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Ecological outcomes and popular perceptions of urban restored forests in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2017

ANA ELENA MULER ,
PABLO VIANY PRIETO ,
RYAN C. RICHARDS ,
PEDRO H. S. BRANCALION  and
JOÃO MARCELO ALVARENGA BRAGA
ANA ELENA MULER*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão 915, 22460-030, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
PABLO VIANY PRIETO
Affiliation:
Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão 915, 22460-030, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
RYAN C. RICHARDS
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Sciences, ‘Luiz de Queiroz’ College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Avenue Pádua Dias 11, 13.418-900, Piracicaba, Brazil Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, USA Center for Conservation and Sustainability, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, USA
PEDRO H. S. BRANCALION
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Sciences, ‘Luiz de Queiroz’ College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Avenue Pádua Dias 11, 13.418-900, Piracicaba, Brazil
JOÃO MARCELO ALVARENGA BRAGA
Affiliation:
Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão 915, 22460-030, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*
*Correspondence: Ana Elena Muler email: aemuler@gmail.com
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Summary

Ecological restoration is suggested as a tool to mitigate environmental problems caused by urbanization, but its utility may be hampered by conflict between ecological design and neighbouring communities’ needs. We explore this issue by comparing vegetation diversity and structure in a 21-year-old urban reforestation project in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil, with a nearby reference forest, and we assessed popular perceptions about the project. Overall, density and basal area of canopy trees in the restoration plantation reached 73% and 46%, respectively, of the values found in the reference forest, but ground cover by exotic grasses was substantially higher in the planted forest. Rarefied species richness was similarly high in the plantation forest (59 species) and in the remnant forest (69 species), but species composition was markedly different. The human legacy on restoration diminished with time, reflected in the higher proportion of species and individuals of late-successional, native and not-planted species in the seedling community of the plantation forest. While community perceptions of reforestation were positive and both use and non-use values were reported, interviewees reported little involvement in the development of the project, which could have contributed to synergies between ecological and social outcomes.

Keywords

collaborative projectsecosystem servicesparticipatory restorationpopular perceptionsrestoration monitoringurban restoration
Type
Non-Thematic Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 45 , Issue 2: Thematic section. Humans and Island Environments , June 2018 , pp. 155 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2017 

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Footnotes

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892917000388

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