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  • Publication | 2022

The recovery of plant community composition following passive restoration across spatial scales

Global Food and Nutrition Security

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Human impacts have led to dramatic biodiversity change which can be highly scale- dependent across space and time. A primary means to manage these changes is via passive (here, the removal of disturbance) or active (management interventions) ecological restoration. The recovery of biodiversity, following the removal of disturbance, is often incomplete relative to some kind of reference target.

The research found that, during the 80 years after agricultural abandonment, old fields did not recover to the level of biodiversity in remnant never-ploughed sites at any scale. Plant species composition recovered, but not completely, over time, and some species groups increased their cover more than others. Patterns of ecological recovery in de-graded ecosystems across space and long time-scales can inform targeted active restoration interventions and perhaps, lead to better outcomes.