RestoreNet: Distributed Field Trial Network for Dryland Restoration

RestoreNet is a networked ecological experiment on the cutting-edge of restoration science. Restoration is the activity of improving the land based on any number of objectives, and often includes seeding or outplanting to improve habitat and soil conditions. Restoration in the arid southwest is challenging due to limited precipitation, wind, difficult soils, and herbivory to name a few. Understanding how simple tools used by land managers can act to increase germination and persistence of plants is important to reduce costs of treatments and reduce environmental hazards posed by degraded landscapes. Find out more about how RAMPS (Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest) supports land managers in the iconic landscapes of the American Southwest.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

RestoreNet Benefits Land Managers:

1. Knowledge Co-production: Ecologists and land managers work together to decide which treatments to test, interpret results, and explore new ideas.
2. Demonstration Sites: Locations are used to show clear proof of concept and generate important conversations about ecosystem restoration.
3. Low-Risk: Small test plots reduce cost and build understanding that later supports larger-scale projects.

RestoreNet Improves Restoration Outcomes:

1. Improving seed mixes: providing insight on priority species for restoration based on the relative performances of species in different environmental conditions. 
2. Advancing the science of dryland ecology and restoration.
3. Demonstrating alternative restoration actions.
4. Defining how restoration feeds into ecosystem function

Adaptively Managing an Experiment

RestoreNet Version 1.0

RestoreNet works with partners to develop and test treatment to improve restoration effectiveness. In 2017, we installed mulch, pit, and ConMod treatments (see photo below). 

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Experimental Design and Monitoring (See figure below)

SPECIES: The experiment tests native grass, forb, and shrub species found within the garden’s ecoregion. There are two seed mixes, one adapted to hot/dry (red boxes) and one to cool/wet (blue boxes) conditions. 

SEEDED PLOTS (top four rows): Seeds are broadcast with treatments to increase soil moisture (see green box on front of flyer). 

OUTPLANTING (rows 5-8): Seedlings are planted from the greenhouse using the same species combinations above. There are single species (green boxes) and multiple species plots (multi-colored boxes). Black boxes show control plots.

LOCAL QUESTIONS (boxes with ‘?’): Each garden contains space for land managers to rigorously test locally-relevant restoration questions.

FUTURE EXPERIMENTS (bottom): Each garden contains space for future iterations of experiments that test restoration techniques on a small scale.

MONITORING: tracks plant establishment, growth, and survival, and effects on ecosystem properties (soil stability, nutrient availability, etc.). 

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

RestoreNet Version 2.0

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

In 2022, we piloted a second round of treatments. The focus of these treatments is to understand if restoration outcomes can be enhanced by increasing beneficial soil microbial communities in degraded soils. For the experiment, we gathered soil at reference sites near seven of the RestoreNet experiment locations in undisturbed, intact plant communities. After gathering the soil, we enhanced the amount of beneficial soil microbes in the greenhouse before applying the soil at the RestoreNet locations and using it to form seed balls, which also contained seed and clay. The new treatments test these treatments, along with pitting (small depressions in the ground that capture soil moisture) that worked the best in RestoreNet Version 1.0. We are using a new seed mix that is a collection of the best performing species from the RestoreNet Version 1.0. Seven out of the 24 RestoreNet sites already received this new treatment, and six more sites will receive the treatment late this fall.

Benefits of a Networked Experiment

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The RestoreNet field trial network is integrating knowledge of plant responses to the environment with their effects on recovery of ecosystem services, allowing us to scale-up understanding of seed and native plant performance to restoration treatments. Conducting experiments at this intermediate scale provides a low-risk, high-reward setting for land managers to evaluate different seed sources and restoration treatments across a broad range of environmental conditions. We are developing a network of field trial experiments across the Colorado Plateau, Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Mojave Deserts. RestoreNet is providing novel insights into potential modifications or additions to priority species lists for restoration based on anticipated changes in climate, the performance of different seed resources and restoration treatments across environmental conditions, and how the interactive effects of site conditions and species composition influence ecosystem services. RestoreNet is fulfilling dual-purpose research and management support goals, allowing both advances in restoration science and demonstrations for land managers to see on-the-ground variation in seeding success, restoration treatments, and resultant ecosystem services. Easily accessible demonstration sites are critical for buy-in from land managers and practitioners who may be wary of modifying or adopting new practices without clear proof of concept.

The Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) is providing coordination for network development and synthesis among collaborators, as well as organizing field trips and outreach activities to facilitate the transition from research to application.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details