New CEF paper reviews various riparian restoration projects

Zona ribeirinha

A new article published by Arthur Cupertino, a PhD student in the TERRA – Forests and Natural Resources programme of the ForProtect group at the Forest Research Centre (CEF) of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), co-authored by CEF researcher Patricia Rodríguez González, reviews the vegetation indicators used to monitor the restoration of riparian ecosystems.

As riparian restoration becomes increasingly widespread, it becomes ever more necessary to identify reliable indicators that can efficiently aid in evaluating restoration outcomes. In this study, the authors review various riparian restoration projects across different contexts.

The objectives were to i) review the monitoring methodologies used, ii) identify the most frequently used vegetation indicators applied, and iii) assess the use of such indicators and related sampling methods at different temporal and spatial scales.

Graphical abstract

The study includes an exhaustive analysis of the literature on ecological restoration in riparian ecosystems in recent decades, to assess how vegetation monitoring is carried out in different contexts.

The authors identified that the type of sampling and ecological indicators applied vary according to the spatial and temporal scale of the projects, and that there is still no consensus on how to associate the use of remote sensing with field sampling in assessing restoration success.

The article “Chasing success: A review of vegetation indicators used in riparian ecosystem restoration monitoring” is available in open access in the journal Ecological Indicators – see here.

Fig. 4. Percentage of studies per sampling method (inner circle) and data type (outer circle)