Myth‐busting tropical grassy biome restoration

Fernando Silveira (1) , André Arruda (1) , William Bond (2) , Giselda Durigan (3) , Alessandra Fidelis (4) , Kevin Kirkman (5) , Rafael Oliveira (6) , Gerhard Overbeck (7) , Jerônimo Sansevero (8) , Frances Siebert (9) , Stefan Siebert (9) , Truman Young (10) , Elise Buisson (11)

1 UFMG - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais = Federal University of Minas Gerais [Belo Horizonte, Brazil]
2 University of Cape Town
3 Instituto Florestal do Estado de São Paulo
4 UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho = São Paulo State University
5 UKZN - University of KwaZulu-Natal [Durban, Afrique du Sud]
6 UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas = University of Campinas
7 UFRGS - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul [Porto Alegre]
8 UFRRJ - Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro
9 NWU - North-West University [South Aftrica]
10 UC Davis - University of California [Davis]
11 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale

The historical focus in research and policy on forest restoration and temperate ecosystems has created misunderstandings for the restoration of tropical and subtropical old‐growth grassy biomes (TGB). Such misconceptions have detrimental consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human livelihoods in woodlands, savannas, and grasslands worldwide. Here, we demystify TGB restoration myths to promote a positive agenda to increase the likelihood of success of ambitious landscape‐scale restoration goals of nonforest ecosystems. The 10 TGB restoration myths are: (1) grasslands originate from degraded forests, (2) tree cover is a reliable indicator of habitat quality, (3) planting trees is always good for biodiversity and ecosystem services, (4) grasslands are biodiversity‐poor and provide few ecosystem services, (5) enhancing plant nutrition is needed in restoration, (6) disturbance is detrimental, (7) techniques used to restore temperate grasslands also work for TGB, (8) grasslands represent early stages of forest succession, (9) grassland restoration is only about grasses, and (10) grassland restoration is fast. By demystifying TGB restoration, we hope that policymakers, scientists, and restorationists come to understand and embrace the value of these ecosystems and are motivated to establish policies, standards, indicators, and techniques that enhance the success of TGB restoration. We must abandon misperceptions and misunderstandings of TGB ecology that result in ill‐conceived policies and build an informed and compelling global ecosystem restoration agenda that maintains and improves the well‐being of all inhabitants of grassy biomes.

Mots clés: afforestation; Bonn challenge; grassland; savanna; forest landscape restoration

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Fernando Silveira, André Arruda, William Bond, Giselda Durigan, Alessandra Fidelis, et al.. Myth‐busting tropical grassy biome restoration. Restoration Ecology, 2020, 28 (5), pp.1067-1073. ⟨10.1111/rec.13202⟩. ⟨hal-02981745⟩