title: Ecological restoration across the Mediterranean Basin as viewed by practitioners.
abstract: Restoration efforts in the Mediterranean Basin have been changing from a silvicultural to an ecological restoration approach. Yet, to what extent the projects are guided by ecological restoration principles remains largely unknown. To analyse this issue, we built an on-line survey addressed to restoration practitioners. We analysed 36 restoration projects, mostly from drylands (86%). The projects used mainly soil from local sources. The need to comply with legislation was more important as a restoration motive for European Union (EU) than for non-EU countries, while public opinion and health had a greater importance in the latter. Non-EU countries relied more on non-native plant species than EU countries, thus deviating from ecological restoration guidelines. Nursery-grown plants used were mostly of local or regional provenance, whilst seeds were mostly of national provenance. Unexpected restoration results (e.g. inadequate biodiversity) were reported for 50% of the projects and restoration success was never evaluated in 22%. Long term evaluation (>6years) was only performed in 31% of cases, and based primarily on plant diversity and cover. The use of non-native species and species of exogenous provenances may: i) entail the loss of local genetic and functional trait diversity, critical to cope with drought, particularly under the predicted climate change scenarios, and ii) lead to unexpected competition with native species and/or negatively impact local biotic interactions. Absent or inappropriate monitoring may prevent the understanding of restoration trajectories, precluding adaptive management strategies, often crucial to create functional ecosystems able to provide ecosystem services. The overview of ecological restoration projects in the Mediterranean Basin revealed high variability among practices and highlighted the need for improved scientific assistance and information exchange, greater use of native species of local provenance, and more long-term monitoring and evaluation, including functional and ecosystem services' indicators, to improve and spread the practice of ecological restoration.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C2, Piso 5, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia e CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Universidade de Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal. Electronic address: amanunes@fc.ul.pt.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C2, Piso 5, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: g.oliveira@fc.ul.pt.
authors.forename: Graça
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C2, Piso 5, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: tmmexia@fc.ul.pt.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mexia
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM), Valencia, Spain, Dep. Ecologia, Universidad de Alicante, Spain. Electronic address: a.valdecantos@ua.es.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valdecantos
authors.affiliation: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Amman, Jordan, Dipartimento di Agraria and Desertification Research Centre (NRD), University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy. Electronic address: clzucca@uniss.it.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zucca
authors.affiliation: Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, Agrobiology and Pedology Research Centre, Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: edoardo.costantini@crea.gov.it.
authors.forename: Edoardo A C
authors.initials: EAC
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.affiliation: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Laboratory of Range Science (236), 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: eabraham@for.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Eleni M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.affiliation: Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, 193 Pantazidou str., 68200 Orestiada, Greece. Electronic address: apkyriaz@fmenr.duth.gr.
authors.forename: Apostolos P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kyriazopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering Technology, Palestine Polytechnic University, Palestine. Electronic address: aymansal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salah
authors.affiliation: Institut für Umweltplanung, Department of Environmental Planning, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Herrenhaeuser Strasse 2, 30419 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: prasse@umwelt.uni-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Ruediger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasse
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C2, Piso 5, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: odgato@fc.ul.pt.
authors.forename: Otília
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.affiliation: Department of Architecture and Landscape, University of Greenwich, Park Row London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom. Electronic address: s.milliken@greenwich.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Milliken
authors.affiliation: Department of Architecture and Landscape, University of Greenwich, Park Row London, SE10 9LS, United Kingdom. Electronic address: b.kotzen@greenwich.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Benz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kotzen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C2, Piso 5, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: cmbranquinho@fc.ul.pt.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Branquinho
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D058448:Biota; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000592:standards*; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008877:Middle East; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Drylands; Ecological restoration practice index; Native species; Provenance; Restoration success; Survey