Tropical forest restoration
Restoring tropical forests: Is planting clusters of trees a cost-effective and
ecologically-sound strategy to restore tropical forests?
Learning objectives
Describe the ecological and social barriers to tropical forest recovery
Compare the ecological and social outcomes of applied nucleation with other forest restoration
strategies
Explain why restoration strategies have to be tailored to local ecological and social conditions
Demonstrate the ability to interpret scientific figures
Justify the importance of replicating restoration studies or projects at multiple sites
2: Look at the table of contents on the right side of the page and work through all 14 sections.
You can write any comments you want, by clicking on the purple Respond boxes. You can click on
underlined words and enlarge the pictures.
Make sure you spend time familiarizing yourself with the glossary (Section 3)
Make sure you watch the videos (Sections 7 and 8). Answer these questions from Section 8.
1.
a. What response variable is illustrated on the y-axis in Panel C?
b. What is the unit of measurement of that variable?
2.
a. What is the approximate mean number of leaf litter arthropods (Panel E) that were
measured per square meter in natural regeneration, applied nucleation, and reference
forest plots?
b. Are these differences statistically significant?
3.
a. How do the mean number of large- (>5 mm) animal-dispersed tree seeds (Panel C)
falling in the applied nucleation treatment compare to the mean number of seedlings
with large animal-dispersed seeds (Panel D) in the applied nucleation plots?
b. What ecological factors might explain the difference in the number of seeds and
seedlings?
Case study assignment BIOL 381
Make sure you listen to the podcast. You are going to need the information from the podcast to
answer some of the questions in Step 3.
Take the quiz at the end (click on purple Check Your Understanding box)
Step 3: Answer the following questions. You can write on this handout or on a separate sheet.
- Viewing this case study strictly as a biologist, what strategy would you recommend and why?
- How does the public perception of the three restoration strategies outlined differ?
- Imagine that you had the resources to use the applied nucleation method on Hawai‘i Island.
Based on what you learned in this case study, explain why restoration strategies have to be
tailored to local ecological and social conditions. What kind of considerations would you include
in order to make this technique relevant and feasible to local environmental conditions as well
as landowners and other stakeholders?
Step 4: We will go over the Holl et al. (2020) paper in class on March 8. Your small group exercise will be
to come up with a) your comments and feedback on the case study and b) research questions you have
about the publication. You will have a chance to talk to Dr. Karen Holl directly in class on March 10. To
learn more about her, see
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