henry ... more Background. Agave sisalana is a cultigen from Mexico. In 1833 it was brought to Florida by Henry Perrine as an experimental crop. From there it was introduced to tropical Africa and Asia in the late 19th Century, where it became established as a fiber crop. Paradoxically, in the Yucatan it meanwhile evanesced from its already scanty presence. Because material was collected from cultivated stock in Chiapas in the 1950s and a neotype from there was selected in 1988, it was assumed to have originated in Chiapas. Questions. Did A. sisalana originate in the Yucatan Peninsula following Perrine (1838a, 1938b) rather than from Chiapas sensu Gentry (1988)?Studied species. Agave sisalana (sisal), one of the strongest natural fibers in the world and a commercially important crop.Study site and dates. Live plants were located in the Yucatan between 2013–2017.Methods. We document historical and current presences of A. sisalana in the Yucatan Peninsula following three lines of evidence: 1) overlo...
A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near futu... more A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near future. However, the threat status of only a small number has been evaluated compared with key animal groups, rendering the magnitude and nature of the risks plants face unclear. Here we report the results of a global species assessment for the largest plant taxon evaluated to date under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria, the iconic Cactaceae (cacti). We show that cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date, with 31% of the 1,478 evaluated species threatened, demonstrating the high anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity in arid lands. The distribution of threatened species and the predominant threatening processes and drivers are different to those described for other taxa. The most significant threat processes comprise land conversion to agriculture and aquaculture, collection as biological resources, and residential and commercial development. The dominant drivers of extinction risk are the unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for horticultural trade and private ornamental collections, smallholder livestock ranching and smallholder annual agriculture. Our findings demonstrate that global species assessments are readily achievable for major groups of plants with relatively moderate resources, and highlight different conservation priorities and actions to those derived from species assessments of key animal groups.
Many of the skills and resources associated with botanic gardens and arboreta, including plant ta... more Many of the skills and resources associated with botanic gardens and arboreta, including plant taxonomy, horticulture, and seed bank management, are fundamental to ecological restoration efforts, yet few of the world's botanic gardens are involved in the science or practice of restoration. Thus, we examined the potential role of botanic gardens in these emerging fields. We believe a reorientation of certain existing 21 institutional strengths, such as plant-based research and knowledge transfer, would enable many more botanic gardens worldwide to provide effective science-based support to restoration efforts. We recommend botanic gardens widen research to include ecosystems as well as species, increase involvement in practical restoration projects and training practitioners, and serve as information hubs for data archiving and exchange.
Executive SummaryMining has been, and remains, an integral part of human existence from Stone Age... more Executive SummaryMining has been, and remains, an integral part of human existence from Stone Age quarries through to the iron and coal that fueled the industrial revolution, to the new materials needed to support the shift to renewable energy. Mining and mining products are major contributors to national economies with mining value tripling in the past two decades. As of 2020, the global mining footprint was 57,000 km2 and growing at a faster rate now than any other time in human history. Much of this footprint is operational, but in many areas where mining is now complete, the sites represent major environmental liabilities. Although site stabilization and managing waste materials remains a challenging part of mine closure in many parts of the world, the environmental liability of these sites means more than being just safe, stable, and nonpolluting, with companies increasingly expected to restore ecosystems that are representative of their pre‐mined (natural) state. The Internati...
Extinction rates are expected to increase during the Anthropocene. Current extinction rates of pl... more Extinction rates are expected to increase during the Anthropocene. Current extinction rates of plants and many animals remain unknown. We quantified extinctions among the vascular flora of the continental United States and Canada since European settlement. We compiled data on apparently extinct species by querying plant conservation databases, searching the literature, and vetting the resulting list with botanical experts. Because taxonomic opinion varies widely, we developed an index of taxonomic uncertainty (ITU). The ITU ranges from A to F, with A indicating unanimous taxonomic recognition and F indicating taxonomic recognition by only a single author. The ITU allowed us to rigorously evaluate extinction rates. Our data suggest that 51 species and 14 infraspecific taxa, representing 33 families and 49 genera of vascular plants, have become extinct in our study area since European settlement. Seven of these taxa exist in cultivation but are extinct in the wild. Most extinctions occurred in the west, but this outcome may reflect the timing of botanical exploration relative to settlement. Sixty‐four percent of extinct plants were single‐site endemics, and many occurred outside recognized biodiversity hotspots. Given the paucity of plant surveys in many areas, particularly prior to European settlement, the actual extinction rate of vascular plants is undoubtedly much higher than indicated here.
Taxonomic treatments of Pilosocereus in the Andean and Caribbean regions have varied widely. Rece... more Taxonomic treatments of Pilosocereus in the Andean and Caribbean regions have varied widely. Recent authors often recognized three species only (P. lanuginosus, P. polygonus, and P. royenii), while Britton & Rose in 1920 (sub Cephalocereus) recognized 18 species in the same region. A revision of Pilosocereus is necessary, and it was carried out by the study of both herbarium specimens and living plants. Twelve species of Pilosocereus are recognized in the present paper for the Andean and Caribbean regions, including one new combination, i.e. P. curtisii, and one new species, i.e. P. jamaicensis. Typifications are provided for several names, including the Linnaean basionym Cactus royenii. Morphological descriptions, distributions, and an identification key of the recognized species are provided.
A document that provides standards to guide practitioners, operational personnel, planners, manag... more A document that provides standards to guide practitioners, operational personnel, planners, managers, regulators, and funding agencies involved in restoring degraded ecosystems anywhere in the world- whether terrestrial, freshwater, coastal or marine.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Evans and Davis claim the SER Standards use a “pure naturalness” model for restoration baselines ... more Evans and Davis claim the SER Standards use a “pure naturalness” model for restoration baselines and exclude most cultural ecosystems from the ecological restoration paradigm. The SER Standards do neither. The SER Standards consider both “natural” ecosystems (that are unequivocally not cultural) and “similar” cultural ecosystems as suitable reference models. Furthermore, Evans and Davis propose assessing whether a cultural ecosystem exhibits “good, bad, or neutral impacts from humans on ecosystems” as the basis for reference models. We argue that such an approach would overlook the indispensability of native ecosystem benchmarks to measure human impacts and provide a springboard for social‐ecological restoration.
Aunque el Estado de Florida (Estados Unidos) ha adoptado las directrices de la UICN en cuanto a l... more Aunque el Estado de Florida (Estados Unidos) ha adoptado las directrices de la UICN en cuanto a la aplicación de los criterios de conservación relacionados a su fauna, existe un vacío en términos de que ciertas especies pueden ser protegidas a pesar de no encontrarse en la lista de especies amenazadas y recibir algún nivel de protección. El Parque Nacional Everglades (Florida) es un hábitat crítico para un número de especies raras y otras varias docenas enlistadas como En Peligro o Amenazadas. Sin embargo, un dilema es la interacción entre especies. En este caso, la mosca endémica Melanagromyza miamensis oviposita sus huevos en la inflorescencia de la orquídea Trichocentrum undulatum. En ella, las larvas se desarrollan gen- eralmente matando al tallo. Este es un ejemplo de la interacción entre dos especies, una ampliamente dis- tribuida pero localmente incluida bajo la categoría de Críticamente Amenazada (CR) (T. undulatum) y la especie endémica (M. miamensis). De es...
The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is an international non-profit organization with mem... more The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is an international non-profit organization with members in 70 countries. SER advances the science, practice and policy of ecological restoration to sustain biodiversity, improve resilience in a changing climate, and re-establish an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. SER is a dynamic global network, linking researchers, practitioners, land managers, community leaders and decision-makers to restore ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Via its members, publications, conferences, policy work, and outreach, SER defines and delivers excellence in the field of ecological restoration. Document development. International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration (the Standards) was developed through consultation with professionals within the Society for Ecological Restoration and their peers in the global scientific and conservation communities. The first edition was launched in 2016 at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cancún, Mexico. This event brought together key stakeholders from across the international policy arena, many of whom had been instrumental in driving the global initiatives to implement large-scale environmental restoration programs. Because the Standards were written as a living document to be modified and expanded through consultation and use by stakeholders, the launch included an open invitation for stakeholder input, to both improve the document and promote broad use. Subsequently, over a multi-year consultation period, SER invited input and review from a diverse spectrum of people and organizations contributing to ecological restoration. Key stakeholders contacted for comment included the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) including its Science-Policy Interface, Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, and members of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR). In 2017, SER partnered with the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management to deliver an invited Forum on Biodiversity and Global Forest Restoration at which the SER Standards were reviewed (SER and IUCN-CEM 2018). SER also organized a symposium on the SER Standards and an open Knowledge Café at the 2017 SER World Conference on Ecological Restoration. Additional input was received at other events, including the 9 th Ecosystem Services Partnership World Conference in Shenzhen, China in 2017. To capture the perspectives of the SER community, SER invited online feedback via its website and sent an online survey to SER members, affiliates, and stakeholders. SER has also considered and responded to feedback from published critiques in its journal, Restoration Ecology. All comments received during the consultative review process were considered in the revision process. The second edition of the Standards was approved by the SER Science and Policy Committee, and the SER Board of Directors on 18 June 2019. As with the first edition, this version will be revised and improved as the discipline evolves through science, practice, and adaptive management. The Standards are compatible with and expand on the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation (Conservation Measures Partnership 2013) and complement the REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards (REDD+ SES 2012), and other conservation standards and guidelines. Contributors. Levi Wickwire provided assistance during document development. Karen Keenleyside contributed content to the original version. Andre Clewell's inspiration and ideas led to the attributes list and circle template (Fig. 4; Appendix 2), Kayri Havens assisted with adapting Appendix 1 on selection of seeds and other propagules, and Craig Beatty contributed to Section 4, Part 3 on global restoration initiatives. We thank the following translators of the first edition:
Background. Agave sisalana is a cultigen from Mexico. In 1833 it was brought to Florida by Henry ... more Background. Agave sisalana is a cultigen from Mexico. In 1833 it was brought to Florida by Henry Perrine as an experimental crop. From there it was introduced to tropical Africa and Asia in the late 19th Century, where it became established as a fiber crop. Paradoxically, in the Yucatan it meanwhile evanesced from its already scanty presence. Because material was collected from cultivated stock in Chiapas in the 1950s and a neotype from there was selected in 1988, it was assumed to have originated in Chiapas. Questions. Did A. sisalana originate in the Yucatan Peninsula following Perrine (1838a, 1938b) rather than from Chiapas sensu Gentry (1988)?Studied species. Agave sisalana (sisal), one of the strongest natural fibers in the world and a commercially important crop.Study site and dates. Live plants were located in the Yucatan between 2013–2017.Methods. We document historical and current presences of A. sisalana in the Yucatan Peninsula following three lines of evidence: 1) overlo...
A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near futu... more A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near future. However, the threat status of only a small number has been evaluated compared with key animal groups, rendering the magnitude and nature of the risks plants face unclear. Here we report the results of a global species assessment for the largest plant taxon evaluated to date under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria, the iconic Cactaceae (cacti). We show that cacti are among the most threatened taxonomic groups assessed to date, with 31% of the 1,478 evaluated species threatened, demonstrating the high anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity in arid lands. The distribution of threatened species and the predominant threatening processes and drivers are different to those described for other taxa. The most significant threat processes comprise land conversion to agriculture and aquaculture, collection as biological resources, and residential and commercial development. The dominant drivers of extinction risk are the unscrupulous collection of live plants and seeds for horticultural trade and private ornamental collections, smallholder livestock ranching and smallholder annual agriculture. Our findings demonstrate that global species assessments are readily achievable for major groups of plants with relatively moderate resources, and highlight different conservation priorities and actions to those derived from species assessments of key animal groups.
Many of the skills and resources associated with botanic gardens and arboreta, including plant ta... more Many of the skills and resources associated with botanic gardens and arboreta, including plant taxonomy, horticulture, and seed bank management, are fundamental to ecological restoration efforts, yet few of the world's botanic gardens are involved in the science or practice of restoration. Thus, we examined the potential role of botanic gardens in these emerging fields. We believe a reorientation of certain existing 21 institutional strengths, such as plant-based research and knowledge transfer, would enable many more botanic gardens worldwide to provide effective science-based support to restoration efforts. We recommend botanic gardens widen research to include ecosystems as well as species, increase involvement in practical restoration projects and training practitioners, and serve as information hubs for data archiving and exchange.
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