©Danilo Lima, Agripalm Ambiental
The RRC database contains a wide variety of resources and publications related to ecological restoration, and we are actively working to expand this collection. It is our aim to serve as the principal clearinghouse for information and tools to support the work of researchers, practitioners, land managers, educators, students, and anyone else interested in restoration. Use the filter tool below to search the database by title, author, resource type, keyword, or any combination of these factors.
Although SER does review all entries in the database for relevance and quality, these resources have not been rigorously reviewed or extensively vetted in every case, and SER therefore makes no claim as to their accuracy or accordance with generally accepted principles in the field. The database is provided as a resource for visitors to the SER website, and it is ultimately left to the individual user to make their own determinations about the quality and veracity of a given publication or resource.
If there is a resource we missed, please let us know! We are interested in current books, articles, technical documents, videos, and other resources that are directly relevant to ecological restoration science, practice or policy, as well as resources treating the social, cultural and economic dimensions of restoration.
An Ecological Decision Framework for Environmental Restoration Projects
Abstract:Ecosystem restoration projects require planning and monitoring to maximize project success relative to costs, yet many projects completed thus far have been planned on an ad hoc, consensus basis and are virtually ignored after revegetation at the site is complete. We describe a formalized planning process geared specifically to the needs of ecologicalrestoration projects (and ecosystem rehabilitation or management projects; National Research Council, 1992). This process emphasizes: 1) the importance of defining objectives related to the appropriate ecosystem structure, function, and spatial scale; 2) the role of ecological models, restoration hypotheses, and key ecological parameters; 3) explicit consideration of uncertainties in site processes and material performance in the restoration design; 4) guidelines for project design and feasibility analysis and the use of experimentation at this stage; and 5) monitoring and adaptive management of restoration projects after implementation of a design.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Success Criteria and Adaptive Management for a Large-Scale Wetland Restoration Project
Abstract:The criteria for success of the project address two questions: What is the “‘bound of expectation” for restoration success, and how long will it take to get there? Measurements to be made are macrophyte production, vegetation composition, benthic algal production, and drainage features including stream order, drainage density, channel length, bifurcation ratios and sinuosity. A method for combining these individual parameters into a single success index is also presented. Finally, we developed adaptive management thresholds and corrective measures to guide the restoration process.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital
Abstract:We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16–54 trillion (1012) per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, this must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
What is good ecological restoration?
Abstract:Defining an end point for restoration is as much an ethical matter as a technical one, but scientifically trained restorationists have largely ignored the former issue. I argue that good restoration requires an expanded view that includes historical, social, cultural, political, aesthetic, and moral aspects. This expanded definition is necessary at a practical level to guide practitioners in the pursuit of excellence and at a conceptual level to prevent restoration from being swamped by technological activities and projects that veer away from ecological fidelity. Ecological fidelity is based on three principles: structural/compositional replication, functional success, and durability. These principles produce effective restoration, which is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of good restoration.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
What practitioners need from restoration ecologists
Abstract:This paper attempts to define the problems practitio-ners face with hopes that restoration ecologists will takeheed and attempt their solutions. We offer 15 issuesthat we identify as important for supporting restorationpractice. These issues include project planning, soil de-velopment, genetic selection, biotic establishment, andproject evaluation.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Artificial reef construction as a soft-bottom habitat restoration tool
Abstract:The project evaluated the feasibility and methods for restoration of an eight acre dredged hole in northern Sarasota Bay.Two reef types were deployed, one which floats on the surface of the substratum and a second elevated above the substratum by means of a monopile.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1997
Ecological Restoration Strategies for Mining Areas of Gujarat
Abstract:This study was undertaken at the instance of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation to step up the protection and conservation of natural environment in mining areas. The study provided an action plan for long-term ecological rehabilitation of the three mining sites: 1) Panandhro Lignite mine; 2) Ambamata multimetal Mine; and 3) Ambadungar Fluorspar mine. Suitable guidelines and strategies have also been proposed for efficient development of mineral resources in the State without disturbing the balance of nature.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1997
Restoration of an Urban Salt Marsh: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Abstract:This issue becomes especially prominent when trying to restore damaged environments where large numbers of people live, most particularly in the modern city. Whenever large numbers of people are involved, we must address in specific, persuasive, and precise ways that goods and services are provided by restored environments, as well as the costs and sacrifices people may be required to make to achieve this end. We must also recognize that restoration cannot be accomplished lacking the understanding, appreciation, and support of local communities. At the least, this necessitates a deep and sympathetic knowledge of the characteristics, interests, attitudes, and needs of varying human populations.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1997
Revegetation Manual for the Environmental Restoration Contractor
Abstract:The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance and general guidelines for the revegetation of remediated waste sites and other disturbed areas on the Hanford Site. Specific revegetation plans will be developed using guidance from this manual. Locations, resources, and funding will dictate the specific revegetation design at each disturbed area.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1997
Remediation of Ecosystems Damaged by Environmental Contamination: Applications of Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration in Central and Eastern Europe
Abstract:Twenty workshop findings that resulted from workshop presentations and subsequent discussion are presented. Six papers published as part of this special issue of Ecological Engineering, and summarized here, deal with the general principles of mineland restoration, acidification effects and mitigation in Poland, reestablishment of riparian buffer strips in Estonia, recovery of forests in the Black Triangle of Czechoslovakia and Poland, restoration after 10 years near the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in the Ukraine, and studies on remediation of contaminated soils in Belarus.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Resilience and restoration of lakes
Abstract:Lake water quality and ecosystem services are normally maintained by several feedbacks. Among these are nutrient retention and humic production by wetlands, nutrient retention and woody habitat production by riparian forests, food web structures that channel phosphorus to consumers rather than phytoplankton, and biogeochemical mechanisms that inhibit phosphorus recycling from sediments. In degraded lakes, these resilience mechanisms are replaced by new ones that connect lakes to larger, regional economic and social systems.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Restoration ecology and the ecosystem perspective
Abstract:The ecosystem perspective provides a framework within which most other aspects of the ecology of restoration can be incorporated. By considering the ecosystem functions of a restoration project, the restorationist is forced to consider the placement of the project in the landscape—its boundaries, its connections or lack thereof to adjoining ecosystems, and its receipts and losses of materials and energy from its physical surroundings. These characteristics may set limits on the kind(s) of biotic communities that can be created on the site. The ecosystem perspective also gives restorationists conceptual tools for structuring and evaluating restorations.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Restoration of a Sri Lankan Rainforest: Using Caribbean Pine Pinus caribaea as a Nurse for Establishing Late-Successional Tree Species
Abstract:This study assesses the growth potential of 5 native late-successional species of Southwestern Sri Lanka under Pinus caribaea, grown in plantations, to inform appropriate species choice and placement in enrichment plantings. The authors evaluated growth over 2 years, measuring eight, basal stem diameter, number of leaves, and mortality. They destructively sampled some individuals to also measure leaf area and dry mass of roots, stems and leaves. The study successfully demonstrates that native late-successional species can be grown under P. caribaea, though seedlings must have DPPF levels 4-5 times greater than those present beneath a closed Pinus canopy. D. zeylanicus may be best suited for sites prone to desiccation, and S. disticha and S. megistophylla best for planting under intact canopy.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Restoration of Woody Plants to Capped Landfills: Root Dynamics in an Engineered Soil
Abstract:Closed or abandoned landfills represent significant land areas, often in or near urban centers, that are potential sites for ecological restoration of native woodlands. But current guidelines in many jurisdictions do not allow for the installation of trees or shrubs above landfill clay caps, although these plants have many environmental, functional, and aesthetic advantages, including a rapid start to community succession. Typical closure procedures for capped landfills include only a grass cover to control moisture infiltration and impede soil erosion. The main concern that limits the application of a woody cover to a closed landfill is that roots may penetrate and weaken the clay cap. As part of a comprehensive experimental program on woodland restoration, we installed 22 tree and shrub species on Staten Island, New York (the Fresh Kills Sanitary Landfill). We found no evidence that roots of the transplanted woody plants penetrate caps used on these landfills.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1997
Riparian restoration in the western United States: Overview and perspective
Abstract:This historical and conceptual overview of riparian ecosystem restoration discusses how riparian ecosystems have been defined, describes the hydrologic, geomorphic, and biotic processes that create and maintain riparian ecosystems of the western USA, identifies the main types of anthropogenic disturbances occurring in these ecosystems, and provides an
overview of restoration methods for each disturbance type.
Publication Date: 1997
Rehabilitation of Semiarid Landscapes in Australia. I. Restoring Productive Soil Patches
Abstract:A rehabilitation procedure designed to reestablish resource control processes in a degraded Acacia aneura woodland was successful in improving soil nitrogen and carbon content, exchange properties, and water infiltration rates. Soil respiration rates and soil fauna populations increased, and soil temperatures were moderated. The procedure comprised laying piles of branches in patches on the contour of bare, gently sloping landscapes, with the expectation that soil, water, and litter would accumulate in these branch piles, thus improving the soil habitat and its productive potential. The procedure was derived from landscape function analysis, indicating that surface water flow was the principal means of resource transfer in these landscapes. Under degradation such overland flow results in a loss of resources. This rehabilitation procedure reversed loss processes, resulting in gains in the productive potential of soils within patches. This procedure was successful despite grazing pressure being maintained throughout the experiment.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Rehabilitation of Semiarid Landscapes in Australia. II. Restoring Vegetation Patches
Abstract:This paper describes a practical technique, tested experimentally, for rehabilitating degraded semiarid landscapes in Australia. This rehabilitation technique is based on the ecological principle that semiarid landscapes are spatially organized as patchy, source-sink systems; this patchy organization functions to conserve limited water and nutrients within the system. The aim was to rebuild vegetation patchiness, lost through decades of utilization of these landscapes as rangelands. Patches were reconstructed from large tree branches and shrubs obtained locally and placed in elongated piles along contours. These piles of branches were very effective in recreating productive soil patches within the landscape, as described in part I of this study. These new patchy habitats promoted the establishment and growth of perennial grasses. Although the foliage cover of these grasses declined into a drought, which started before the end of the experiment, plant survivorship remained high. This suggests that patches also function as refugia for organisms during droughts. The patches of branches remained robust and functional, even under grazing impacts, although plant growth and survival were significantly higher within an ungrazed paddock than in a grazed paddock.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Restoration of Endangered Species: Conceptual Issues, Planning and Implementation
Abstract:As the human impact on the earth leads to ever increasing environmental degradation, the restoration of dwindling populations of numerous plant and animal species is becoming ever more important. In this unique volume, the political, biological and experimental procedures affecting the restoration of natural populations are examined using a range of case studies.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 1996
An Evaluation of Habitat Rehabilitation on Coastal Dune Forests in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Abstract:The rehabilitation program conducted by Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) of areas exposed to opencast surface mining of sand dunes north of Richards Bay (28°43’S, 32°12’E) on the coast of northern KwaZulu-Natal Province commenced 16 years before this study and has resulted in the development of a series of known-aged stands of vegetation. By assuming that these spatially separated stands develop along a similar pathway over time, instantaneous sampling should reveal successional or other changes usually associated with aging and should provide an opportunity to evaluate the success of rehabilitation.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Mangrove Reforestation in Panama: An Evaluation of Planting in Areas Deforested by a Large Oil Spill
Abstract:In Panama, and most other places, restoration of mangrove forests following large oil spills had chiefly focused on replanting in deforested oil gaps. In these instances, recovery might take at least 25-30 yr for mangroves to approach their pre-spill condition, based chiefly on plant growth estimates of Rhizophora species. The kinds of assistance applied in the past included removal of oil and/or replanting. However, in providing assistance we presume, suspect, or know, that natural processes, like recruitment and plant growth, are unable to repair habitat damage both in the short and longer term, or either. Unfortunately, our collective experience with these matters remains inadequate so all measures applied must be treated as experimental. Therefore, restoration programs must be subject to close scrutiny, and they must be carefully monitored to assess their success or failure. If this is not done, we run the risk of re- applying damaging techniques which might worsen already fragile conditions in oil-damaged mangroves.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
On the rehabilitation of the coastal dunes of K waZulu-Natal
Abstract:The workshop aimed to: consolidate knowledge on the biophysical nature of the coastal dune systems of northern KwaZulu-Natal; establish baseline criteria for the evaluation of RBM’s rehabilitation programme; evaluate the rehabilitation programmc and identify its future direction; assess the research effort so far and set priorities for future research. Information on the biophysical nature of the coastal dunes (most of which is unpublished) was provided in the form of 15 oral presentations followed by discussion sessions.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Managing Your Restored Wetland
Abstract:Today, many people realize the value of wetlands and are coming together to restore some of the lost wetland acreage. Through programs such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners for Wildlife, landowners are restoring wetlands on previously drained land and enjoying the benefits wetlands provide. In this manual, we will briefly describe where wetland restoration is possible and how it is done. The majority of the manual will focus on what you, the landowner, can expect from your restored wetland and what you will need to do to maintain and manage your wetland.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1996
Ecosystem Restoration on Mainland New Zealand
Abstract:In this address, I want to show how this situation in New Zealand is being turned around. I will do it by demonstrating: 1) Successes we have had with redressing the declines of species, communities and ecosystems on islands, 2) How we are applying lessons learned on islands to active management of selected ecosystems on the mainland, and 3) How this approach to ecosystems has been made possible through a mandate that focuses on conservation and provides a foundation for integrated conservation management.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1996
The Use of Fire in Forest Restoration
Abstract:This document is a synthesis of knowledge and applications of fire as an agent of both disturbance and ecosystem restoration in forest ecosystems of the Northwestern United States.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 1996
The politics of ecological restoration
Abstract:We offer first an evaluation of the political issues in the practice of restoration in general and second an assessment of the political context into which restoration is moving. The former focuses on the inherent participatory capacity at the heart of restoration; the latter is concerned with the commodified (primarily in the United States) and nationalized (primarily in Canada) uses to which restoration is being put. By comparing these two areas of inquiry we provide a foundation for a critical assessment of the politics of restoration based on the politics in restoration.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Underlying Principles of Restoration
Abstract:The term restoration is used in many ways; however, it normally implies return to an original state. In ecological restoration, it should be thought of as applying to whole ecosystems. It must be remembered that options, such as rehabilitation or replacement, exist that may be more practicable than restoration. The components of restoration are the chemical and physical aspects of the habitat and the species themselves. Each of these may require specific treatment, but natural restorative processes should be used wherever possible; in fact, natural processes may be sufficient once the degrading influences have been removed. Because the process of restoration is progressive, the criteria of success are not easy to define. The most important point is that ecosystem development should be on an unrestricted upward path. From this, it follows that successful restoration is a serious test of our ecological understanding.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Vital landscape attributes: missing tools for restoration ecology
Abstract:Twenty three “vital ecosystem attributes” (VEAs) were previously proposed to aid in quantitative evaluation of whole ecosystem structure, composition and functional complexity over time. We here introduce a series of 16 quantifiable attributes for use at a higher spatial scale and ecological organisational level, the landscape. “Vital landscape attributes” (VLAs), should be useful in evaluating the results of ecological restoration or rehabilitation undertaken with a landscape perspective, provided that clear definitions and boundaries are agreed upon for the different spatial and ecological entities involved.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1996
Initiating Autogenic Restoration on Shallow Semiarid Sites
Abstract:Our objectives were to evaluate the use of microcatchments in the establishment of Leucaena retusa (little-leaf leadtree) and Atriplex canescens (four-wing saltbush) and their role in the initiation of autogenic landscape restoration processes on a shallow semiarid site. These data suggest that landscape-scale procedures that concentrate scarce resources (water, organic matter, nutrients, and propagules), establish keystone species, and ameliorate microenvironmental conditions can initiate autogenic restoration of degraded semiarid ecosystems.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1995
Restoration of our Lakes and Rivers with Wetlands: An Important Application of Ecological Engineering
Abstract:The role of wetlands, both natural and man-made, in improving water quality of streams, rivers, and lakes is illustrated with examples of fringe, instream, and riparian wetlands. Fringe wetlands have been shown to reduce inputs to freshwater lakes, instream wetlands can improve habitat and provide some water quality function to small streams, and riparian wetlands along larger rivers provide important roles in both capturing sediments and nutrients from the river itself and serving as buffer between uplands and the river. Two major experimental riparian wetland sites in Midwestern USA are introduced: The Des Plaines River Wetland Demonstration Project and the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1995
Costs and Benefits of Restoring Wetlands: Two Swedish Case Studies
Abstract:Costs and benefits of restoring wetlands for nonpoint source nitrogen pollution are calculated for two Swedish regions: the Stockholm archipelago and Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea. Costs for reducing the load of nitrogen to the Stockholm archipelago by measures involving wetlands, agriculture, sewage treatment plants, and air emissions are calculated and compared. The results show that restoration of wetlands may be the least costly measure, SEK 20/kg nitrogen abatement as compared to the next cheapest measure, SEK 25/kg. The results from Gotland indicate that the benefits per unit of investment of restored wetlands may be three times as high as associated benefits of investment in sewage treatment plants. This difference in benefits is due to two factors: the joint production of several environmental services and the self-organizing feature.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 1995