Restoration of wetland vegetation using soil seed banks: lessons from a project in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan

The restoration of degraded wetland ecosystems and the recovery of wetland biodiversity are important global issues. Generally, wetland restoration projects include activities to recover vegetation. A promising revegetation technique is one in which soil seed banks are utilized as the source of plant recolonization. Using such a technique, a pilot project to restore lakeshore vegetation was launched at Lake Kasumigaura, Japan, in 2002. In the project, lake sediments containing the seed banks were spread thinly (∼10 cm) on the surfaces of artificial lakeshores, which were constructed in front of concrete levees and had microtopographic variations. In total, 180 species, including six endangered or vulnerable species and 12 native submerged plants that had disappeared from the above-ground vegetation of the lake, were recorded in five recreated lakeshores (total area, 65,200 m²) during the first year of the restoration. The distribution of each restored species at the sites suggested the importance of microtopographic relief for recolonizing species-rich lakeshore vegetation. Furthermore, the origin of the source seed banks affected the species composition of the restored vegetation. On the other hand, the restoration sites were subject to exotic plant invasions. Here, we report lessons learned from the Lake Kasumigaura restoration project as a contribution to the establishment of ecologically sound revegetation techniques.