Is Restoration Carried out at eLTER Sites? - A New Article on a Survey

An international team led by Melinda Halassy (Restoration Ecology Group), with researchers from the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research and the Portuguese Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (both affiliated to eLTER and the Society for Ecological Restoration Europe SERE), reviewed the knowledge and practice of ecological restoration at eLTER sites to demonstrate potential contribution to the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law.

Figure 1. Possible contribution of the Long-term Ecological Research Network research infrastructure to upscaling ecological restoration in Europe.

Based on 62 restoration experts and 42 restoration projects identified from 18 countries, eLTER restoration expertise covers most of the European habitats, diverse degradation states and restoration techniques. Restoration projects cover mainly biological degradation, particularly those related to habitat change, overexploitation, and to some extent climate change. A significant majority of the projects were monitored beyond the average project lifecycle (5 years). No generic protocol was used for monitoring, but most projects used a high number and a diverse array of indicators, and assessed the progress of recovery several times. Most projects achieved restoration success on the long term providing five ecosystem services on average as benefits, mainly supporting services such as biodiversity or habitat, but also cultural and regulating services. The study demonstrates that cooperation with eLTER network is beneficial for achieving restoration targets. 

Read the paper: The Added Value of the Long-Term Ecological Research Network to Upscale Restoration in Europe 

Update: The researchers will present their study at the 14Th European Conference on Ecological Restoration in Tartu, Estonia (SERE 2024). Stay tuned for Session 12.1. Enhancing Restoration Ecology in Europe: "The added value of Long-term Ecological Research (eLTER) site network to upscale restoration". 

The session is scheduled for Thursday, 29 August, 10:30-12:00 at Room MOORA.