How long have you been a member of SER, and what is your best experience with SER far?

I have been a member of SER since 2019 which was during the 2nd year of my PhD on grassland restoration. SER offered vast resources on my research topic and possibilities to connect with other researchers and practitioners.

My best experience with SER was by far giving a talk at the 13th SERE conference in 2022 in Alicante, Spain. I finally met in person many colleagues from many countries that I have worked with on different research topics over the years, but had never had the possibility to meet before due to the pandemic. I got to know many other great people and learn about many exciting projects going on at the moment in Europe.

Daniel giving a talk at the 13th SERE conference in 2022 in Alicante, Spain.

Why did you join SER?

I discovered SER by chance when I was searching the internet for literature about grassland restoration. I was impressed by the possibilities that SER offers to young professionals and how widespread across all continents it is active. Not only that, I was motivated to join this community with the conviction that as a community, you can create a bigger impact in ecological restoration than alone. And I was not going to be deceived: Shortly after having joined SER, the UN decade on ecological restoration was launched, in which SER plays an important role in achieving the global restoration goals.

More recently in 2022, the European Parliament has adopted the proposal of the new “Nature Restoration Law”, a first of its kind in the EU. The European Chapter of SER was actively involved in framing this restoration law, and SER members were regularly informed about its procedure and offered to get involved.

What is your current occupation?

I am now working for Ö+L GmbH (Ökologie und Landschaft, translated from German: Ecology and Landscape) which is based in the Zurich area in Switzerland. My company is a pioneer, with its beginnings in the 1990s, in seed-based restoration of degraded grasslands and re-creation of new, species-rich grasslands in farmland, urban areas and along infrastructures such as road verges. To achieve the highest quality restoration outcomes, we directly harvest seed originating from local, species-rich natural or semi-natural grasslands, for which we developed several new techniques, one of which is the seed harvester eBeetle. This way we ensure to maintain the typical plant species composition from a respective region while also making sure to promote the expansion of local ecotypes to keep the local gene pool stable.

I have different responsibilities at Ö+L. Firstly, my aim is to promote the practical research on seed-based restoration. Secondly, I advise and coach people on seed harvest, i.e., when to harvest, how to find and define a good donor grassland as a seed source. Thirdly, I am actively involved in managing and acquiring new restoration projects. This includes going out in the field to harvest and sow the seeds.

Daniel direct seed harvesting on a species-rich donor grassland.

Please tell us about your career trajectory in the field of ecological restoration.

As a kid, I always felt a strong connection to nature, so it was clear to me that my work should be involved with nature. I did my undergraduate studies in Ecology & Evolution at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, with a focus on invasive alien plants. Being a passionate botanist, I tended to visit beautiful places with intact natural habitats. I started to realize only gradually after my undergrad studies and while working as an environmental education guide for an NGO how much nature has been degraded. This is when I decided that I want to actively contribute to “save the world” (as I would tell my friends) and get involved in ecological restoration.

I was lucky to have been offered to do a PhD in grassland restoration at the University of Bern, Switzerland. I was among others responsible to set up a field-scale restoration experiment, in which 48 degraded grasslands were restored by means of different seed-addition techniques. With my team we collected baseline and follow-up data of different taxa (plants, ground-beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, etc.) to evaluate the effectiveness of these restoration techniques on the species composition. The theoretical and practical skills that I have learned during this PhD, I can now apply in larger scale with my current position.

Daniel during a vegetation survey to evaluate the potential of a grassland as a seed source.

What do you find most rewarding about working for our organization?

I appreciate the challenge and the diversity of tasks and responsibilities that are given to me. I can continue to do research while also being actively involved in practical restoration. However, the most rewarding part of my work is the before-after effect of a restoration project. To me, it is deeply satisfying to see how a degraded site turns into a beautiful, flower-rich meadow within a few years. Especially when the restored site is as close to my home as being able to reach it during my jogging workout and monitor it frequently.

What projects are you working on right now?

Currently, we are planning the seed harvests for the many restoration projects which are coming up this summer, summing up to several dozen hectares. This involves finding and evaluating potential species-rich grasslands as seed source and coordinating their harvest. I am also involved in the seed quality analysis and the setup of a new logistic concept to ensure a smooth and efficient process of our activities.

As restoration with directly harvested seeds is a quite new technique for most stakeholders in Switzerland – before mostly propagated seeds were used – we also put a big effort into public communication by providing evidence-based recommendations on best practices. For example, I gave a talk about near-natural greening to promote biodiversity in urban areas and the open landscape at a conference in Luxembourg this spring. Finally, we will launch an applied research project in southern Switzerland on how to sustainably remove invasive alien plants on agricultural land and estimate workload and cost to keep those invasive alien plants at low level. I was involved in the project design and will be responsible for the coordination of the project.

How does your work support the UN decade on Ecosystem Restoration?

There are different ways in which my work supports the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. We apply the newest seed-based restoration methods while still aiming to optimize our methodology by developing new approaches and techniques in harvest or seeding. We are working in a strong network with different stakeholders and other restoration professionals.

A restored site two years after restoration, a flower rich hay meadow.

Why would you encourage others, particularly young people, to get involved in this field?

I see that many opportunities are opening up in ecological restoration. There are more possibilities than before for professional training or university degrees related to this field. More importantly, the demand for ecological restoration is constantly increasing, thanks to a stronger political will and more financial support of restoration projects. Thanks to this, it is now more than ever possible to engage people with different background and skills while providing a fair and stable income.

For me, it was always important to have some perspective in my career to focus better on my current work. I am convinced that with the momentum which is provided by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the new EU Nature Restoration Law, this perspective is now provided especially for young people that want to engage in restoration.

What is one thing, either industry-related or not, you learned in the last month?

Given that agriculture is an influential factor in shaping the landscape in Europe, I am regularly reaching out to colleagues to learn what characterizes agriculture in their respective country. I was impressed to learn that quite a big proportion of farmers in Poland still live on subsistence agriculture on small-sized farms, reaching up to 90% in certain areas in the south-east. I am fascinated by the vast diversity of different agricultural practices within and across countries, and I always try to imagine how to use this knowledge to guide us in ecological restoration.

What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?

In 2014, I founded with some friends the Swiss Hitchhiking Association “Autostop Suisse”, which organizes the yearly Swiss Hitchhiking Championship. This year will be held the 9th version of the championship.

 

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