Invasive alien acacias rapidly stock carbon, but threaten biodiversity recovery in young second-growth forests.

Under the UN-Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and Bonn Challenge, second-growth forest is promoted as a global solution to climate change, degradation and associated losses of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Second growth is often invaded by alien tree species and understanding how this impacts carbon stock and biodiversity recovery is key for restoration planning. We assessed carbon stock and tree diversity recovery in second growth invaded by two Acacia species and non-invaded second growth, with associated edge effects, in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Carbon stock recovery in non-invaded forests was threefold lower than in invaded forests. Increasingly isolated, fragmented and deforested areas had low carbon stocks when non-invaded, whereas the opposite was true when invaded. Non-invaded forests recovered threefold to sixfold higher taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity than invaded forest. Higher species turnover and lower nestedness in non-invaded than invaded forests underpinned higher abundance of threatened and endemic species in non-invaded forest. Non-invaded forests presented positive relationships between carbon and biodiversity, whereas in the invaded forests we did not detect any relationship, indicating that more carbon does not equal more biodiversity in landscapes with high vulnerability to invasive acacias. To deliver on combined climate change and biodiversity goals, restoration planning and management must consider biological invasion risk. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding forest landscape restoration: reinforcing scientific foundations for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration'.

Author Correction: Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest.

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events.

Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs.

International commitments for ecosystem restoration add up to one-quarter of the world's arable land. Fulfilling them would ease global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity decline but could displace food production and impose financial costs on farmers. Here, we present a restoration prioritization approach capable of revealing these synergies and trade-offs, incorporating ecological and economic efficiencies of scale and modelling specific policy options. Using an actual large-scale restoration target of the Atlantic Forest hotspot, we show that our approach can deliver an eightfold increase in cost-effectiveness for biodiversity conservation compared with a baseline of non-systematic restoration. A compromise solution avoids 26% of the biome's current extinction debt of 2,864 plant and animal species (an increase of 257% compared with the baseline). Moreover, this solution sequesters 1 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent (a 105% increase) while reducing costs by US$28 billion (a 57% decrease). Seizing similar opportunities elsewhere would offer substantial contributions to some of the greatest challenges for humankind.

Mating System and Effective Population Size of the Overexploited Neotropical Tree (Myroxylon peruiferum L.f.) and Their Impact on Seedling Production.

The reproductive system of a tree species has substantial impact on genetic diversity and structure within and among natural populations. Such information, should be considered when planning tree planting for forest restoration. Here, we describe the mating system and genetic diversity of an overexploited Neotropical tree, Myroxylon peruiferum L.f. (Fabaceae) sampled from a forest remnant (10 seed trees and 200 seeds) and assess whether the effective population size of nursery-grown seedlings (148 seedlings) is sufficient to prevent inbreeding depression in reintroduced populations. Genetic analyses were performed based on 8 microsatellite loci. M. peruiferum presented a mixed mating system with evidence of biparental inbreeding (t^m-t/ = 0.118). We found low levels of genetic diversity for M. peruiferum species (allelic richness: 1.40 to 4.82; expected heterozygosity: 0.29 to 0.52). Based on Ne(v) within progeny, we suggest a sample size of 47 seed trees to achieve an effective population size of 100. The effective population sizes for the nursery-grown seedlings were much smaller Ne = 27.54-34.86) than that recommended for short term Ne ≥ 100) population conservation. Therefore, to obtain a reasonable genetic representation of native tree species and prevent problems associated with inbreeding depression, seedling production for restoration purposes may require a much larger sampling effort than is currently used, a problem that is further complicated by species with a mixed mating system. This study emphasizes the need to integrate species reproductive biology into seedling production programs and connect conservation genetics with ecological restoration.

Implicações do cumprimento do Código Florestal vigente na redução de áreas agrícolas: um estudo de caso da produção canavieira no Estado de São Paulo / Agricultural land reduction due to the compliance with the current Forest Code: a study case of sugarcane production in the State of São Paulo

Uma das principais justificativas da proposta de mudanças do Código Florestal brasileiro (CF) é a de que seu cumprimento supostamente inviabilizaria vários setores da agropecuária, apesar dessa justificativa ser fracamente sustentada em dados. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar as implicações do cumprimento do CF para a redução de áreas de produção canavieira no Estado de São Paulo, visando estimar qual seria o limite superior de potenciais prejuízos que a aplicação do CF poderia trazer à viabilidade econômica de um dos mais importantes, e também impactantes ambientalmente, segmentos da produção agropecuária brasileira. Foram analisados 23 projetos de adequação ambiental conduzidos em 1.961 propriedades rurais de usinas sucroalcooleira do Estado de São Paulo, os quais totalizaram 533.097 ha (9,7 por cento da área cultivada com cana-de-açúcar em São Paulo). Nesses projetos, realizaram-se um diagnóstico ambiental de Áreas de Preservação Permanente (APP), áreas de produção agrícola e de áreas potenciais para constituir a Reserva Legal. Os resultados indicaram que 10,4 por cento da área total das propriedades rurais constituiriam APPs e que apenas 21,2 por cento da área de APP (2,2 por cento da área total) era utilizada por algum tipo de atividade agrícola, sendo que cana-de-açúcar ocupava apenas 12,1 por cento da área enquadrada como APP pelo atual Código (1,2 por cento da área total). Em média, 76,5 por cento da área total dos projetos estavam ocupadas por cana-de-açúcar e a soma das áreas potencias para a averbação da Reserva Legal, constituídas de remanescentes florestais (5,0 por cento da área total), áreas abandonadas (2,3 por cento da área total) e de áreas com outros usos (6,3 por cento da área total), resultaria em 13,6 por cento da área total, gerando um déficit médio de 6,4 por cento de áreas para o total cumprimento da Reserva Legal (20 por cento). Esse déficit poderia, por lei, inclusive ser compensado fora da matrícula, em paisagens de menor aptidão agrícola. Assim, o diagnóstico apresentado nesse trabalho para o setor canavieiro no Estado de São Paulo aponta que o CF vigente poderia ser cumprido sem inviabilizar a produção agrícola, ressaltando que parte dos argumentos favoráveis às alterações no CF precisa ser revista à luz de dados concretos e de forma menos especulativa.

One of the major reasons of the proposed changes of the Brazilian Forest Code is that its compliance would supposedly harm several agricultural sectors, although this reason has been weakly supported by data. The goal of this work was to evaluate the implication of the compliance with the Forest Code for reducing areas of sugarcane production in the State of São Paulo, aiming to estimate the upper limit of potential losses that the application of the Forest Code could bring to the economic viability of important sectors of Brazilian agricultural production. We analyzed 23 projects of environmental planning carried out in 1,961 landholdings of sugarcane mills from São Paulo State, which totalized 533,097 ha (9.7 percent of the cultivated area with sugarcane in the state). In these projects, we carried out an environmental zoning of Permanent Protected Areas (PPA), lands of agricultural production, and potential lands to constitute Legal Reserves. The results indicated that, on average, 10.4 percent of the total area of each farm was classified as PPA, and that only 21.2 percent of PPA area (2.2 percent of the total area) were occupied by some kind of agricultural production. Sugarcane occupied, in average, 12.1 percent of the areas classified as PPA (1.2 percent of the total area). Overall, 76.5 percent of the total area of projects was occupied by sugarcane fields and the sum of potential areas for compliance with the Legal Reserve, which were constituted by forest remnants (5.0 percent of total area), abandoned lands (2.3 percent of total area), and lands with other uses (6.3 percent of total area), would result in 13.6 percent of the total area and consequently generate a deficit of 6.4 percent of lands for the full compliance with the Legal Reserve (20 percent). This deficit could even be compensated, by law, outside the landholding register in landscapes with lower agriculture suitability. Therefore, the diagnostics presented in this work for the sugarcane sector in the State of São Paulo indicates that compliance with the current Forest Code would not reduce agricultural production, which highlight that part of the arguments that are favorable for changes in the Forest Code need to be revisited in the light of concrete data and in a less speculative way.