Person: Balaguer Núñez, Luis
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First Name
Luis
Last Name
Balaguer Núñez
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Biológicas
Department
Area
Botánica
Identifiers
2 results
Search Results
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Item Perspective: The historical reference in restoration ecology: Re-defining a cornerstone concept(Biological conservation, 2014) Balaguer Núñez, Luis; Escudero Alcántara, Adrián; Martín Duque, José Francisco; Mola, Ignacio; Aronson, JamesEcological restoration aims to revitalize ecosystem integrity and functionality following severe damage or degradation. Often, however, efforts are hampered by an incomplete or flawed concept of historical ‘reference’ used when choosing or constructing a target ecosystem or landscape to restore ‘to’. This problem may stem from a culturally-skewed interpretation of history or from misunderstanding or underestimation of the role that humans have played in a given ecosystem’s historical development and dynamics. While strongly confirming the importance of the reference concept in restoration ecology, we argue for the need to refine it, and to broaden the ways it can be conceived, developed, and applied. Firstly, the historical reference system informing a given restoration project should be grounded in both latent and active ‘ecological memories’, encoded and stored across relevant geographical and temporal scales. Further, the generally neglected geomorphic component of reference-building should also be addressed, as well as the contributions of human cultures to current ecosystem and landscape condition. Thirdly, ecosystems are historically contingent and multi-layered. Pre-versus post-disturbance comparisons are insufficient. Instead, restoration scenarios should be seen as tapestries of multiple and successive states. In sum, a well-conceived reference model helps promote and ensure the recovery and subsequent maintenance of historical continuity, i.e., the reestablishment of an impaired ecosystem to its historic ecological trajectory. We use case studies from pain and Peru to illustrate how this approach can provide better goalposts and benchmarks, and therefore better guide the planning, implementation, and evaluation of effective restoration projects.Item Community ontogeny at the roadside: Critical life-cycle events throughout a sequential process of primary colonization(Applied Vegetation Science, 2014) Magro, Sandra; Jiménez Escobar, María Dolores; Casado González, Miguel Ángel; Mola, Ignacio; Arenas Escribano, Juan María; Martín Duque, José Francisco; Vazquez, Ana; Balaguer Núñez, LuisQuestions: How does the response to environmental filters change across the life cycle of pioneer plants through the early process of community assembly? Is there a threshold at any of the life-history stages during roadcut primary colonization? Location: A very steep, sun-exposed, low-fertility and low water retention roadcut in a Mediterranean continental site in Madrid, central Spain. Methods: We tracked density of individuals, plant cover, species richness and community composition throughout the sequential process of primary colonization of a newly-exposed roadcut surface. We monitored from seed arrival to seedling emergence, seedling survival and plant growth across species over two growing seasons. We manipulated the intensity of environmental filters in 12 experimental plots (10 9 8 m) following a full-factorial design of two treatments (topsoil spreading and shallow tillage). Results: The response to environmental filter manipulation varied throughout the individual life cycle. Under an equal seed rain, the higher carrying capacity caused by topsoil spreading gave rise to the emergence of a larger number of species, which either persisted or occasionally appeared in some of the stages of the early community assembly. Further, topsoil spreading enhanced seedling survival across species, as well as subsequent plant growth. We therefore detected two life-history stages acting as thresholds in plant community assembly due to an ontogenetic niche shift across species. The first, at seedling emergence, in response to environmental cues with lasting consequences in community composition and species richness; and the second, at the transition to the adult stage in response to local resource availability, with consequences in subsequent plant growth and community cover. Conclusions: During primary colonization, ontogenetic development of pioneers was paralleled by the action of environmental filters throughout the community assembly process. On roadcuts, the confluence of both processes gives rise to a community ontogeny marked by two thresholds determining community richness and cover under Mediterranean conditions. Our findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms involved in technical solutions, such as topsoil spreading, and provide a more efficient approach to roadside restoration.