Unraveling the concept of local seeds in restoration ecology

Scientific works converge toward the importance of using seeds of local origin in restoration to limit biodiversity loss and increase ecosystem resilience. Efforts are made to define what should be considered as local seeds. However, the concept of local seeds remains complex to delimit both scienti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Restoration ecology 2020-11, Vol.28 (6), p.1327-1334
Main Authors: Dupré la Tour, Alice, Labatut, Julie, Spiegelberger, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biodiversity loss
concept construction
Ecology
Economics
Ecosystem resilience
Environmental Sciences
Feasibility studies
genetic origin
Humanities and Social Sciences
local seeds
Restoration
restoration ecology
Seeds
social sciences
translation
Translations
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Scientific works converge toward the importance of using seeds of local origin in restoration to limit biodiversity loss and increase ecosystem resilience. Efforts are made to define what should be considered as local seeds. However, the concept of local seeds remains complex to delimit both scientifically and operationally, and carries non‐neutral assumptions that impact restoration activities. This article aims to unravel the concept by examining its construction using a social science approach crossed with ecology. The interest for the genetic origin of plant material has developed since the 1990–2000s, in a context of international debates on biodiversity conservation. The delimitation of the local seeds concept necessarily integrates paradoxical assumptions: one of the major ones is that the local character of a plant is relative to both the reference ecosystem and the species considered. Moreover, it also depends on the objectives of restoration, the feasibility of the chosen method for restoration and the regulations. To overcome these paradoxes, compromises and translations are made to delineate collectively and operationally what is local. By adding a cross perspective between social sciences and restoration ecology to the debate, we highlight that the constructions of the local seeds concept integrate a diversity of ecological, sociotechnical, and economic assumptions that are not neutral for restoration. This perspective on the concept, its ambiguities, and its contingencies leads us to to underline the importance of reflexive and integrative approaches to work at different scales on standards for the use of local seeds in restoration.
ISSN:1061-2971
1526-100X
DOI:10.1111/rec.13262