Chapter 11 Chapter Summary

  Ecological restoration is the practice of reestablishing populations, ecosystems, and landscapes that include degraded, damaged, or even destroyed habitat. Restoration ecology provides methods for reestablishing species, whole biological communities, and ecosystem functions in degraded habitat.

  The establishment of new communities on degraded or abandoned sites provides an opportunity to enhance biodiversity and can improve the quality of life for the people living in the area. Restoration ecology can also provide opportunities for scientists to learn more about ecological processes and for the public to be involved in conservation efforts.

  Restoration projects begin by eliminating or neutralizing factors that prevent the system from recovering. Then some combination of site preparation, habitat management, and reintroduction of original species gradually allows the community to regain the species and ecosystem characteristics of designated reference sites. Attempts to restore habitat need to be monitored to determine whether they are reestablishing the composition of historical species and the functions of the ecosystem.

  Biological control is a tool whereby organisms such as insects can be used to remove invasive species. Bioremediation uses organisms such as bacteria to clean up pollutants.

  In some cases, restoration to a former state is impractical or impossible due to the nature or extent of the degradation, the presence of invasive species, or climate change. In such cases, a novel ecosystem that may have some of the same functionality of the original one may be considered, but it should not be valued over the native ecosystem.

  Creating new habitat to replace lost habitat elsewhere, which is known as compensatory mitigation or biological offsetting, has value but should be regarded as only part of an overall conservation strategy that includes the protection of species and ecosystems where they naturally occur.