Popular in Natural Sciences

Biology

Plasticity and microevolution of diatoms

University of Technology Sydney Martina Doblin

Chemistry

Statistical Mechanics for Chemistry and Materials Science

Indian Institute of Science Biman Bagchi

Chemistry

Polyfluorene-Wrapped Carbon Nanotubes Decorated with Photocleavable Side-Chains

McMaster University Alex Adronov

Biology

Analysis of rare coding variants reveals novel genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes

University College London David Curtis

Life Sciences

The Mouse Cortical Connectome Maintains Specificity by Distinct Connectivity Profiles

Monash University Răzvan Gămănuţ

Life Sciences

Neural control of three-dimensional gaze shifts

York University

Books

The Joy of Science

University of Surrey

Of iconic animals and national pride

View more insights in Sciences - Life Sciences - Natural Sciences

View more figures from Indian Institute of Science

View the page of Renee M. Borges

Renee Borges discusses restoration ecology in the Anthropocene

Image courtesy of interviewee. July 21, 2024

Generating Workspace

Export as PDF

This video discusses the concept of restoration ecology, emphasizing its importance in the context of the Anthropocene, a term used to describe the current geological age viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Restoration ecology aims to bring ecosystems back to an earlier state, not necessarily the original state since that is often unknown.

The speaker explains two approaches to restoration: active and passive. Active restoration involves human intervention, such as planting native flora in areas like abandoned plantations to restore them to rainforest conditions. Passive restoration occurs when a previously disturbed ecosystem is allowed to recover naturally through processes like ecological succession, provided that there are appropriate sources of seeds and minimal human interference.

Challenges in restoration are highlighted, particularly concerning areas such as abandoned mines, which are often contaminated, and invasive species that disrupt natural ecosystems. This video also notes that restoration efforts must protect the targeted areas from further human interference to be successful.

Specific examples illustrate the difficulties of managing invasive species, such as Lantana camara in India and the brown tree snake in Guam, showcasing the broader implications of ecological mistakes—both unintentional and intentional—on native ecosystems.

The discussion connects to larger issues in the Anthropocene, including climate change and the need to understand the physiological tolerances of plants and animals to predict how they might adapt or relocate. It emphasizes the necessity for research that encompasses the soil microbiota as a critical element in ecosystem recovery and the interconnectedness of all trophic levels in nature.

Overall, the text calls for a comprehensive understanding of ecology to enhance restoration efforts and address the challenges posed by invasive species, climate change, and human-induced ecological disruptions.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.405 --> 00:03.085
I think is a very important area,

00:03.725 --> 00:06.365
particularly in the Anthropocene.

00:06.995 --> 00:09.685
I'll come to the Anthropocene a little later,

00:10.465 --> 00:13.805
but I do want to address the issue

00:13.865 --> 00:15.645
of restoration ecology.

00:16.545 --> 00:21.485
So, if one wanted to give a simple definition,

00:22.275 --> 00:27.165
restoration Ecology is trying to bring back a system,

00:27.345 --> 00:31.525
an ecosystem, in this case, to an earlier state.

00:32.505 --> 00:36.805
Now, remember that I'm not saying original state,

00:37.225 --> 00:39.005
I'm saying earlier state,

00:39.395 --> 00:43.005
because we don't really know what the original was

00:43.225 --> 00:47.165
and how far back in time we would need

00:47.165 --> 00:50.085
to go in order to determine original.

00:50.825 --> 00:55.205
So I think for Restoration Ecologist, as always, this idea

00:55.945 --> 00:59.165
as to what is the state of the ecosystem

01:00.275 --> 01:04.285
that one would want get back to, and

01:04.285 --> 01:07.365
therefore very

01:09.215 --> 01:10.525
issue, and

01:11.155 --> 01:15.125
therefore, think of restoration ecology also in terms of

01:16.165 --> 01:20.325
facilitating a return to this earlier state.

01:21.185 --> 01:25.245
Yes. Now, restoration ecology

01:25.825 --> 01:30.365
can really be both an active as well as a passive process.

01:30.825 --> 01:34.285
And what of course do I mean by this,

01:35.185 --> 01:40.125
so many people are actively engaging in restoration.

01:40.545 --> 01:44.765
And for example, in India we have active,

01:45.585 --> 01:47.405
non-governmental organizations

01:47.465 --> 01:51.205
and research foundations trying to restore

01:51.755 --> 01:53.925
abandoned coffee plantations

01:54.105 --> 01:57.765
or tea plantations, trying to restore them back

01:57.865 --> 02:00.325
to original rainforest fragments.

02:01.125 --> 02:04.005
Assuming that, you know, the type of rainforest

02:04.475 --> 02:09.165
that they are wanting to get back to, is something

02:09.165 --> 02:11.885
that is existing in the neighborhood.

02:12.585 --> 02:17.005
Yes. So here you would actively plant

02:17.655 --> 02:21.925
seeds or saplings of these, trees

02:22.145 --> 02:25.325
or shrubs or you know, the flora

02:25.825 --> 02:29.565
and, put them in densities

02:29.875 --> 02:34.765
that you think would be appropriate to represent the

02:35.325 --> 02:37.805
original or earlier rainforest.

02:38.425 --> 02:40.885
So this would be active management

02:41.175 --> 02:44.645
where you establish nurseries and then you keep planting.

02:45.305 --> 02:49.725
Yes. Uh, passive restoration is where,

02:50.415 --> 02:54.685
let's say an abandoned fallow land, which is close enough

02:54.945 --> 02:58.005
to an original source of

02:58.595 --> 03:00.085
Seedlings or seeds,

03:00.085 --> 03:03.885
because to establish a forest, you need seeds,

03:03.945 --> 03:07.725
you need seedlings, and these have to come in passively.

03:07.995 --> 03:12.285
There's no active human intervention, which means that,

03:12.495 --> 03:15.725
let's say if it's birds that have to disperse seeds,

03:16.265 --> 03:20.805
the bird should not be intimidated in crossing the clearing

03:20.805 --> 03:24.845
because if there is a big clearing, birds should want

03:24.945 --> 03:26.925
to be able to fly across

03:27.585 --> 03:30.005
and in the process deposit seeds if

03:30.005 --> 03:31.085
that's what they are doing.

03:31.465 --> 03:35.685
Or if it's wind deposition, the wind should be favorable so

03:35.685 --> 03:37.925
that the seeds can be deposited.

03:38.625 --> 03:42.965
So here, this is a passive restoration process,

03:43.615 --> 03:48.045
which would only work if, there are these

03:48.915 --> 03:52.285
seed source areas which are close enough

03:52.905 --> 03:56.845
and where the ecological mechanisms are in place,

03:57.925 --> 04:01.945
you know, in order to get this reign

04:02.125 --> 04:06.865
of natural, seeds,

04:06.925 --> 04:09.745
and therefore the natural process of what is called

04:10.705 --> 04:14.505
ecological succession can take place, place.

04:14.505 --> 04:19.385
So in ecology, we have this term succession where we start

04:19.615 --> 04:23.905
with, you know, very early weedy species,

04:24.235 --> 04:27.625
which come in largely maybe because they are wind dispersed.

04:28.205 --> 04:31.785
And then slowly, the community changes

04:32.895 --> 04:36.465
changes until if, the restoration

04:37.195 --> 04:39.025
patch has been protected.

04:39.085 --> 04:42.185
And that's another big problem with restoration ecology.

04:42.925 --> 04:44.785
The patch has to be protected

04:44.785 --> 04:47.785
because, you know, the restoration process may start,

04:48.725 --> 04:52.505
but if that area is not,

04:52.765 --> 04:56.705
either fenced off physically from human intervention

04:57.605 --> 05:02.465
or it's not under some kind of monitoring,

05:02.465 --> 05:07.025
the restoration efforts, you know, can be, in vain.

05:08.245 --> 05:12.785
So, that's in a nutshell about

05:13.505 --> 05:15.345
a brief definition of,

05:15.485 --> 05:18.225
and an example of restoration ecology.

05:19.205 --> 05:22.985
But, there are some types of restorations

05:23.215 --> 05:24.545
that are really difficult

05:24.725 --> 05:28.145
or alterations, you know, that are very difficult.

05:28.325 --> 05:32.305
And I will talk a little bit more about this later.

05:32.925 --> 05:37.145
For example, abandoned open cast minds.

05:37.965 --> 05:40.665
You know, there is often this idea

05:40.695 --> 05:43.985
that abandoned open cast minds should be restored,

05:44.205 --> 05:45.225
can be restored.

05:45.855 --> 05:49.025
This is something that's quite difficult, especially

05:49.025 --> 05:51.785
because of the mine tailings

05:51.885 --> 05:56.785
and the high amounts of, pollutants and heavy metals

05:57.145 --> 06:01.685
and toxins that might be present in, the mine soil.

06:02.585 --> 06:05.545
Uh, so, you know,

06:06.015 --> 06:09.105
this is quite a difficult area

06:09.685 --> 06:14.505
in which restoration ecology is trying to make some inroads,

06:14.885 --> 06:17.945
but it's not always very, very easy.

06:19.345 --> 06:24.065
I also want to draw attention to restoration

06:24.165 --> 06:26.745
of certain parts of an ecosystem.

06:26.925 --> 06:28.385
So I've talked about a forest,

06:29.365 --> 06:33.345
but in a forest you have the canopy, the overstory,

06:33.525 --> 06:35.465
and you also have the understory.

06:35.925 --> 06:40.705
For example, now I'm speaking from my own country,

06:41.035 --> 06:45.025
India, where we have a terrible invasion

06:45.405 --> 06:50.255
of a neotropical plant called Ana Kamara,

06:51.025 --> 06:53.455
which is, I think rated as one

06:53.455 --> 06:56.255
of the world's most invasive plant species.

06:57.315 --> 06:59.335
And what Lantana has done,

06:59.555 --> 07:03.655
it was imported into India several times as an ornamental

07:04.045 --> 07:08.375
because it has very pretty flowers, but it has taken over

07:08.915 --> 07:12.575
and has invaded India's understory

07:12.755 --> 07:14.775
of many types of forest.

07:15.565 --> 07:19.575
What this has done is it's preventing the regeneration

07:19.995 --> 07:24.495
of natural, you know, shrubs, herbs, as well

07:24.715 --> 07:25.935
as the overstory.

07:26.595 --> 07:29.895
So Ana has come in

07:30.195 --> 07:32.095
and invaded the understory.

07:32.835 --> 07:36.935
Now, people are desperately talking about restoring the

07:37.025 --> 07:39.295
understory of these forests

07:39.525 --> 07:41.935
because you have elephants, you have tiger,

07:42.235 --> 07:46.135
you have this whole gamut of species,

07:46.595 --> 07:50.215
and oftentimes they, you know, can't even penetrate

07:50.285 --> 07:52.975
through the impenetrable,

07:53.455 --> 07:55.455
lantana kamara understory.

07:55.835 --> 07:58.255
So restoration

07:58.475 --> 08:03.055
of the understory is another important,

08:03.635 --> 08:06.815
aspect that one would need to think about.

08:07.555 --> 08:11.535
Uh, you know, where you are not, looking at the entire

08:12.765 --> 08:16.855
ecosystem, but you are wanting to pull out a component of

08:16.855 --> 08:21.735
that ecosystem so that it can be replaced by, you know,

08:21.735 --> 08:23.455
natural processes.

08:24.315 --> 08:26.975
So this is something that,

08:27.645 --> 08:31.695
many people in the world are grappling with,

08:32.015 --> 08:34.935
particularly with invasives.

08:35.675 --> 08:39.735
Yes. And if we have time later, we can come back,

08:40.555 --> 08:42.215
to this issue.

08:42.795 --> 08:46.855
If, you know, time permits, yes.

08:47.335 --> 08:52.055
I also wanna just flag restoration of aquatic systems

08:52.645 --> 08:56.045
because I don't want to only talk about terrestrial systems,

08:56.505 --> 09:01.405
but aquatic systems are quite difficult to restore.

09:01.825 --> 09:05.965
And here again, invasive species are very, very important.

09:06.745 --> 09:11.085
And unfortunately, there's not be much attention worldwide

09:11.955 --> 09:16.445
paid to invasive aquatic species, whether it be marine

09:17.025 --> 09:20.125
or fresh water and aquatic systems,

09:20.125 --> 09:23.125
because they are open systems, they're not closed.

09:24.025 --> 09:28.405
Um, invasive species can very easily, you know,

09:28.745 --> 09:32.525
you can't fence off an aquatic, system.

09:32.985 --> 09:37.285
You can't have, artificial boundaries that you place.

09:38.025 --> 09:42.525
And I think that is why every type of

09:44.425 --> 09:48.355
ecosystem presents its own particular challenges

09:48.815 --> 09:50.915
to the science of restoration.

09:51.675 --> 09:55.435
Ecology. The price can be really very high,

09:55.735 --> 09:56.955
for making mistakes.

09:57.455 --> 10:01.435
Yes. Um, if you'd like, I can give you a couple

10:01.455 --> 10:03.195
of examples on that.

10:03.855 --> 10:05.555
And of course, again,

10:06.045 --> 10:08.555
there can be an inadvertent mistake.

10:08.725 --> 10:12.715
Let's just say, aircraft, you,

10:12.875 --> 10:17.155
I you may have heard of this, this island of Guam, which is,

10:17.295 --> 10:21.875
in the Pacific, where the US has a military,

10:21.975 --> 10:26.795
in an air base, and they fly in planes from Papua New Guinea

10:27.055 --> 10:30.675
and the brown tree snake from Australia, Papua New Guinea,

10:31.135 --> 10:32.995
hopped onto some planes

10:33.175 --> 10:37.555
and landed onto Guam, which had no snakes,

10:37.935 --> 10:39.435
no predators, really.

10:39.855 --> 10:41.635
And this has become uncontrolled.

10:42.215 --> 10:45.995
And recently, very recently, people have measured the impact

10:47.015 --> 10:50.115
on, birds.

10:50.455 --> 10:51.755
Uh, the snake is wiped out.

10:51.765 --> 10:56.395
Birds, the snake is wiped out, nestlings, all sorts

10:56.395 --> 10:58.795
of life forms and the birds

10:58.795 --> 11:02.835
that are providing ecosystem services like sea dispersal,

11:03.335 --> 11:05.795
all of that has collapsed in Guam.

11:06.495 --> 11:08.395
So it's very, very hard.

11:08.575 --> 11:13.235
Now, you know, to recall, the brown tree Snake,

11:13.745 --> 11:17.435
they have tried hanging, rats laced

11:17.465 --> 11:19.995
with paracetamol, which is a painkiller

11:20.065 --> 11:23.155
because apparently if the snake eats the

11:23.705 --> 11:27.955
rats which have got paracetamol, they will die.

11:28.095 --> 11:32.355
And then that's how they are trying to control these snakes.

11:32.625 --> 11:35.795
Okay? So this is an example of,

11:35.975 --> 11:37.915
an an inadvertent mistake.

11:37.935 --> 11:42.035
Nobody wanted the brown tree snake to be introduced.

11:42.815 --> 11:45.075
If you take the cane towards in Australia,

11:46.435 --> 11:49.645
they were intentionally introduced from Mexico

11:50.545 --> 11:52.765
in 1935, I believe,

11:53.385 --> 11:56.725
to control the sugar cane beetles in Queensland.

11:57.785 --> 12:01.965
And the cane toads have now gone completely uncontrolled.

12:01.965 --> 12:03.205
They're very poisonous.

12:03.205 --> 12:06.165
They secrete poison from their skin glands.

12:06.825 --> 12:10.485
And the local Australian corner cannot

12:10.665 --> 12:12.165
handle the cane toads.

12:12.165 --> 12:13.285
They can't prey on them

12:13.715 --> 12:18.685
because they have not evolved with the cane toad,

12:19.265 --> 12:21.845
and therefore, you know, they get poisoned.

12:22.345 --> 12:27.325
So again, this was a intentional introduction.

12:28.105 --> 12:32.245
And now to restore the whole habitat,

12:32.465 --> 12:34.965
not only habitats, yes, habitats also

12:34.965 --> 12:39.045
because gain towards are sort of, you know, going,

12:40.235 --> 12:44.605
playing havoc in many Australian, you know,

12:44.905 --> 12:46.245
ecosystems.

12:46.585 --> 12:48.245
So this is another huge problem.

12:49.105 --> 12:54.085
So if you're taking things into,

12:54.385 --> 12:55.845
you know, habitat change,

12:56.025 --> 12:59.445
and an example from India is again, importing

13:00.085 --> 13:03.205
mesquite from Mexico to counter

13:04.105 --> 13:07.845
desertification to green areas in the desert.

13:08.665 --> 13:11.885
Now, mesquite from Mexico has gone wild

13:11.985 --> 13:16.245
and it's impossible to uproot the mesquite.

13:16.275 --> 13:19.085
It's very thorny, difficult

13:19.105 --> 13:21.365
to manage, the seeds.

13:21.385 --> 13:25.395
And, even if you cut it, it comes back

13:25.615 --> 13:29.315
by copying, you know, the cut thing starts sprouting.

13:30.055 --> 13:34.195
So, mesquite dominated habitats now

13:35.135 --> 13:39.915
are really difficult to bring back to any,

13:40.055 --> 13:41.995
former state, you know.

13:42.655 --> 13:47.195
So here are, as I've said, I've given you some examples of,

13:47.975 --> 13:52.675
of, inadvertent as well as intentional introductions

13:53.465 --> 13:57.555
that have really caused, tremendous damage

13:58.535 --> 14:02.715
and are difficult to bring back to original states.

14:03.485 --> 14:04.835
Since I said in the beginning

14:04.865 --> 14:07.155
that I will talk about the Anthropocene

14:07.295 --> 14:11.115
and the Anthropocene, is this a period of

14:11.685 --> 14:16.275
great climatic, changes that we are going through.

14:17.055 --> 14:19.195
Uh, and also coupled

14:19.225 --> 14:23.195
with these climatic changes are also changes in land use.

14:24.255 --> 14:28.635
Uh, land use has changed, deforestation has happened,

14:28.925 --> 14:33.035
which is very relevant to the restoration bit

14:33.035 --> 14:35.195
that we were talking about now

14:35.195 --> 14:39.095
because of anthropogenic factors

14:39.405 --> 14:42.055
that have caused all of these,

14:42.545 --> 14:47.535
great changes in weather patterns, in wind patterns,

14:47.635 --> 14:48.975
and so on and so forth.

14:49.635 --> 14:54.605
Uh, organisms that have been evolved, that have been evolved

14:55.825 --> 14:57.485
for earlier weather

14:57.905 --> 15:02.365
and climatic conditions are now unable to keep up.

15:02.625 --> 15:05.205
See, we humans can turn on an air conditioner,

15:06.145 --> 15:07.965
we can put on a heater,

15:08.145 --> 15:12.485
we can dive into our bunker when a hurricane hits.

15:12.625 --> 15:15.365
But animals can't do that. Plants can't do that.

15:15.955 --> 15:17.365
They either have to migrate

15:17.985 --> 15:22.445
and move, maybe move northwards if the climate is too hot.

15:22.755 --> 15:25.765
They have to try and move northwards

15:26.065 --> 15:28.085
or higher up in altitudes.

15:28.905 --> 15:30.605
So that means that we need

15:30.605 --> 15:34.165
to understand the physiological tolerances

15:34.265 --> 15:35.565
of plants and animals.

15:36.145 --> 15:38.245
And unfortunately we have very,

15:38.315 --> 15:39.925
very little knowledge of this.

15:40.505 --> 15:43.045
We have knowledge for crop plants, we have knowledge

15:43.045 --> 15:44.805
for domesticated animals,

15:45.305 --> 15:49.325
but we do not know this for wild animals and wild plants.

15:49.945 --> 15:52.405
So we have to be able to make predictions.

15:52.975 --> 15:54.925
Where are these animals

15:55.065 --> 15:58.845
and plants going to find their climatic refugee?

15:59.785 --> 16:02.445
So we have, we talk of climate refugees,

16:03.185 --> 16:05.645
but we talk of human climate refugees.

16:06.465 --> 16:09.485
We do not talk about animal

16:09.585 --> 16:11.685
and plant refugees.

16:12.225 --> 16:13.725
And a lot of our animals

16:13.785 --> 16:17.245
and plants are going become refugees in the future.

16:18.105 --> 16:20.085
So I think we need good

16:20.645 --> 16:23.605
research on physiological tolerances.

16:24.895 --> 16:28.315
How are individual plants, communities of plants?

16:28.975 --> 16:32.715
How is the soil microbiota pe

16:32.715 --> 16:34.155
people neglect the soil?

16:34.815 --> 16:37.395
And that's again, relates to restoration

16:37.395 --> 16:41.995
because if you've damaged, an environment so drastically

16:42.745 --> 16:46.995
that you've damaged the soil too, you can't just

16:47.525 --> 16:49.235
bring in things from zoos

16:49.295 --> 16:51.795
or bring in things from botanical gardens

16:52.255 --> 16:53.635
and expect them to flourish

16:53.975 --> 16:58.675
and then recreate, you know, an ecosystem.

16:58.855 --> 17:00.195
It doesn't work that way.

17:01.215 --> 17:05.595
Yes, because of damages to all the processes

17:05.785 --> 17:09.835
that are present within, the rhizosphere,

17:09.845 --> 17:13.155
which is the soil sphere, which in turn

17:13.875 --> 17:15.115
supports the plants

17:15.175 --> 17:18.195
and the plants in turn support, you know, the whole trophic,

17:18.495 --> 17:20.555
chain of life.

17:21.415 --> 17:25.795
So I think we really need to, to do

17:25.895 --> 17:29.155
so much in terms of understanding

17:29.815 --> 17:33.435
of right from the soil all the way up

17:33.535 --> 17:35.475
to other higher trophic levels.

00:00 - I think is a very important area, particularly in the Anthropocene. I'll come to the Anthropocene a little later, but I do want to address the issue of restoration ecology. So, if one wanted to give a simple definition,

00:22 - restoration Ecology is trying to bring back a system, an ecosystem, in this case, to an earlier state. Now, remember that I'm not saying original state, I'm saying earlier state, because we don't really know what the original was and how far back in time we would need to go in order to determine original. So I think for Restoration Ecologist, as always, this idea as to what is the state of the ecosystem that one would want get back to, and

01:04 - therefore very issue, and therefore, think of restoration ecology also in terms of facilitating a return to this earlier state. Yes. Now, restoration ecology can really be both an active as well as a passive process. And what of course do I mean by this, so many people are actively engaging in restoration. And for example, in India we have active, non-governmental organizations

01:47 - and research foundations trying to restore abandoned coffee plantations or tea plantations, trying to restore them back to original rainforest fragments. Assuming that, you know, the type of rainforest that they are wanting to get back to, is something that is existing in the neighborhood. Yes. So here you would actively plant seeds or saplings of these, trees or shrubs or you know, the flora

02:25 - and, put them in densities that you think would be appropriate to represent the original or earlier rainforest. So this would be active management where you establish nurseries and then you keep planting. Yes. passive restoration is where, let's say an abandoned fallow land, which is close enough to an original source of Seedlings or seeds, because to establish a forest, you need seeds,

03:03 - you need seedlings, and these have to come in passively. There's no active human intervention, which means that, let's say if it's birds that have to disperse seeds, the bird should not be intimidated in crossing the clearing because if there is a big clearing, birds should want to be able to fly across and in the process deposit seeds if that's what they are doing. Or if it's wind deposition, the wind should be favorable so that the seeds can be deposited.

03:38 - So here, this is a passive restoration process, which would only work if, there are these seed source areas which are close enough and where the ecological mechanisms are in place, you know, in order to get this reign of natural, seeds, and therefore the natural process of what is called ecological succession can take place, place. So in ecology, we have this term succession where we start with, you know, very early weedy species,

04:24 - which come in largely maybe because they are wind dispersed. And then slowly, the community changes changes until if, the restoration patch has been protected. And that's another big problem with restoration ecology. The patch has to be protected because, you know, the restoration process may start, but if that area is not, either fenced off physically from human intervention or it's not under some kind of monitoring,

05:02 - the restoration efforts, you know, can be, in vain. So, that's in a nutshell about a brief definition of, and an example of restoration ecology. But, there are some types of restorations that are really difficult or alterations, you know, that are very difficult. And I will talk a little bit more about this later. For example, abandoned open cast minds. You know, there is often this idea

05:40 - that abandoned open cast minds should be restored, can be restored. This is something that's quite difficult, especially because of the mine tailings and the high amounts of, pollutants and heavy metals and toxins that might be present in, the mine soil. so, you know, this is quite a difficult area in which restoration ecology is trying to make some inroads, but it's not always very, very easy.

06:19 - I also want to draw attention to restoration of certain parts of an ecosystem. So I've talked about a forest, but in a forest you have the canopy, the overstory, and you also have the understory. For example, now I'm speaking from my own country, India, where we have a terrible invasion of a neotropical plant called Ana Kamara, which is, I think rated as one of the world's most invasive plant species.

06:57 - And what Lantana has done, it was imported into India several times as an ornamental because it has very pretty flowers, but it has taken over and has invaded India's understory of many types of forest. What this has done is it's preventing the regeneration of natural, you know, shrubs, herbs, as well as the overstory. So Ana has come in and invaded the understory.

07:32 - Now, people are desperately talking about restoring the understory of these forests because you have elephants, you have tiger, you have this whole gamut of species, and oftentimes they, you know, can't even penetrate through the impenetrable, lantana kamara understory. So restoration of the understory is another important, aspect that one would need to think about.

08:07 - you know, where you are not, looking at the entire ecosystem, but you are wanting to pull out a component of that ecosystem so that it can be replaced by, you know, natural processes. So this is something that, many people in the world are grappling with, particularly with invasives. Yes. And if we have time later, we can come back, to this issue. If, you know, time permits, yes.

08:47 - I also wanna just flag restoration of aquatic systems because I don't want to only talk about terrestrial systems, but aquatic systems are quite difficult to restore. And here again, invasive species are very, very important. And unfortunately, there's not be much attention worldwide paid to invasive aquatic species, whether it be marine or fresh water and aquatic systems, because they are open systems, they're not closed. invasive species can very easily, you know, you can't fence off an aquatic, system.

09:32 - You can't have, artificial boundaries that you place. And I think that is why every type of ecosystem presents its own particular challenges to the science of restoration. Ecology. The price can be really very high, for making mistakes. Yes. if you'd like, I can give you a couple of examples on that. And of course, again, there can be an inadvertent mistake.

10:08 - Let's just say, aircraft, you, I you may have heard of this, this island of Guam, which is, in the Pacific, where the US has a military, in an air base, and they fly in planes from Papua New Guinea and the brown tree snake from Australia, Papua New Guinea, hopped onto some planes and landed onto Guam, which had no snakes, no predators, really. And this has become uncontrolled. And recently, very recently, people have measured the impact

10:47 - on, birds. the snake is wiped out. Birds, the snake is wiped out, nestlings, all sorts of life forms and the birds that are providing ecosystem services like sea dispersal, all of that has collapsed in Guam. So it's very, very hard. Now, you know, to recall, the brown tree Snake, they have tried hanging, rats laced with paracetamol, which is a painkiller

11:20 - because apparently if the snake eats the rats which have got paracetamol, they will die. And then that's how they are trying to control these snakes. Okay? So this is an example of, an an inadvertent mistake. Nobody wanted the brown tree snake to be introduced. If you take the cane towards in Australia, they were intentionally introduced from Mexico in 1935, I believe, to control the sugar cane beetles in Queensland.

11:57 - And the cane toads have now gone completely uncontrolled. They're very poisonous. They secrete poison from their skin glands. And the local Australian corner cannot handle the cane toads. They can't prey on them because they have not evolved with the cane toad, and therefore, you know, they get poisoned. So again, this was a intentional introduction. And now to restore the whole habitat,

12:32 - not only habitats, yes, habitats also because gain towards are sort of, you know, going, playing havoc in many Australian, you know, ecosystems. So this is another huge problem. So if you're taking things into, you know, habitat change, and an example from India is again, importing mesquite from Mexico to counter desertification to green areas in the desert.

13:08 - Now, mesquite from Mexico has gone wild and it's impossible to uproot the mesquite. It's very thorny, difficult to manage, the seeds. And, even if you cut it, it comes back by copying, you know, the cut thing starts sprouting. So, mesquite dominated habitats now are really difficult to bring back to any, former state, you know. So here are, as I've said, I've given you some examples of,

13:47 - of, inadvertent as well as intentional introductions that have really caused, tremendous damage and are difficult to bring back to original states. Since I said in the beginning that I will talk about the Anthropocene and the Anthropocene, is this a period of great climatic, changes that we are going through. and also coupled with these climatic changes are also changes in land use. land use has changed, deforestation has happened,

14:28 - which is very relevant to the restoration bit that we were talking about now because of anthropogenic factors that have caused all of these, great changes in weather patterns, in wind patterns, and so on and so forth. organisms that have been evolved, that have been evolved for earlier weather and climatic conditions are now unable to keep up. See, we humans can turn on an air conditioner,

15:06 - we can put on a heater, we can dive into our bunker when a hurricane hits. But animals can't do that. Plants can't do that. They either have to migrate and move, maybe move northwards if the climate is too hot. They have to try and move northwards or higher up in altitudes. So that means that we need to understand the physiological tolerances of plants and animals.

15:36 - And unfortunately we have very, very little knowledge of this. We have knowledge for crop plants, we have knowledge for domesticated animals, but we do not know this for wild animals and wild plants. So we have to be able to make predictions. Where are these animals and plants going to find their climatic refugee? So we have, we talk of climate refugees, but we talk of human climate refugees.

16:06 - We do not talk about animal and plant refugees. And a lot of our animals and plants are going become refugees in the future. So I think we need good research on physiological tolerances. How are individual plants, communities of plants? How is the soil microbiota pe people neglect the soil? And that's again, relates to restoration

16:37 - because if you've damaged, an environment so drastically that you've damaged the soil too, you can't just bring in things from zoos or bring in things from botanical gardens and expect them to flourish and then recreate, you know, an ecosystem. It doesn't work that way. Yes, because of damages to all the processes that are present within, the rhizosphere, which is the soil sphere, which in turn

17:13 - supports the plants and the plants in turn support, you know, the whole trophic, chain of life. So I think we really need to, to do so much in terms of understanding of right from the soil all the way up to other higher trophic levels.

Faculti AI can make mistakes