©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.
New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration
Abstract:This book aims to widen the scope and increase the application of threshold models by critiquing their application in a wide range of ecosystem types. It will also help scientists and restorationists correctly diagnose ecosystem damage, identify restoration thresholds, and develop corrective methodologies that can overcome such thresholds.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
Research for Restoring Tropical Forest Ecosystems: A Practical Guide
Abstract:This is a book for researchers. It is aimed at helping anyone involved in setting up and running a Forest Restoration Research Unit to devise a suitable framework species approach to the restoration of forest ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and/or environmental protection. It is one of the main outputs from another UK Darwin Initiative project entitled “Facilitating Forest Restoration for Biodiversity Recovery in Indochina” (2005-2008), carried out jointly by EMR, Wildlife Landscapes and FORRU-CMU and in collaboration with the International Centre for Research on Agro-forestry, China, the Forest and Wildlife Science Research Institute, Cambodia and the Forestry Research Centre, Laos.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
Research for Restoring Tropical Forest Ecosystems: A Practical Guide
Abstract:This book is a training manual, designed to enable staff at the proposed national FORRU’s in China, Laos and Cambodia, to develop the skills and knowledge needed for research programs to restore the unique forest ecosystems found in each country.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
Restoring Floodplains in Europe: Policy Contexts and Project Experiences
Abstract:This book addresses the complex institutional dimensions to restoring floodplains. Despite the recent surge of interest in restoring floodplains among policy and research circles, as well as in the public domain, very few schemes for restoring functional floodplains have been put into practice in Europe to date. The book explores the reasons behind this discrepancy between interest and applications with an original, comparative analysis of the institutional drivers and constraints of floodplain restoration in Europe. It explains why so few projects have been successfully implemented, how recent policy shifts are creating new opportunities for floodplain restoration and what lessons for policy development and project management can be drawn from in-depth analysis of past and present schemes. At a time of rapidly growing interest in restoring floodplains as an important component of efforts to improve flood protection, enhance riparian habitats, strengthen catchment management, raise water quality and pursue integrated rural development, the book critically appraises the relationship between macro-level policy development and enforcement and micro-level project design and implementation.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
Restoring Natural Capital: Science, Business, and Practice
Abstract:Restoring Natural Capital brings together economists and ecologists, theoreticians, practitioners, policy makers, and scientists from the developed and developing worlds to consider the costs and benefits of repairing ecosystem goods and services in natural and socio- ecological systems. It examines the business and practice of restoring natural capital, and seeks to establish common ground between economists and ecologists with respect to the restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes and the still broader task of restoring natural capital. Nineteen case studies from around the world illustrate challenges and achievements in setting targets, refining approaches to finding and implementing restoration projects, and using restoration of natural capital as an economic opportunity.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
River Futures: An Integrative Scientific Approach to River Repair
Abstract:The book frames the development of integrative river science and its application to river rehabilitation programs develops a coherent set of guiding principles with which to approach integrative river science considers the application of cross-disciplinary thinking in river rehabilitation experiences from around the world examines the crossover between science and management, outlining issues that must be addressed to promote healthier river futures Case studies explore practical applications in different parts of the world, highlighting approaches to the use of integrative river science, measures of success, and steps that could be taken to improve performance in future efforts.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
Saltmarsh Conservation, Management and Restoration
Abstract:This book deals mainly with the saltmarshes of temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. It provides an introductory framework to the problems of saltmarsh conservation, management and restoration. It gives the reader background information on the issues and pointers to their possible solutions. Descriptions of the trends and trade-offs help to identify different policy options.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
The Bowral Checklist: A Framework for Ecological Management of Landscapes
Abstract:A group of leading landscape ecologists and conservation biologists came together in Bowral in 2006 to discuss whether it was possible to create such a checklist. They identified 12 important issues that need to be considered in developing approaches to landscape conservation, a set referred to as the Bowral Checklist. Issues appearing in the framework include recognising the importance of landscape mosaics (including the integration of terrestrial and aquatic areas), recognising interactions between vegetation cover and vegetation configuration, using an appropriate landscape conceptual model, maintaining the capacity to recover from disturbance, and managing landscapes in an adaptive framework. These considerations are influenced by landscape context and management goals and do not, therefore, translate directly into on-the- ground management guidelines. Rather, they should be used as a framework by researchers and resource managers when developing guidelines for specific cases.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
The Everglades Experiments: Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration
Abstract:This book is a synthesis of the key findings and a summary of the experiments conducted during a fourteen-year period (1989-2003) by the Duke University Wetland Center and its partner institutions. The findings are the result of extensive experimental research on the effects of water, nutrients, and fire on the Everglades communities. This work covers both the structural and functional responses of the Everglades ecosystem via experimental and gradient studies on microbial activity, algal responses, macroinvertebrate populations, macrophyte populations, and productivity in response to alterations to nutrients in soil and water, hydrologic changes, and fire. Importantly, this volume reclassifies the Everglades, provides a comparison of historic and current ecological processes, and presents a new working hydrologic paradigm, which collectively provides essential lessons for the restoration of this vast peatland complex.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
The Use of Mycorrhizal Biotechnology in Restoration of Disturbed Ecosystem
Abstract:This chapter discusses the different types of mycorrhizas, which play an essential function in altering disturbed lands into productive lands, the mechanisms by which disturbed ecosystem benefits through symbiotic associations and their interactions in the rhizosphere. The importance of reinstallation of mycorrhizal systems in the rhizosphere is emphasized and their impact in landscape regeneration and in bioremediation of contaminated soils are discussed.
Resource Type:BookPublication Date: 2008
A Checklist for Ecological Management of Landscapes for Conservation
Abstract:We assess six major themes in the ecology and conservation of landscapes. We identify 13 important issues that need to be considered in developing approaches to landscape conservation. They include recognizing the importance of landscape mosaics (including the integration of terrestrial and aquatic areas), recognizing interactions between vegetation cover and vegetation configuration, using an appropriate landscape conceptual model, maintaining the capacity to recover from disturbance and managing landscapes in an adaptive framework. These considerations are influenced by landscape context, species assemblages and management goals and do not translate directly into on-the-ground management guidelines but they should be recognized by researchers and resource managers when developing guidelines for specific cases. Two crucial overarching issues are: (i) a clearly articulated vision for landscape conservation and (ii) quantifiable objectives that offer unambiguous signposts for measuring progress.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
A Review of Mangrove Rehabilitation in the Philippines: Successes, Failures and Future Prospects
Abstract:This paper reviews eight mangrove initiatives in the Philippines and evaluates the biophysical and institutional factors behind success or failure. The authors recommend specific protocols (among them pushing for a 4:1 mangrove to pond ratio recommended for a healthy ecosystem) and wider policy directions to make mangrove rehabilitation in the country more effective.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
A Striking Profile: Soil Ecological Knowledge in Restoration Management and Science
Abstract:Although soils are universally regarded as critical to restoration success, and much research has included manipulations of soil variables, we found that better integration of soil ecological principles could still contribute much to the practice of ecosystem restoration. Here we offer four potential points of departure for increased dialog between restoration ecologists and soil ecologists. We hope to encourage the view that soil is a complex, heterogeneous, and vital entity and that adoption of this point of view can positively affect restoration efforts worldwide.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
Aging Infrastructure and Ecosystem Restoration
Abstract:As a result of recent infrastructure failures, particularly the tragic failure of the Interstate-35 bridge in Minnesota, the U.S. Senate passed the National Infrastructure Improvement Act (NIIA), which would create the National Commission on the Infrastructure of the U.S.A. The commission’s broad mandate would be to assess the nation’s infrastructure and its ability to meet current and future demands. Such policy development coincides with ongoing efforts to manage and restore degraded ecosystems. This provocative intersection of aging infrastructure and environmental degradation provides unprecedented and largely unappreciated opportunities for ecosystem restoration.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
An Assessment of Invasion Risk from Assisted Migration
Abstract:To reduce the risk of extinction due to climate change, some ecologists have suggested human- aided translocation of species, or assisted migration (AM), to areas where climate is projected to become suitable. Such intentional movement, however, may create new invasive species if successful introductions grow out of control and cause ecologic or economic damage. We conclude that the risk of AM to create novel invasive species is small, but assisted species that do become invasive could have large effects. Past experience with species reintroductions may help inform policy regarding AM.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
Assessing Ecosystem Restoration Alternatives in Eastern Deciduous Forests: The View from Belowground
Abstract:In our study, structural restoration involves mechanically modifying the woody plant assemblage to a species composition, density, and community structure specified by the restoration goals. Functional restoration involves reintroducing dormant-season, low-severity fire at intervals consistent with the historical condition. Our approach was to quantify the effects of such restoration treatments on soil organic carbon and soil microbial activity, as these are both conservative ecosystem attributes and not ones explicitly targeted by the restoration treatments, themselves. Mechanical treatments are attractive in that they require only single entries; however, we see no indication that mechanical–structural restoration actually produced desired belowground changes. A single fire-based/functional treatment also offered little restoration progress, but comparisons with long-term experimental fire studies suggest that repeated entries with prescribed fire at intervals of 3–8 years offer potential for sustainable restoration.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
Assessing the Long-term Contribution of Nurse Plants to Restoration of Mediterranean Forests through Markovian Models
Abstract:Based on short-term experimental data, facilitative interactions between woody plants (nurse- recruit interactions) have been described as essential for the restoration of Mediterranean forests. However, the long-term effects of nurse plants on vegetation dynamics are unknown. This study aims to project post-fire vegetation dynamics from easily retrieved data, and to assess the long-term contribution of nurse plants to forest restoration. Our Markov chain successional model is an analytical tool which can be applied rapidly and easily to determine successional trajectories for forest restoration. It allows: (i) evaluation of post-fire dynamics and identification of areas in need of intensive intervention (i.e. where secondary succession remains arrested leading to stasis in the pioneer state); (ii) assessment of the role of long-term facilitative nurse effects on restoration; and (iii) identification of species-pair combinations and functional nurse groups of value for further planting efforts.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2008
How Can Governments Promote Strategic Approaches to Payments for Environmental Services (PES)? An Exploratory Analysis for the Case of Viet Nam
Abstract:The aim of the study is to support governments by elaborating a methodological framework to inform PES development at the national level. The proposed framework is applied to Viet Nam, which has unique experience with forest allocation and PES-like programs, and is currently developing a national PES policy – one of the first in Asia to do so. Specifically, this study explores how objectives for PES development that reflect the socio-economic and bio- geographic context, as well as national development objectives, can be defined by governments, and how these objectives can influence the design of PES schemes. The study reveals substantial scope for defining such objectives in the context of Viet Nam and for their accommodation in PES design.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Lake Restoration Strategy for The Broads
Abstract:The response strategy set out in the following report has been designed to fit an approach which seeks to adaptively manage waterbodies within a more naturally functioning flood plain over a long time horizon (50 to 80 years). It is further conditioned by compliance with existing legislation such as the Water Framework Directive. It has twin dimensions in that it is targeted, i.e. focused on the protection and enhancement of those existing good quality sites that have the greatest chance of retaining freshwater habitat over the long term. But it also seeks to uniformly prevent, as far as is feasible, any further deterioration of any of the existing waterbodies. In short, it aims to combine efficiency, effectiveness and prudence principles.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Mangroves for the Future (MFF) National Strategy and Action Plan (NSAP) India
Abstract:The present document on ‘National Strategy and Action Plan’ for India has been prepared in consonance with National policies and programmes, to analyze, identify and tackle various facets of coastal and marine biodiversity, while mangrove ecosystems are at the centre-stage for conservation and management of coastal and marine biodiversity under the IUCN-MFF initiative.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Marine Protected Areas on the High Seas?
Abstract:The aim of this guide is to facilitate a better understanding of the legal context, relevant international processes, existing approaches and possible solutions to establishing MPAs beyond national jurisdiction. It is not meant to provide authoritative legal advice, but instead to provide an overview of a wide range of issues. Bearing in mind the potentially diverse readership, this guide focuses on the fundamental connexions between legal instruments and institutions, leaving to one side the more complex exceptions and special cases. Every attempt has been made to present issues in objective, accessible and non legalistic prose.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Principles and Guidelines for Ecological Restoration in Canada’s Protected Natural Areas
Abstract:This document was developed to guide policy-makers and practitioners in their efforts to improve ecological integrity in parks and other protected natural areas. Restoration of ecological integrity is the over-arching goal of ecological restoration, but it also includes the meaningful engagement of partners, stakeholders, communities, general public, and visitors. Principles and Guidelines for Ecological Restoration in Canada’s Protected Natural Areas provides a practical framework for making consistent, credible, and informed decisions about ecological restoration. The accompanying case studies demonstrate best practices in the application of these principles, guidelines, and implementation framework.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Reef Restoration as a Fisheries Management Tool
Abstract:Conventional methods of reef restoration fail when water quality deteriorates from excessive temperature, pollution, or sediments. In contrast the Biorock method of coral reef restoration greatly increases coral growth rates and survival from stress, allowing rapid recovery of coral reefs where natural regeneration has failed, greatly increasing fish and shellfish populations, and even turning severely eroding beaches into growing ones. This is done without monoculture or food addition, and avoids the genetic impoverishment, disease, and nutrient pollution problems of conventional mariculture. Some fisherfolk in Indonesia, the Philippines, and elsewhere are now using the Biorock method to grow whole reefs and become sustainable harvesters of the ecosystems they create and manage.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Restoring the Grasslands of Northern California’s Coastal Dunes
Abstract:Although few people associate California grasslands with coastal dunes, there exists a globally endangered vegetation type known as “foredune grassland” (Fig. 1) that occurs only on dunes of the Pacific Coast of North America. The characteristic species of this community is the native dune grass Leymus mollis (Fig. 2), but beach bluegrass (Poa macrantha and P. douglasii) can be common to dominant, and associated species include a number of forbs, such as Abronia latifolia, Lathyrus littoralis, Erigeron glaucus, Eriogonum latifolium, and Calystegia soldanella (Pickart and Barbour 2007). This document summarizes restoration efforts in the Lanphere Dunes in Northern California.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Review of Existing International and National Guidance on Adaptation to Climate Change: with a Focus on Biodiversity Issues
Abstract:The purpose of this report is to provide an extensive and systematic review of published international, European and national (EU Member State) guidance on adaptation to climate change, with a focus on biodiversity and its conservation. The findings have been synthesised, key principles identified and the results presented to the Bern Convention’s ‘Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change’ at their meeting in Strasbourg on 11 September 2008. The key output of the review is a set of seven overarching adaptation principles for biodiversity and its conservation. These principles are derived from pre-existing guidance, are linked with more detailed measures, and should be considered when developing adaptation strategies and actions to conserve species, habitats and ecosystems and the services that they provide. The concepts underpinning these principles are also equally relevant to other sectors and could be further developed within and across sectors as a standard for universal application.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
The Role of Indigenous Peoples in Biodiversity Conservation
Abstract:A principal aim of this study is to get a better sense of what the World Bank (WB) needs to know in order to engage Indigenous Peoples (IPs) more effectively in biodiversity conservation projects and programs. It is in this sense that the reporting is geared to Bank Task Team leaders, advisors, directors, and managers and also government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) personnel engaged in biodiversity conservation programs. Indigenous peoples might also benefit from the report _s presentation of tools to seeking international funding for biodiversity- related activities in their ancestral territories. In addition, the report assesses some of the current forms of engagement with indigenous peoples in biodiversity and identifies concrete recommendations for improving that engagement.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
White Paper on the Use of Prescribed Fire in Land Management, Nature Conservation and Forestry in Temperate-Boreal Eurasia
Abstract:The symposium will provide a platform for the exchange of data, expertise, and views of institutions and individuals who are actively applying or conducting research in prescribed burning for the purpose of nature conservation (biodiversity management, habitat management), land and landscape management, and forestry, notably in forest fire management. As the EFNCN is operating at the science-management and science-policy interface, representatives of institutions representing land managers and owners, public services, e.g. fire services, are invited to attend to discuss and share views on professional capacity building in the use of prescribed fire. Overall, the symposium will support the advancement of the use of prescribed fire in Eurasia; particularly by considering the involvement of local communities in land and fire management. The region of interest covered by the symposium is temperate-boreal Eurasia with a focus on Europe North of the Alps and the adjoining countries of East / Southeast Europe, Caucasus, Central and Northeast Asia.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Ecological restoration as a tool for reversing ecosystem fragmentation
Abstract:This Policy Position Statement discusses the nature of ecosystem fragmentation and examines the role that ecological restoration can play in reversing fragmentation and re-establishing habitat, landscape, and ecosystem connectivity. It closes by providing a series of recommendations for land managers and policymakers charged with addressing connectivity issues.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Opportunities for integrating ecological restoration and biological conservation within the ecosystem approach
Abstract:This Briefing Note discusses the complementary roles of ecological restoration and biological conservation and explores the potential for their integration within a unified ecosystem approach. It describes the importance of restoration as a facet of conservation planning and includes case examples that illustrate this type of integrated approach.
Resource Type:White PaperPublication Date: 2008
Designing Payments for Ecosystem Services
Abstract:The workshop was attended by more than 50 people, who came to Hanoi from as far afield as Samoa and India. Participants represented GEF International Waters projects and partner institutions from government and NGOs. Some brought perspectives mostly from freshwater systems, others from marine ecosystems. All brought an interest in understanding the principles behind PES and practical approaches to designing and implementing workable payment schemes.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2008