Ecology and Ecosystems

Restoration Ecology

Restoration ecology is a scientific discipline that applies ecological theory in order to develop general principles to guide the practice of ecological restoration. Experimentation within restorations have revealed opportunities for testing hypotheses in ecology, particularly generating knowledge of how to reconstruct the composition, functions, and services of degraded environments. Restoration ecology has been dominated by botanical studies, which often include ecosystem components and processes as well as whole system-level investigation. The discipline has provoked debate over what it means to restore nature, where to source individuals for initiating communities or augmenting populations, which systems serve as appropriate references, and whether modified or entirely different restoration targets should be considered in light of rapid climate and other global changes. The process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed” Cairns and Heckman 1996 synthesizes the state of the field and emphasizes that restoration ecology is its own discipline rather than a sub-discipline of ecology, distinct in its focus on the human factor in all aspects of repairing nature.