Establishing the baseline for cloud forest restoration in a peri-urban landscape

The greatest threat to the cloud forest around Xalapa, Veracruz, is the conversion to human settlements and urbanization, therefore ecological restoration of this forest in peri-urban areas represents a decisive action for recovery and reconnection of green areas and forest remnants. This article describes the initial ecological conditions or baseline of an ecological restoration project from an abandoned pasture in a peri-urban landscape. The baseline was established with information about 1) history of land use, 2) temporal and spatial variability of abiotic (climate) and biotic (vegetation structure and floristic composition) characteristics of the site, and 3) the ecosystem resilience as regeneration potential from soil seed banks and seed rain. The baseline results guided the active restoration (i.e., multi-species plantations), and passive restoration (i.e., suppression of disturbance) actions. Active and passive restoration areas will be part of public displays of the Francisco Javier Clavijero Botanical Garden to inform about the long and complex process to recover a peri-urban cloud forest.