Revegetation is required to conserve the biological diversity of over-cleared and fragmented agricultural regions. This dissertation represents an application of spatial information technologies to environmental management. It makes a significant contribution to the integration of general landscape-scale principles into restoration ecology. New and established quantitative, spatial analytical techniques are used in environmental modelling, ecological assessment and in setting geographic priorities for strategic revegetation planning in the Mt. Lofty Ranges in South Australia. This is one of the first assessments of the adequacy and representativeness of remnants in an agricultural region and one of the first attempts to apply these landscape-scale conservation principles to the field of restoration ecology. The adequacy of the remnant ecological system is assessed in terms of the landscape structure. Landscape ecological principles provide a basis for setting geographic priorities for the revegetation of an adequate remnant ecological system. Although seldom quantified, it is often thought that remnants in agricultural regions are not representative of the regional physical environmental heterogeneity. The representativeness of remnant vegetation is assessed in the study area and a complex effect of land clearance and reserve selection on representativeness is revealed which has significant implications for strategic revegetation planning. Land clearance has precluded the use of information on the spatial distribution of biological diversity in agricultural regions. Hence, a surrogate is required in strategic planning for the restoration of a representative regional ecological system. The degree of vegetation/environment convergence is assessed to investigate the viability of using the physical environment as a surrogate for the distribution of biological diversity. An index of coincidence is developed specifically for this purpose. An environmental classification is then derived for use in setting geographic priorities for the restoration of a representative regional ecological system. Three complementary techniques are used to find the simplest classification possible that does not have overly broad environmental classes. Geographic priorities are suggested according to the distribution and representativeness of environment types in the study area. In the light of the results of this dissertation, a research direction for restoration ecology in agricultural landscapes is mapped out. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Geographical and Environmental Studies; Department of Applied and Molecular Ecology, 2000.

<p>As the human population continues to increase, the effects of land use change on streams and their watersheds will be one of the central problems facing humanity, as we strive to find ways to preserve important ecosystem services, such as drinking water, irrigation, and wastewater processing. This dissertation explores the effects of land use change on watershed nitrate concentrations, and on several biogeochemical ecosystem functions in streams, including nitrate uptake, ecosystem metabolism, and heterotrophic carbon processing. </p><p>In a literature synthesis, I was able to conclude that nitrate concentrations in streams in forested watersheds tend to be correlated with soil solution and shallow groundwater nitrate concentrations in those watersheds. Watershed disturbances, such as ice storms or clear-cutting, did not alter this relationship. However both urban and agricultural land use change increased the nitrate concentrations in streams, soil solution, and groundwater, and altered the correlation between them, increasing the slope and intercept of the regression line. I conclude that although the correlation between these concentrations allows for predictions to be made, further research is needed to better understand the importance of dilution, removal, and transformation along the flowpaths from uplands to streams.</p><p>From a multi-site comparison of forested, urban, and urban restored streams, I demonstrated that ecosystem functions like nitrate uptake and ecosystem metabolism do not change in a linear unidirectional way with increasing urbanization. I also showed that Natural Channel Design stream restoration as practiced at my study sites had no net effect on ecosystem function, except those effects that came from clearing the riparian vegetation for restoration construction. This study suggested further consideration is needed of the ecosystem effects of stream restoration as it was practiced at these sites. It also suggested that more study was needed of the effects of urbanization on ecosystem metabolism and heterotrophic processes in streams.</p><p>In a 16-month study of ecosystem metabolism at four sites along an urbanization gradient, I demonstrated that ecosystem metabolism in urban streams may be controlled by multiple separate effects of urbanization, including eutrophication, light, temperature, hydrology, and geomorphology. One site, with high nutrients, high light, and stable substrate for periphyton growth but flashy hydrology, demonstrated a boom-bust cycle of gross primary production. At another site, high benthic organic matter standing stocks combined with low velocities and high depths to create hypoxic conditions when temperature increased. I propose a new conceptual framework representing different trajectories of these effects based on the balance of increases in scour, thermal energy and light, eutrophication, and carbon loading. </p><p>Finally, in a study of 50 watersheds across a landscape urbanization gradient, I show that urbanization is correlated with a decrease in particulate carbon stocks. I suggest that an increase in dissolved organic matter quality may serve to compensate for the loss of particulate carbon as fuel for heterotrophic microbial activity. Although I saw no differences among watershed landuses in microbial activity per gram of sediment, there was a strong increase in the efficiency of microbial activity per unit organic sediment with increasing watershed urbanization. Ultimately, I hope that this research contributes to our understanding of stream ecosystem functions and the way land use change can alter these functions, with the possibility of better environmental management of urban streams in the future.</p> / Dissertation

Understanding the first order controls over resource cycling and limitation in ecosystems is critical for predicting ecosystem response to disturbances. Topography and vegetation self-organizing mechanisms are first order controls over resource fluxes across the landscape. Topography controls downslope flow of resources (i.e water and nutrients). Through spatial feedbacks, vegetation is able to actively modify its environment and maximize resource flows towards it. To date, the impacts of these controls on ecosystem dynamics have mostly been investigated separately. As such, there is a knowledge gap in the understanding of how these first order controls together dictate the dynamics of the ecosystem. This dissertation aims to gain a better understanding of how self-organizing mechanisms and topography operate together to affect wetland ecosystem dynamics. A spatially explicit, wetland vegetation patterning model that includes for both vegetation self-organizing control and topographic control is developed (Nutrient Depletion Model, NDM). The model describes a scale dependent feedback between vegetation, transpiration and nutrient accumulation that drives the formation of vegetation patterns. The model is applied to investigate the effects of topography and self-organizing mechanisms on form and orientation of vegetation patterns and vegetation growth dynamics of wetland ecosystems. Results show that the two first order controls synergistically impact the formation of the various patterns as observed in wetland ecosystems. Results also show the following: (1) Self-organizing mechanisms result in a more efficient retention of resources, which result in higher biomass in the model that include for both self-organizing mechanism and topographic control (SO+TC) than in the model that that includes only for topographic control (TC). (2) However, when resources or topographic gradients increase or annual rainfall decrease, the vegetation growth dynamics of the TC+SO and TC models converge. The NDM is applied to arctic Alaska to investigate how do the two first order controls impact present and future C-N dynamics of an arctic ecosystem. Simulation results show no significant difference in the dynamics between the SO+TC model and the TC model. The climate change simulation results suggest that changes in daily variability of temperature and precipitation can impact ecosystem dynamics as much as the changes in mean temperature and precipitation. Results from this dissertation provide a more complete picture on the relative roles of the two first order controls over ecosystem nutrient cycling and vegetative growth dynamics. Finally, in this thesis, in order to simulate small-scale feedbacks over large spatial domains, the NDM is implemented in a GPU computing language, which accelerates computational simulation by at least two orders of magnitude. These tools for grid-based simulations can provide a platform for using GPUs in other areas of scientific investigation.

Ecosystem services and goods are non-market values that are increasingly being accounted through contingent valuation methods and more specifically by studying people’s willingness-to-pay for them. Large ecosystem restoration is an area that benefits from economic valuation because placing a monetary value proves that restoration efforts are justified to preserve resources for future generations, wanted by a community, and even a profitable investment of public funds. However, what determines that a community supports and understands restoration efforts is linked to their social, economic, cultural, and geographic reality. In this study I adopted the idea of willingness-to-pay to examine people’s attitudes towards river flow restoration efforts in the Colorado River Delta. The Colorado River Delta is a resilient ecosystem that has endured severe river flow depravation for more than 70 years now; yet, this ecosystem still provides many environmental services and goods and its restoration is well justified for that. This research mainly reveals that the Colorado River Delta is still an undervalued ecosystem despite its resiliency and the many regional benefits it still provides. This study has two research questions. Fist, I determined what factors influence Mexicali’s willingness-to-pay. Second, I compared willingness-to-pay attitudes between the cities of Mexicali and San Luis Rio Colorado (SLRC); two neighboring Mexican cities of different size and economic structure but of similar social, ecologic and geographical conditions. The instrument to collect field data was a survey that posed a realistic river flow restoration scenario at a range of prices from 10 to 90 pesos in order to test people’s willingness-to-pay; a total of 564 surveys were delivered face to face in Mexicali. Subsequently, I compared Mexicali survey results with a previous SLRC survey. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric analysis, and qualitative analysis were the main instruments to arrive to my conclusions. Within Mexicali, I found that parenthood and the perception of received benefits from the river were the most significant factors that determined people’s willingness-to-pay. Migration was also a salient socio-demographic factor that probably has an influence on people’s attitudes towards river flow restoration. When making comparisons between cities I found that SLRC is more willing to pay than Mexicali, which confirmed my hypothesis that environmental awareness influences willingness-to-pay in each city given that SLRC is a true river city while Mexicali is 64 km away from the river. Pricing was also influential in both cities. People’s exposure to the river varied from one city to the other –SLRC people have more interactions with the river than people from Mexicali do, thus matching again the difference in willingness-to-pay attitudes of each city. Although income, education, frequency of visits, and awareness of dry river conditions were expected to have a clear connection to willingness-to-pay within Mexicali, I found only a marginal statistical relationship that was very close to be significant. This was due to the fact that I analyzed the dependency of those variables for all prices and not at a specific price range where the actual average willingness-to-pay resides. Finding that average and then analyzing the relationships again should clarify this issue. What motivates people to pay was related to resource conservation and the recognition of the river’s ecological importance. What motivates people to not pay relates to negative attitudes such as incredulity and lack of trust in Mexican institutions. My main recommendations are to raise local environmental awareness of river issues with environmental education, to address local negative attitudes towards river restoration, and to explore the analysis of these data with other approaches such as socio-psychological models.

Ecosystem services and goods are non-market values that are increasingly being accounted through contingent valuation methods and more specifically by studying people’s willingness-to-pay for them. Large ecosystem restoration is an area that benefits from economic valuation because placing a monetary value proves that restoration efforts are justified to preserve resources for future generations, wanted by a community, and even a profitable investment of public funds. However, what determines that a community supports and understands restoration efforts is linked to their social, economic, cultural, and geographic reality. In this study I adopted the idea of willingness-to-pay to examine people’s attitudes towards river flow restoration efforts in the Colorado River Delta. The Colorado River Delta is a resilient ecosystem that has endured severe river flow depravation for more than 70 years now; yet, this ecosystem still provides many environmental services and goods and its restoration is well justified for that. This research mainly reveals that the Colorado River Delta is still an undervalued ecosystem despite its resiliency and the many regional benefits it still provides. This study has two research questions. Fist, I determined what factors influence Mexicali’s willingness-to-pay. Second, I compared willingness-to-pay attitudes between the cities of Mexicali and San Luis Rio Colorado (SLRC); two neighboring Mexican cities of different size and economic structure but of similar social, ecologic and geographical conditions. The instrument to collect field data was a survey that posed a realistic river flow restoration scenario at a range of prices from 10 to 90 pesos in order to test people’s willingness-to-pay; a total of 564 surveys were delivered face to face in Mexicali. Subsequently, I compared Mexicali survey results with a previous SLRC survey. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric analysis, and qualitative analysis were the main instruments to arrive to my conclusions. Within Mexicali, I found that parenthood and the perception of received benefits from the river were the most significant factors that determined people’s willingness-to-pay. Migration was also a salient socio-demographic factor that probably has an influence on people’s attitudes towards river flow restoration. When making comparisons between cities I found that SLRC is more willing to pay than Mexicali, which confirmed my hypothesis that environmental awareness influences willingness-to-pay in each city given that SLRC is a true river city while Mexicali is 64 km away from the river. Pricing was also influential in both cities. People’s exposure to the river varied from one city to the other –SLRC people have more interactions with the river than people from Mexicali do, thus matching again the difference in willingness-to-pay attitudes of each city. Although income, education, frequency of visits, and awareness of dry river conditions were expected to have a clear connection to willingness-to-pay within Mexicali, I found only a marginal statistical relationship that was very close to be significant. This was due to the fact that I analyzed the dependency of those variables for all prices and not at a specific price range where the actual average willingness-to-pay resides. Finding that average and then analyzing the relationships again should clarify this issue. What motivates people to pay was related to resource conservation and the recognition of the river’s ecological importance. What motivates people to not pay relates to negative attitudes such as incredulity and lack of trust in Mexican institutions. My main recommendations are to raise local environmental awareness of river issues with environmental education, to address local negative attitudes towards river restoration, and to explore the analysis of these data with other approaches such as socio-psychological models.

Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem in Ontario and were once widespread throughout much of eastern North America; in southern Ontario, forest cover has declined from 90% to approximately 17% in the past 200 years. Conversion of the surrounding landscape to urban and agricultural land uses creates edge effects which increase the impact of forest cover loss and threaten ecological integrity. Other impacts on forest ecological integrity include incompatible human activities, a generally inhospitable landscape matrix, and microenvironment changes, including those from chemical pollution and heat island effects. Coupled with direct degradation from human activities like free-riding, the altered forest microenvironment can facilitate increased invasion by opportunistic and competitive plant species, e.g. Alliaria petiolata (Brassicaceae). This tends to be worse in urban areas because of greater visitation that creates soil compaction, trampling, and more vectors to introduce the seeds of invasive species. Active management is often necessary in areas which have been degraded. Ecological restoration represents an important active management tool for urban forest protected area managers. The ecological restoration of the forest understory in altered and threatened habitats represents an important aspect of forest restoration. For this study, I tested the effectiveness of an ecological restoration using a multi-species assemblage approach with three native understory species to restore the herbaceous layer in Natchez Hills, an Environmentally Sensitive Policy Area in Kitchener, Ontario. The ecological restoration site was degraded and this reduced native plant species in the forest understory. The species selected, Caulophyllum giganteum (Farwell) Loconte & W.H. Blackwell (Berberidaceae), Podophyllum peltatum Linnaeus (Berberidaceae) and Maianthemum racemosum subsp. racemosum (Linneaus) Link (Asparagaceae), are widespread throughout eastern North America, and were selected for use in this study because of their persistence and relative abundance in Natchez Hills ESPA. Adult transplants were planted into 2 metre by 2 metre quadrats in different densities and shoot populations were monitored for two field seasons to determine if density played a role in early ecological restoration success. The methodology I designed for the ecological restoration was as practical as possible, given the real world financial and logistical constraints faced by many urban forest managers. Statistical analysis using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed aerial shoot density did not have a significant effect on early restoration success rates (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant increase in restored species. Caulophyllum giganteum and Podophyllum peltatum shoot populations increased by over 97% at the ecological restoration site one year after transplanting. Maianthemum racemosum subsp. racemosum shoot populations increased by 51% at the site. For comparison, another study in the same forest reported early ecological restoration rates of 92% to 100% for herbaceous understory species, including C. giganteum and P. peltatum. Other North American studies using transplanted perennial herbaceous material reported average survival rates of 16.6% two years after planting (varying from 1.25% to 51.4% using eight herbaceous species in the Boston area), to 91% one year after restoration (varying from 42.1% to 100% using 19 herbaceous species of the deciduous forest in the Midwest). In instances where protected areas are degraded, active management and ecological restoration are often necessary tools. This ecological restoration demonstrated that the native herbaceous species used in this study are suitable for use in early ecological restorations in maple beech upland forests in the City of Kitchener. Using a practical and cost-effective methodology this ecological restoration experiment showed that it is possible to implement urban restoration of the forest understory in degraded areas, and to achieve success in early ecological restoration using native herbaceous forest understory species.

Environmental philosophy has expanded and diversified greatly since its beginning. Yet applied philosophies, environmental philosophy and environmental ethics have not engaged descriptive ethics in the way that biomedical ethics has. I will suggest that the failure to has meant that environmental philosophy has had limited impact on environmental practices such as restoration ecology. In this thesis I will attempt to reposition philosophy's ethical spotlight upon what I feel to be the most ethically relevant features of the practice of restoration ecology, and to facilitate this, I develop a case-study. A history of the Musqueam Watershed restoration project and its participants' objectives and their operating policies will be given, followed by an ethical analysis of the project. I will argue on several counts that getting restoration right involves more than paying careful attention to the finished product, as philosophers Elliot and Katz have suggested. Getting restoration right involves placing practice within a broad social and political context where process becomes as crucial as outcome. This will require an examination of the way in which interested stakeholders nature, as well as an examination of the democratic structure and mandate of the Musqueam Watershed Committee. I will argue that restoration projects ought to be conducted in a manner that exploits the inherent participatory potential of restoration ecology. Finally, I will argue the inclusion of ecosystems within the human socio-political context, and thus suggest replacement of the Wilderness Paradigm, or the Hyperreal Paradigm with a Garden Paradigm for human relations with nature, in the hope that in this way we will restore ourselves to nature.

This study examines the status and distribution of rail populations in northern Indiana. Because rails are secretive and difficult to study, there have been few attempts in Indiana to determine the impact of wetland loss on the populations of rails and other marsh-nesting birds. There can be little doubt, however, that the loss of Indiana wetlands during historic times has caused a dramatic decline in rail populations.Using tape-recorded calls to elicit vocalizations, the status and distribution of five species of rails were studied in a 25,900 km2 area in northern Indiana in 1993 and 1994. A total of 107 surveys were conducted at 46 natural wetlands and 42 restored wetlands. The species surveyed were Sora (Porzana carolina), Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola), King Rail (Rallus elegans), Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), and Black Rail (Laterallus jamaicensis). Playbacks were also used to detect American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis), Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) and Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis). Data were also collected on all other species of marsh-nesting birds detected during this study.Rails exhibited a patchy distribution. A total of 25 Soras, 33 Virginia Rails, and 1 King Rail was detected in natural wetlands in 1993. In 1994, 75 Soras, 46 Virginia Rails, and 1 King Rail was detected in the natural wetlands. A total of 30 Soras and 9 Virginia Rails was found in the restored wetlands studied in 1993 and 1994. No Yellow or Black Rails were found. Ten Least Bitterns, 31 Marsh Wrens, and 6 Sedge Wrens were detected in natural wetlands, but these species were not observed in restored wetlands.The occurrence of rails in natural wetlands was positively correlated with wetland size, presence of shrub vegetation in the watershed, amount of emergent vegetation, proximity of other wetlands, and extent of cattail cover. Negative correlations were found for human disturbance, amount of open water, and watershed characteristics. The strongest negative correlationswere found for human disturbances in or around the wetland.In restored wetlands, a significant difference was found between the occurrence of Sora and Virginia Rails with Soras occurring more frequently than Virginia Rails. A near significant difference in rail occurrence between natural and restored wetlands was also found, with rails occurring more frequently in natural wetlands, suggesting that natural wetlands surveyed may be a more suitable habitat for rails than the restored wetlands surveyed.Restored wetlands surveyed in this study failed to attract American Bitterns, Least Bitterns, Marsh Wrens or Sedge Wrens. American Bitterns were reported in natural wetlands during this study, but they were not observed. / Department of Biology

While the extent of grasslands in Southern Ontario has been greatly reduced, urban and suburban areas provide numerous potential sites for their restoration. Grassland restoration in cities can provide ecological and cultural benefits, but soil conditions may be less than optimal for native species recovery. This thesis explores the use of soil amendments in order to address nutrient deficiency on old-field meadow restoration sites. Five treatments were tested, namely the addition of (1) nitrogenous fertilizer, (2) native legume species, (3) biochar, (4) a combination of the previous three, and (5) an unaltered control. Each treatment was replicated four times on two different test plots in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada (Huron Natural Area and Springbank Farm), for a total of 40 subplots. The experimental plots were tilled in the fall of 2011, a randomly selected treatment was applied to each subplot, and then all were seeded with a mix of five native meadow species (2 grass, 2 forb, 1 sedge). Soil samples were taken from each subplot both before treatment application and also at the end of the growing season in 2012, and tested for nutrient levels (N, P, K), pH and organic matter. Species richness, as well as soil temperature and moisture, were regularly monitored over the growing season. In the fall of 2012, above-ground vegetation was harvested to assess accrued biomass. In order to detect differences in means, results were tested using one-way and repeated-measures ANOVAs, where appropriate. Pearson???s product-moment correlations were also employed to test for linear dependence between variables. There were no significant differences between treatments in terms of soil nutrients or pH at either site. At Huron Natural Area, post-treatment biochar-treated subplots had slightly higher levels of organic matter than controls (p=0.095). Values for species richness, above-ground biomass, soil temperature and soil moisture did not vary significantly between treatments. Species richness at Huron Natural Area was positively correlated with 2011 N (r=0.42; p=0.07) and organic matter (r=0.52; p=0.02) levels, while at Springbank Farm it was negatively correlated with 2012 N levels (r=-0.67; p<0.001). Above-ground biomass at Huron Natural Area was positively correlated with 2011 and 2012 P levels (both r=0.52; p=0.02), while at Springbank Farm it was positively correlated with 2011 N, P, K and organic matter, and 2012 N, P and K (all r>0.44; p<0.05). At Huron Natural Area, above-ground biomass was negatively correlated with soil temperature (r=-0.64; p<0.0001) and positively correlated with soil moisture (r=0.38; p=0.1). This study uncovered a strong, but variable, relationship between N concentration and species richness in old-field meadows. Furthermore, productivity was tightly correlated with different soil nutrient concentrations at each study site. The results demonstrate the need for restoration approaches to address local soil conditions on order to be effective. To date, there have been very few studies on meadow restoration, particularly in North America. More, and longer-term, multivariate studies are needed in order to test the effectiveness of different techniques.

Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem in Ontario and were once widespread throughout much of eastern North America; in southern Ontario, forest cover has declined from 90% to approximately 17% in the past 200 years. Conversion of the surrounding landscape to urban and agricultural land uses creates edge effects which increase the impact of forest cover loss and threaten ecological integrity. Other impacts on forest ecological integrity include incompatible human activities, a generally inhospitable landscape matrix, and microenvironment changes, including those from chemical pollution and heat island effects. Coupled with direct degradation from human activities like free-riding, the altered forest microenvironment can facilitate increased invasion by opportunistic and competitive plant species, e.g. Alliaria petiolata (Brassicaceae). This tends to be worse in urban areas because of greater visitation that creates soil compaction, trampling, and more vectors to introduce the seeds of invasive species. Active management is often necessary in areas which have been degraded. Ecological restoration represents an important active management tool for urban forest protected area managers. The ecological restoration of the forest understory in altered and threatened habitats represents an important aspect of forest restoration. For this study, I tested the effectiveness of an ecological restoration using a multi-species assemblage approach with three native understory species to restore the herbaceous layer in Natchez Hills, an Environmentally Sensitive Policy Area in Kitchener, Ontario. The ecological restoration site was degraded and this reduced native plant species in the forest understory. The species selected, Caulophyllum giganteum (Farwell) Loconte & W.H. Blackwell (Berberidaceae), Podophyllum peltatum Linnaeus (Berberidaceae) and Maianthemum racemosum subsp. racemosum (Linneaus) Link (Asparagaceae), are widespread throughout eastern North America, and were selected for use in this study because of their persistence and relative abundance in Natchez Hills ESPA. Adult transplants were planted into 2 metre by 2 metre quadrats in different densities and shoot populations were monitored for two field seasons to determine if density played a role in early ecological restoration success. The methodology I designed for the ecological restoration was as practical as possible, given the real world financial and logistical constraints faced by many urban forest managers. Statistical analysis using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed aerial shoot density did not have a significant effect on early restoration success rates (p > 0.05). However, there was a significant increase in restored species. Caulophyllum giganteum and Podophyllum peltatum shoot populations increased by over 97% at the ecological restoration site one year after transplanting. Maianthemum racemosum subsp. racemosum shoot populations increased by 51% at the site. For comparison, another study in the same forest reported early ecological restoration rates of 92% to 100% for herbaceous understory species, including C. giganteum and P. peltatum. Other North American studies using transplanted perennial herbaceous material reported average survival rates of 16.6% two years after planting (varying from 1.25% to 51.4% using eight herbaceous species in the Boston area), to 91% one year after restoration (varying from 42.1% to 100% using 19 herbaceous species of the deciduous forest in the Midwest). In instances where protected areas are degraded, active management and ecological restoration are often necessary tools. This ecological restoration demonstrated that the native herbaceous species used in this study are suitable for use in early ecological restorations in maple beech upland forests in the City of Kitchener. Using a practical and cost-effective methodology this ecological restoration experiment showed that it is possible to implement urban restoration of the forest understory in degraded areas, and to achieve success in early ecological restoration using native herbaceous forest understory species.