Ecosystem Restoration Flashcards
7 cards from real CEP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ecosystem Restoration flashcards as text
A restoration project team is debating whether to pursue 'ecological lift' credits. What does ecological lift represent in compensatory mitigation?
Answer: The increase in functional capacity achieved at a mitigation site above its current degraded baseline
Ecological lift is the functional improvement from a degraded baseline to a target restored condition, which determines how many mitigation credits a restoration project generates.
Which ecological principle explains why removing a single invasive species from a restoration site sometimes leads to proliferation of a second invasive species?
Answer: Competitive release — the second invasive fills the niche vacated by the removed species
Competitive release occurs when a dominant invasive is removed and a suppressed competitor — often another invasive — expands into the available niche before natives can establish.
Under the USACE/EPA 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule, what is the preferred sequence for compensatory mitigation?
Answer: Mitigation banking > in-lieu fee programs > permittee-responsible mitigation
The 2008 rule establishes a preference hierarchy favoring mitigation banking first because it typically provides the greatest ecological certainty and advance credit availability.
What is the primary purpose of 'adaptive management' in a long-term restoration monitoring plan?
Answer: To allow managers to adjust restoration techniques based on performance data relative to success criteria
Adaptive management creates a feedback loop where monitoring data are compared to success criteria and management actions are modified when the trajectory deviates from restoration goals.
Which soil property is most important to assess when planning the restoration of a vernal pool ecosystem?
Answer: Presence of a restrictive clay or duripan layer that creates seasonal perched water
Vernal pools depend on a restrictive subsurface layer (claypan, hardpan, or duripan) that perches seasonal precipitation, creating the temporary inundation that defines the ecosystem.
In riparian restoration, the term 'meander belt' refers to:
Answer: The zone within which a stream channel naturally migrates laterally over time
The meander belt is the corridor encompassing the full range of lateral migration a stream channel exercises over geologic time, which must be protected for natural channel dynamics to function.
A CEP reviewing a coastal marsh restoration plan notes it targets Spartina alterniflora planting in a region where Phragmites australis is dominant. What additional management step is critical before planting?
Answer: Conducting hydrologic restoration to re-establish tidal connectivity before or concurrent with Phragmites control
Phragmites often dominates because tidally-restricted hydrology favors it; restoring tidal flow is essential to create salinity and flooding conditions that support Spartina and exclude Phragmites.