Micro- and meso-scale factors affect the restoration of atlantic forest

Abstract

Ecological restoration is potentially affected by factors acting at both micro- (characteristics of the site for seedling establishment) and meso-scales (landscape features). We evaluated areas undergoing restoration to define the relative importance of some micro-scale factors (soil type, restoration strategy, pasture type) and macro-scale factors (proportion of old-growth forest, immature forest, degraded and humid areas, and the nearest-neighbor distance) at determining forest structure (tree abundance, basal area and species richness) of young (3-11 years) restoration areas. We found that the areas under restoration have higher tree species richness and abundance if old-growth forests are present within distances up to 200 m. We also found that the use of non-invasive fodder grass species in the pasture prior to restoration resulted in higher abundance and basal area of native trees in restoration sites; other factors were less important. These results point to the importance of certain landscape features for the success of restoration, and that the presence of preserved forests nearby is a key factor to be considered when planning recovery of tree species diversity in forest restoration. © 2013 ABECO.