Native Seed Supply and the Restoration Species Pool.

ABSTRACT: Globally, annual expenditure on ecological restoration of degraded areas for habitat improvement and biodiversity conservation is approximately $18bn. Seed farming of native plant species is crucial to meet restoration goals, but may be stymied by the disconnection of academic research in seed science and the lack of effective policies that regulate native seed production/supply. To illustrate this problem, we identified 1,122 plant species important for European grasslands of conservation concern and found that only 32% have both fundamental seed germination data available and can be purchased as seed. The "restoration species pool," or set of species available in practice, acts as a significant biodiversity selection filter for species use in restoration projects. For improvement,

SUBMITTER: Ladouceur E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5993272 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature