Ecological restoration of ecosystems degraded by invasive alien plants in South African Fynbos: Is spontaneous succession a viable strategy?

Abstract

Ecological restoration is a global imperative to reverse widespread habitat loss and degradation, including by invasive alien plants. In South Africa’s Core Cape Subregion, alien tree invasions are widespread and their control continues to be a major undertaking. As funding is limited, active restoration interventions are rarely implemented and the focus is on invader removal – the assumption being that ecosystems will self-repair. This paper reviews research findings from the past three decades to assess in which situations spontaneous succession is a viable strategy for restoring alien-invaded ecosystems. We found that ecosystems can self-repair, provided that key biotic and/or abiotic thresholds have not yet been crossed. Self-repair has been observed in many cases where dense invader stands with short residence times have been cleared and where diverse native plant growth forms survive, either in the above-ground vegetation or in soil seed banks. However, several factors influence this generalisation, including the identity of the invader, the ecosystem type, and the efficacy of alien control. Thresholds are crossed sooner with invasions of alien Acacia and Eucalyptus species than those of Hakea and Pinus species, resulting in lower potential for spontaneous recovery. Lowland fynbos ecosystems are less resilient to invasion, and have a lower capacity for self-repair, than mountain fynbos ecosystems. Poorly implemented alien plant control measures can result in a resurgence of the invader to the detriment of native species recovery. We outline some management principles for optimising spontaneous succession potential and integrating alien control and restoration interventions.

Keywords:

• active restoration
• biological invasions
• Mediterranean-type ecosystem
• passive restoration
• restoration ecology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge support from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology over the past 15 years. DMR thanks the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (grant 18576/03) and the National Research Foundation (grant 85417); KJE the Water Research Commission (C2019/2020-00034) and KJE & PMH the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust for additional support. Views expressed in this paper have been shaped by interactions with many collaborators over almost three decades of research on restoration in the Core Cape Subregion.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.