Recovering biodiversity levels, to those typical of the reference forest ecosystem, is one of the the ultimate aims of forest ecosystem restoration. However, biodiversity includes all living things from bacteria to elephants. So, measuring how fast forest restoration recovers it is a daunting task.
Where and when to monitor?
Monitoring should be carried out on i) the restoration site (treatment), ii) a control site (where no restoration interventions are implemented) (origin) and iii) a reference forest remnant (target), just before and after restoration is initiated (to provide baseline data), and annually thereafter.
Comparing i) with ii) determines the immediate effectiveness of restoration methods. Comparing ii) and iii) tracks the progress of restoration towards the ideal end-state.
What to monitor?
The most practical groups to focus on, for monitoring biodiversity recovery, are:
- Plants - by sample-based vegetation surveys. Use the circular sample plots established during the rapid site assessment.
- Birds using the McKinnon's list method (since birds are the main seed-dispersers into restoration sites.
- Mammals - by camera trapping.
Full instructions for each group are accessible through the download panel.
