The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) defines ecological restoration as
an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability".
On the ground level, this often looks like...
Ecosystem services:
an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability".
On the ground level, this often looks like...
(Also known as erosion control, reforestation, removal of non-native species, revegetation of disturbed areas, reintroduction of genetically local native species, habitat and range improvement for targeted species).
Ecosystem services:
Ecological restoration could not exist, much less succeed, without human involvement. Reciprocally, humans gain significant benefits from the creation of functional ecosystems. In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the United Nations defines these benefits as "ecosystem services" (2005). These services are categorized as provisional, regulating, supporting, or cultural. Since the formal adoption of the term "ecosystem services", much work is being done to designate economic values to services in order to create useful, practical standards of measurement and trade. To learn more about this effort, visit the Ecosystem Valuation website created by Dennis M. King, PhD and Marisa Mazzotta, PhD at http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/uses.htm.
Restoration is not exactly the same as conservation:
The scientific discipline of restoration ecology actually stems from conservation biology. So, restoration projects complement but do not substitute for conservation efforts. This distinction is especially important with regards to the historical trajectories to which restoration efforts often align. In other words, restoration plans often strive to return an ecosystem to the way it was in the past, whereas conservation efforts strive to align with climate change projections. However, experts in each field acknowledge the value of incorporating knowledge from both the past and projections of the future.
Different disciplinary methods:
Since conservation biology focuses so much on endangered species, most of the research in the field is "descriptive, comparative, and unreplicated" (Young, 2000). Ecological restoration, on the other hand, has the capacity to manipulate experimental tests on hypotheses of population limits (Young, 2005).
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| Miami blue butterflies- emergency listed as an endangered species in August 2010, the only surviving population is several hundred living in the Key West National Wildlife Refuge, predated by iguanas invading from Central America (more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/endangered-miami-blue-but_n_1278513.html). |
Both conservation biology and restoration ecology tend to concentrate on temperate terrestrial bioregions in practice. This is disputably unfortunate as it primarily reflects the economic prosperity of this geopolitical region. However, it results in the ability for the two disciplines to share relevant knowledge and experiences. Conservation biology is generally focused on organisms, whereas restoration ecology looks at entire ecosystems and habitats. Therefore, conservation biology can increase its information base and expand its practical applicability by paying attention to knowledge gained from restoration ecology, such as understanding abiotic elements like soils and also living microbes in the soil (Allen, 2002). Simultaneously, restoration projects could become more effective by incorporating knowledge about individual organisms and species in order to better understand the unique dynamics of relationships between species.
Working together:
In practice, ecological restoration is often mandated by mitigation. Such mandates are accompanied by limited time frames and budgets, which severely limit the abilities of biologists to learn about specific responses of species within a restoration site. Similarly, the future success of restoration efforts needs an innovative, general template to provide guidance on restoration projects (Montalvo et al., 1997).In addition to enhancing the theoretical and practical knowledge bases of each discipline, there is a significant economic advantage to the restoration ecologists and conservation biologists working together: funding. Funding opportunities in both fields are very limited. Cooperation between the fields makes an investment stretch in even farther. For example, if applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the NSF might be inspired to choose to support a proposal that has the potential to make a bigger impact through an interdisciplinary relationship- it's like doubling the worth of the money.
