Maurizio Rossetto, National Herbarium of NSW, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust

Restoration is a considerable global enterprise valued in the trillions of dollars, and revolving around international agreements that establish global targets and commitments (see the Bonn Challenge for example). The Restore & Renew project at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden is establishing a large-scale program of data collection and analyses with broad applications for restoration and biodiversity management.

Considerable technical and theoretical advances have been made in the preservation and restoration of native vegetation, including new insights on species selection, site preparation, planting techniques, community dynamics, ecological function and long-term monitoring. However, the decision of where to source plant or seed material remains a challenge. Environmental pressures such as clearing and habitat fragmentation impact plant communities by reducing the size and diversity of populations and preventing landscape-level connectivity.

For re-established vegetation to be resilient and ecologically adapted (and adaptable), it needs to possess sufficient evolutionary potential to respond to selective filtering now and into the future. Consequently, evolutionary information can be used to infer the impacts of restoration practices on the long- and short-term viability of restored populations.

Restoration practices that maximise genetic diversity by including more openly sourced material are increasingly considered as more suitable for achieving self-sustaining restoration targets. This is particularly relevant in in the context of a changing climate and increasing habitat fragmentation.

Guidelines have been developed for collecting seed from local and/or mixed sources to account for the potential risks associated with outbreeding vs. inbreeding depression, within current vs. future climatic scenarios. While these strategies are conceptually sound, they are difficult to execute without the empirical data necessary to identify those provenance boundaries on which they are based. Where does ‘local’ end, and how do those boundaries change across the distribution of a species or between species? How are future climatic conditions likely to impact the current distribution of target species?

Restore and Renew aims to equip restoration practitioners and land managers with a summary of pertinent evolutionary, environmental and ecological information for around 200 plant species commonly used in landscape restoration. The information is presented in a comprehensive, user-friendly webtool that informs seed sourcing and restoration strategies without being prescriptive.

To achieve its objectives, the Restore and Renew sampling strategy focuses on even representation across the environmental and geographical distribution of each species while maximising (when possible) between-species overlaps. The samples collected for each species are analysed using a high throughput, cost-effective genome sequencing method (DArTseq). Each plant has a unique DNA profile, and along with information on the biology of a species, this profile provides valuable information on current and historical factors that have shaped its distribution. We summarise genomic and environmental data for each of the target species to determine the distribution of genetic variation across the landscape, estimate the levels of connectivity within and between populations, and define local genetic and climatic boundaries.

Restore and Renew was officially launched in mid-2017 and, although already accessible, the webtool will be finalised and launched early 2019. We will continue to add new species, as well as layers of information and interpretative support.

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