Restoration

Ecology
PROGRAM STUDI MAGISTER PEND.
BIOLOGI
PPS UNSYIAH
Ecological restoration is the
process of repairing damage
caused by humans to the diversity
and dynamics of indigenous
ecosystems (Society for
Ecological Restoration)

What is Restoration Ecology?

 Defined:
 The discipline of scientific inquiry dealing with
the restoration of ecological ecosystems.

 Simplest form: removing a perturbation and

allowing natural recovery

 Full restoration: creating a once-again resilient

ecosystem, with the capacity to recover from
stress.
 The process
 Scientific-based restorations follow:

1. 1. Explicitly stated goals

2. 2. A restoration design informed by
ecological knowledge
3. 3. Quantitative assessment of systems
responses pre- and post-restoration data
collection
4. 4. An adaptive process: when analysis and
application of results are used to inform
subsequent efforts
5. 5. monitoring
 Ecological theory
Concepts, predictive models and mathematical
models to explain patterns and processes

Restoration ecology
The scientific process of developing Benefits
theory to guide restoration and using
restoration to advance ecology of
linkages

Ecological restoration

The practice of restoring

degraded ecological systems
US history of Restoration Ecology
1935: Aldo Leopold and the CCC
replanted tallgrass prairie on warn
out farmland near
the Univ. of Wisconsin.

Leopold and family also replanted native flora on his farm.

Critical moment in conservation movement: “The time has

come for science to busy itself with the earth itself. The
first step is to reconstruct a sample of what we had to
begin with”

Critical moment in ecological science: novel combination

of agriculture and ecology which sewed the seed that has
grown into the science and art of ecological restoration
Leopold understood that the value of restoration
science was two fold: As an environmental technology
& as a technique for basic ecological research

Simple idea: The most valuable and powerful ways

of studying something is to attempt to reassemble it,
repair it, and to adjust it so that it works properly

Restoration as a step towards a better relationship with

and deeper understanding of the environment and a
means of testing ecological theory and concepts

A synthesis of theory and practice

Ecological ideas to explore in restoration
 Overlap of theories in restoration ecology, conservation biology, and environmental management

 Biotic interactions, recruitment, performance, and population dynamics

 Community succession and assembly

 Disturbance and species invasions

 Physical-biological coupling

 Ecosystem engineers

 Phytoremediation & biomanipulation

 Restoration scaling
 Restoration values
• What is the comparative value of undisturbed and restored
ecosystems?

• If we succeed in completely restoring a damaged

ecosystem to a predisturbed structure, have we
recovered all the value lost through damage?

• Should we wholeheartedly embrace restoration as a

new paradigm for environmentalism or environmental
management?

• What is natural and wild?

Restoration practices

• What are acceptable means for achieving

restoration goals?

•How invasive should we be?

• Under what circumstances is it permissible to

cause death to achieve the goals of restoration?

-transportation of reintroduced species

-Husbandry of at-risk species
-Eradication of exotic species
-Introduction of predators
 Course format

Areas of focus:
 Restoration of degraded ecosystems
 Restoration as a means to explore
ecological theory
 Case studies

Objectives:
 Participate in discussions & read
 Field research - proposal, report, & oral
presentation
 Review of ecological concepts
essential to restoration
 Conduct field-based applied science!
Course work
Scholarship
•Ecological theory and concepts
•Theory and life history of your target ecosystem
•Synthesis of information from other courses & sources
•Experimental and sampling design

Application of scholarship

•45% of course time dedicated to field projects

•Data analysis
•Written and oral presentation
 A chance to explore and
apply what you learned at
Bren

LET’S HAVE FUN!