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Introduction to Restoration Ecology

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Human impacts threaten integrity, resilience and sustainability ... Center for restoration ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. ... Restoration Ecology 5:338-349. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Introduction to Restoration Ecology


1
Introduction to Restoration Ecology
  • What is ecological restoration?

2
Why do restoration?
  • Human impacts threaten integrity, resilience and
    sustainability
  • Introduced species, structures, and processes
  • Altered disturbance regimes
  • Fragmentation
  • Changing climate

3
What are the goals of restoration?
  • Make ecosystems more like they once were
  • Reduce need for continual intervention and active
    management
  • Sustainability
  • Ecological integrity
  • Resilience

4
Defining ecological restoration
  • the process of assisting the recovery and
    management of ecological integrity. Ecological
    integrity includes a critical range of
    variability in biodiversity, ecological processes
    and structures, regional and historical context
    and sustainable cultural practices
  • (Society for Ecological Restoration,
    http//www.ser.org/definitions.html)

5
Defining ecological restoration
  • A broad conceptual framework for helping
    ecosystems recover more nearly natural structure
    and function while providing for continued use by
    humans. For ecological restoration to proceed on
    sound scientific footing, it must be rooted in
    the best knowledge available, with carefully
    reasoned analysis, checked against factual
    evidence.
  • http//www.eri.nau.edu/FAQ.htm

6
Similar terms (Bradshaw 1997, van Diggelen et
al. 2001)
  • Reclamation
  • Makes useful, but not necessarily original state
  • Typically focuses on increasing biodiversity
  • Often applied in highly disturbed sites
  • Rehabilitation
  • Reintroduces some ecosystem functions
  • Any improvement from a degraded state
  • Restoration
  • Most ambitious
  • Typically attempts to reconstruct structure,
    composition and function of an ecosystem

7
Successful restoration
  • Some of the oldest and most successful
    restoration projects are in prairies

Many restoration projects include restoring
natural fire regimes
8
Restoration includes (Bradshaw 1997, Jackson et
al. 1995, Keane and Arno 2001)
  • Assess need for action
  • Inventory and describe
  • Consider humans in an integrated ecological
    approach
  • Identify goals and objectives
  • Prioritize
  • Design and implement treatments
  • Monitor and evaluate success
  • Maintain
  • Use adaptive management

9
Choosing references (White and Walker 1997,
Landres et al. 1999, Stephenson 1999)
  • References are used in judging when restoration
    is successful
  • References can be existing conditions in healthy
    ecosystems, or they may be inferred from
    historical information and models
  • Historical composition, structure, and
    disturbance regimes should be guides rather than
    goals

10
Assumptions (http//www.ies.wisc.edu/cre/ )
  • We can recreate historical conditions
  • The physical environment can be manipulated to
    support the desired plants and animals.
  • Inadequate substrate can be manipulated to
    sustain native biota.
  • The desired biota (plants animals) will
    establish if selected plant species are
    introduced.
  • Reestablishing natural disturbance regimes is
    critical to long-term sustainability

11
Approaches
  • Stephenson (1999) contrasted two
  • Structure first, then process
  • Process first, then structure
  • Most people implement a hybrid of the two
    approaches

12
Opportunities (http//www.ies.wisc.edu/cre/)
  • Produce native seed
  • Support local business and communities with
    small-scale logging
  • Promote as ecotourism
  • Sequester carbon

13
Challenges (http//www.ies.wisc.edu/cre/)
  • Fragmented landscapes are dominated by humans
  • Land use restrictions can affect taxes, income
    generation, and public support
  • Requires interdisciplinary collaboration
  • Long-term maintenance
  • Gaining public support for fire and other
    restoration programs

14
Scale
  • Most restoration efforts are small and
    site-specific
  • Many restoration needs are broader (cover large
    areas) and long-term

15
Factors affecting success (Adapted from Jackson
et al. 1995)
Values
Social commitment
Narrowly anthropocentric
Low
Biocentric
High
Ideal
Rich data and expertise
Good, with little damage
Judgements
Poor, with irreversible damage
Data and knowledge
Ecological circumstances
16
Literature cited
  • Center for restoration ecology, University of
    Wisconsin-Madison. Available Online lt
    http//www.ies.wisc.edu/cre/ gt October 2, 2001.
  • Ecological restoration institute, Northern
    Arizona University. Available Online lt
    http//www.eri.nau.edu/FAQ.htm gt October 2, 2001.
  • Jackson, L.L., N. Lopoukhine, D. Hillyard. 1995.
    Ecological restoration A definition and
    comments. Restoration Ecology 3(2) 71-75.
  • Society for Ecological Restoration. 1996.
    Definition of ecological restoration. Available
    Online lt http//www.ser.org gt October 2, 2001.
  • Stephenson, N.L. 1999. Reference conditions for
    giant sequoia forest restoration structure,
    process and precision. Ecological Applications
    994) 1253-1265.
  • Van Diggelen, R., Ab P. Grootjans and J. A.
    Harris. 2001. Ecological restoration state of
    the art or state of the science? Restoration
    Ecology 9 (2)115-118.
  • White, P. S., and J. L. Walker. 1997.
    Approximating natures variation selecting and
    using reference information in restoration
    ecology. Restoration Ecology 5338-349.
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