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Environmental recoveries and Nature Based Solutions

Research area: Botany - Mycology - Agriculture

Coordinators: Anna Corli, Andrea Mondoni, Simone Orsenigo

ERC sectors: LS8_1 Ecosystem and community ecology, macroecology; LS8_2 Biodiversity; LS8_5 Biological aspects of environmental change, including climate change

Seed Ecology and Conservation laboratory
Research topics

1. Post-Restoration Biodiversity Assessment

The increase in extreme events and the need to restore degraded, polluted, or extreme-event-prone areas require new approaches to planning effective ecosystem restoration programs. Such programs require solid scientific expertise throughout all phases of restoration, from planning to implementation to post-intervention monitoring. Evaluating the effectiveness of restoration on the provision of ecosystem services is also essential for acquiring skills useful for optimizing future strategic choices at the national level.

2. Use of spontaneous herbaceous species for environmental restoration

Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) represent an innovative approach aimed at addressing environmental, social, and economic challenges through the sustainable use of ecosystem services. Among NBS in agroecosystems, cover crops such as vetch (Vicia spp.) contribute to increasing ecosystem functional diversity. Their application, especially as native species, is strongly recommended for environmental restoration and requires further study.

 

Publications

- European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, (2021). Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions: a handbook for practitioners, Publications Office of the European Union.


- Jiménez-Alfaro, B., Frischie, S., Stolz, J. & Gálvez-Ramírez, C. (2020). Native plants for greening Mediterranean agroecosystems. Nature Plants, 6, 209–214. 


- Riis, T., Kelly-Quinn, M., Aguiar, F.C., Manolaki, P., Bruno, D., Bejarano, M.D., Clerici, N., Fernandes, M.R., Franco, J.C., Pettit, N., Portela, A.P., Tammeorg, O., Tammeorg, P., Rodríguez-González, P.M. & Dufour, S. (2020). Global overview of ecosystem services provided by riparian vegetation. Bioscience, 70(6), 501–514.