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.