©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.
Artificial Habitats and the Restoration of Degraded Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries
Abstract:Artificial habitats in marine ecosystems are employed on a limited basis to restore degraded natural habitats and fisheries, and more extensively for a broader variety of purposes including biological conservation and enhancement as well as social and economic development. Included in the aims of human-made habitats classified as artificial reefs are: Aquaculture/marine ranching; promotion of biodiversity; mitigation of environmental damage; enhancement of recreational scuba diving; eco-tourism development; expansion of recreational fishing; artisanal and commercial fisheries production; protection of benthic habitats against illegal trawling; and research.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Assessing the Hydrological Suitability of Floodplains for Species-rich Meadow Restoration: A Case Study of the Thames Floodplain, UK
Abstract:The physical and chemical environment of a floodplain needs to be assessed to define conservation targets for restoring it to species-rich meadows from agricultural land. A straightforward technique, widely applicable by site managers for assessing the suitability of the hydrological and hydro-chemical regime of a floodplain for wet grassland restoration, has been tested by examining the feasibility of restoring plants characteristic of NVC MG4 and MG8 communities to the Castle Meadows, Wallingford (Oxfordshire, UK).
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Five Years of Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration: Lessons to Date
Abstract:The following publication starts by summarising the key lessons identified by the group, then discusses each in more detail, and ends with some key conclusions. Recommendations are made on the way forward for implementation of forest restoration at a landscape scale, designed to guide forest practitioners, conservationists and policymakers alike.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2007
Learning Lessons from China’s Forest Rehabilitation Efforts: National Level Review and Special Focus on Guangdong Province
Abstract:What has been the nature of these rehabilitation efforts and their outcomes? Did they meet or are they likely to meet their environmental, economic and social objectives? What are the constraints faced? It is imperative that China succeeds in its rehabilitation efforts in order to meet its growing demand for timber and environmental services. Failure on this front will not only affect China but also have global impacts due to continued imports of raw material (often unsustainably or illegally sourced) and environmental degradation elsewhere. Additionally, could forest rehabilitation and management contribute to China’s western region development plan and help alleviate poverty in that region as proposed?
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2007
Marine Protected Areas – ICSF Studies
Abstract:The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) commissioned studies in six countries to understand the social dimensions of implementing MPAs, with the following specific objectives: 1) to provide an overview of the legal framework for, and design and implementation of, MPAs; 2) to document and analyze the experiences and views of local communities, particularly fishing communities, with respect to various aspects of MPA design and implementation; and 3) to suggest ways in which livelihood concerns can be integrated into the MPA Programme of Work, identifying, in particular, how local communities, particularly fishing communities, could engage as equal partners in the MPA process. The studies were undertaken in Brazil, India, Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania and Thailand.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2007
Scientific Design of a Resilient Network of Marine Protected Areas – Kimbe Bay
Abstract:The Nature Conservancy’s vision for Kimbe Bay is to “Harness traditional and community values to protect and use land and sea resources in ways that maintain the exceptional natural and cultural heritage of the bay”. This will be achieved by working with local communities, governments and other stakeholders to establish a resilient network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and develop strategies for improved management of marine resources and land use practices. This report focuses on a critical step in this process– designing a resilient network of MPAs for Kimbe Bay.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2007
Where the Land is Greener
Abstract:This book contains an extensive range of case studies from around the world: 42 soil and water conservation technologies and 28 approaches in total. It provides a detailed analysis of the case studies under ‘technologies’ and ‘approaches’ and policy points for decision makers and donors. It is a prototype and sets new standards for systematic documentation, evaluation and dissemination of knowledge on sustainable land management and addresses global concerns such as desertification, poverty, water scarcity and conflict.
Resource Type:Technical DocumentPublication Date: 2007
Best Practices for Improved Governance of Coral Reef Marine Protected Areas
Abstract:This review examines the governance of coral reef MPAs and the means to improve coral reef MPA management. It highlights common governance challenges, such as confused goals, conXict, and unrealistic attempts to scale up beyond institutional capacity. Recommendations, based on Weld experience and empirical evidence from around the world, are made for best practices at various stages of MPA implementation.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Biological Soil Crust Rehabilitation in Theory and Practice: An Underexploited Opportunity
Abstract:The purposes of this review were to examine the ecological roles BSCs play in succession models, the backbone of restoration theory, and to discuss the practical aspects of rehabilitating BSCs to disturbed ecosystems. Most evidence indicates that BSCs facilitate succession to later seres, suggesting that assisted recovery of BSCs could speed up succession. Because BSCs are ecosystem engineers in high abiotic stress systems, loss of BSCs may be synonymous with crossing degradation thresholds. However, assisted recovery of BSCs may allow a transition from a degraded steady state to a more desired alternative steady state. In practice, BSC rehabilitation has three major components: (1) establishment of goals; (2) selection and implementation of rehabilitation techniques; and (3) monitoring.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
California Dreamin’: Lessons in Coastal Marsh Restoration from San Francisco Bay
Abstract:To get to this point restoration science has over the past thirty years climbed a steep learning curve based upon an assessment of past experience, and publicly funded support for holistic planning. Ongoing restoration planning and design incorporates lessons learned from past projects with modelling tool to assess future conditions. Local and national level public support has been fundamental to the creation of an enormous environmental restoration program in California. This has been made possible by offering the public a stake in environmental improvements and by clearly showing that their tax and charitable contributions have been wisely invested. Many of the planning and design lessons learned in San Francisco Bay are transferable to the UK. By learning from these experiences we can save time and money (and restoration opportunities) reinventing the wheel in the UK. The time is now right to galvanize activity and build upon UK coastal management initiatives to restore our coastal lowlands and meet our biodiversity obligations.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Catalyzing Native Forest Regeneration on Degraded Tropical Lands
Abstract:The use of tree plantations to catalyze restoration of degraded forests and lands in the tropics was addressed at a symposium in Washington DC in June 1996. The conclusions and suggestions for future research to develop appropriate management options are reported. There is strong evidence that plantations can facilitate forest succession in their understories through modification of both physical and biological site conditions. Changes in light, temperature and moisture at the soil surface enable germination and growth of seeds transported to the site by wildlife and other vectors from adjacent forest remnants. Development and design of management options to assist this process are required, taking into account socio-economic realities, development priorities and conservation goals.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Changes in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function during the Restoration of a Tropical Forest in South China
Abstract:Based on a 45-year restoration study in south China, we found that a tropical rain forest, once completely destroyed, could not recover naturally without deliberate restoration efforts. We identified two kinds of thresholds that must be overcome with human ameliorative measures before the ecosystem was able to recover. The first threshold was imposed primarily by extreme physical conditions such as exceedingly high surface temperature and impoverished soil, while the second was characterized by a critical level of biodiversity and a landscape context that accommodates dispersal and colonization processes. Our three treatment catchments (un-restored barren land, single-species plantation, and mixed-forest stand) exhibited dramatically different changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over 4 decades. The mixed forest, having the highest level of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, possesses several major properties of tropical rain forest. These findings may have important implications for the restoration of many severely degraded or lost tropical forest ecosystems.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Climate Change and Moving Species: Furthering the Debate on Assisted Colonization
Abstract:I think it is useful to advance this exercise by considering three issues that can also be construed as continua: species that are more or less acceptable to translocate, sites that are more or less acceptable for receiving translocations, and projects that are more or less acceptable because of their socioeconomic ramifications and feasibility. I have used the term assisted colonization in contrast to assisted migration used by McLachlan et al. because many animal ecologists reserve the word migration for the seasonal, round-trip movements of animals and because the real goal of translocation goes beyond assisting dispersal to assuring successful colonization, a step that will often require extended husbandry.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Combining the Fields of Reintroduction Biology and Restoration Ecology
Abstract:We believe that the emerging science of reintroduction biology can be usefully integrated with the already established field of restoration ecology. Both are relatively young endeavors with obvious philosophical and practical convergences. Indeed, the current division between them is largely artificial and reflects more their distinct historical backgrounds than it does any real epistemological difference. Accordingly, the disciplines of reintroduction biology and restoration ecology have much to gain from one another.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Compensation and the Stability of Restored Grassland Communities
Abstract:In a large-scale experimental restoration of a California grassland community, aggregated abundance of restored grasses was more stable than were the individual species in response to disturbance, drought, and succession. Compensatory dynamics among the restored grass flora increased aggregate stability in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Successful restorations must persist in the face of altered management and disturbance regimes, climactic variability, and over the course of succession. Incorporation of diversity–stability relationships into restoration plans will likely increase restoration success. This case study further demonstrates the relevance of community ecology theory to restoration ecology.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Costa Rica’s Payment for Environmental Services Program: Intention, Implementation, and Impact
Abstract:those prior to the PSA program, may explain the current reduction in deforestation rates. The PSA program is a major advance in the global institutionalization of ecosystem investments because few, if any, other countries have such a conservation history and because much can be learned from Costa Rica’s experiences.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Creating Wetlands for the Improvement of Water Quality and Landscape Restoration in Semi- Arid Zones Degraded by Intensive Agricultural Use
Abstract:Increasing interest in restoring wetlands within a multipurpose approach is observed in degraded lands submitted to intensive human uses. This study evaluates the effectiveness of constructed and natural wetlands in removing nutrients from agricultural wastewater and their potential contribution to landscape heterogeneity in semiarid Monegros area, NE Spain.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Defending Community? Indigeneity, Self-determination and Institutional Ambivalence in the Restoration of Lake Whakaki
Abstract:Conservation practitioners have scrutinized the credibility and effectiveness of community- based natural resource management, noting its romantic misconceptions about communities and their capacities. Early approaches failed to acknowledge the heterogeneity of collective agents, the synergy between decentralization and neoliberalism, or the need to affirm rural peoples’ entitlements to resources. A Maori community’s attempt to restore Lake Whakaki on New Zealand’s east coast confirms many of these critiques. The restoration confronts institutional ambivalence, obstructive forces from beyond the zone of Maori influence and non- correspondence between community and catchment dynamics. Fulfilment of the project requires exogenous resources and authority, but state conservation agencies are ambivalent towards local demands for self-determined development. Nonetheless, an uncommon degree of agency which is grounded within community aspirations for sovereignty suggests that the motivational characteristics of community retain their importance in debates about integrated conservation and development.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Degraded Ecosystems in China: Status, Causes, and Restoration Efforts
Abstract:The total area of China is about 9.6 million km2. Among the terrestrial ecosystems, cropland area is about 1.33 billion ha, 78% of which is degraded land; forestland area is about 1.75 billion ha, 72% of which is forest deterioration; grassland area is 3.99 billion ha, 90% of which has already degraded. Derelict mining land area is about 6 million ha, which is increasing by 12,000 ha/year. So far, only 8% of the total derelict mining land area has been reclaimed. A total lake area of 1.3 million ha has been lost since 1950; 50% of the coastal wetlands has been reclaimed. The mangrove area has declined from 40,000 ha in 1957 to 18,841.7 ha in 1986. With a total of 0.18 billion ha of water area, over 50% of it has been polluted to type III–V in terms of the Chinese Water Quality Standard Classification System. Oceanic area is about 4.73 billion ha, over 1.6% of which is also polluted. The reasons for the deterioration of China’s environment are diverse, such as the pressure of a large population, industrialization, and its markets. The deterioration of the ecological index has already affected the current economic index and prospective economic growth directly and obviously.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Does Restoration Enhance Regeneration of Seasonal Deciduous Forests in Pastures in Central Brazil?
Abstract:Our results suggest that early succession of seasonal deciduous forest in pastures in the region studied does not need to be stimulated once the perturbation is stopped and that intensive restoration efforts may actually slow recovery. We recommend only enrichment planting of seedlings that are not able to resprout.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Drivers of Reforestation in Human-Dominated Forests
Abstract:This article draws on a dataset of 55 forests from the middle hills and Terai plains of Nepal to examine the factors associated with forest clearing or regeneration. Results affirm the central importance of tenure regimes and local monitoring for forest regrowth. In addition, user group size per unit of forest area is an important, independent explanator of forest change. These variables also can be associated with specific practices that further influence forest change such as the management of social conflict, adoption of new technologies to reduce pressure on the forest, and involvement of users in forest maintenance activities. Such large-N, comparative studies are essential if we are to derive more complex, nuanced, yet actionable frameworks that help us to plan better policies for the management of natural resources.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Ecologi_a del Esparto (Stipatenacissima L.) y los Espartales de la Peni_nsula Ibe_rica
Abstract:Ecologi_a del esparto (Stipatenacissima L.) y los espartales de la Peni_nsula Ibe_rica. Las formaciones vegetales dominados por el esparto o atocha (Stipatenacissima L.) constituyen uno de los ecosistemas ma_s representativos de las zonas semia_ridas de la Peni_nsula Ibe_rica y del norte de A_frica. Estas formaciones han estado i_ntimamente ligadas a la actividad humana desde hace no menos de 4.000 an_os. Los espartales son formaciones vegetales abiertas, muy heteroge_neas en su composicio_n y estructura. La funcionalidad de los espartales esta_ muy relacionada con la disposicio_n espacial de las matas, asi_ como con la cobertura de arbustos rebrotadores. El esparto es una especie anemo_cora capaz de reproducirse sexual y asexualmente, mostrando veceri_a en la produccio_n de flores y semillas. Presenta una serie de adaptaciones morfoestructurales y fisiolo_gicas que le han permitido colonizar con e_xito los adversos ambientes semia_ridos mediterra_neos. El suelo que se encuentra bajo las matas de esparto muestra un a mayor fertilidad y mejores condiciones microclima_ticas que el suelo adyacente, originando la formacio_n de “islas de recursos”. Por ello, las matas de esparto alteren la distribucio_n y desarrollo de un gran nu_mero de organismos, como plantas vasculares, musgos y li_quenes. Los avances en nuestro conocimiento sobre la composicio_n y funcionamiento de los espartales esta_n siendo utilizandos para mejorar su gestio_n.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Ecological Restoration and Estuarine Management: Placing People in the Coastal Landscape
Abstract:If we are to avoid the harsh lessons of the utilization of terrestrial resources, scientists, practitioners and coastal managers will have to find a middle ground between continued economic growth and preservation/conservation of coastal resources. Success will require broad acceptance that humans are as coastally dependent as any part of the biota, and that future plans for managing, restoring and/or rehabilitating estuarine ecosystems must recognize that humans occupy the highest level of the ecological–cultural landscape.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Ecosystem Restoration Following Bauxite Mining in the Jarrah Forest of Western Australia – Supplement to Restoration Ecology
Abstract:The native jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest ecosystem of the Darling Range of southwestern Western Australia provides the people of the state with a source of timber, its major source of potable water, sites for recreation and leisure activity, and a number of mineral resources. Alcoa World Alumina Australia (Alcoa) under agreement with the State of Western Australia mines bauxite. The commercial potential of the alumina-rich laterites of the Darling Plateau was established in 1957, and by 1963, the company had developed a small, integrated bauxite mining and alumina refining operation, which has grown more or less continuously. In Western Australia, Alcoa operates two mines and three refineries, which produce about 13% of the world’s annual alumina production, currently employs a staff of 4,000, and provides a return of more than $1 billion per annum to the economy of the state. The operation presently clears, mines, and restores approximately 550 ha of native forest each year. Early post-mining activity in the late 1960s involved little more than land stabilization; however, the overall aim of the today’s restoration is to reestablish a stable forest ecosystem capable of sustaining all the premining elements of the native jarrah forest ecosystem.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Ecosystem Service Values and Restoration in the Urban Sanyang Wetland of Wenzhou, China
Abstract:Over the course of a year, we conducted a study on future restoration work in the Sanyang wetland, a degraded permanent river wetland that is close to the center of Wenzhou city, China. Our main objective was to plan the restoration by using both structural indices and a valuation of thewetland’s ecosystem services, thereby linking the science to human welfare. Based on field surveys and research into the history of the study area, we calculated both the potential and current values of the main ecosystem services. The results showed that the potential value at the Sanyang wetland was 55,332 yuan ha_1 yr_1, while the current value was only 5807 yuan ha_1 yr_1. In other words, 89.5% of the service value needs to be restored for the wetland to reach its potential value. We recommend that the service provided by the wetland’s ability to purify the environment needs to be the top priority in restoration. In addition, water and sediment quality should also be greatly improved.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Ecosystem Services Related to Oyster Restoration
Abstract:The importance of restoring filter-feeders, such as the Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica, to mitigate the effects of eutrophication (e.g. in Chesapeake Bay) is currently under debate. The argument that bivalve molluscs alone cannot control phytoplankton blooms and reduce hypoxia oversimplifies a more complex issue, namely that ecosystem engineering species make manifold contributions to ecosystem services. Although further discussion and research leading to a more complete understanding is required, oysters and other molluscs (e.g. mussels) in estuarine ecosystems provide services far beyond the mere top-down control of phytoplankton blooms, such as (1) seston filtration, (2) benthic–pelagic coupling, (3) creation of refugia from predation, (4) creation of feeding habitat for juveniles and adults of mobile species, and for sessile stages of species that attach to molluscan shells, and (5) provision of nesting habitat.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Efficacy of Alternative Low-cost Approaches to Mangrove Restoration, American Samoa
Abstract:Three mangrove restoration methods were tested at Nu’uuli, Tutuila Island, American Samoa. Since clearing 27 years ago converted the mangrove into a mudflat, the ecosystem was sufficiently altered that it could not self-correct; the ecosystem showed no natural regrowth despite an ample supply of propagules. While several years of monitoring may ultimately be required to determine the project’s success, and several decades could be required to fully return the full suite of functions, the project’s low-cost, nontechnical restoration techniques, using readily available materials, have proven to be modestly successful, with 38% sapling survival after six months.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Estuarine, Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Restoration: Confusing Management and Science – A Revision of Concepts
Abstract:This review presents recent concepts, understanding and experience of the restoration, recovery and human-mediated modification of estuarine, coastal and marine ecosystems. It shows that these can be divided into four categories: natural recovery from a natural or anthropogenic change (whether adverse or otherwise); anthropogenic interventions in response to a degraded or anthropogenically changed environment; anthropogenic responses to a single stressor; and habitat enhancement or creation. A conceptual framework for restoration and recovery of marine marginal and semi-enclosed areas is presented after exploring and refining the plethora of terms used in restoration science and management.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Evaluation of the Implementation of a Goal-Oriented Peatland Rehabilitation Plan
Abstract:Ecological restoration is a problem-driven scientific discipline. Thus an evaluation of the restoration strategies is needed periodically to improve the concepts. In Northern Germany, the Environmental Ministry adopted a peatland action plan in 2002 with the goal to (I) rehabilitate the water quality improvement potential of degraded peatlands and (II) to create suitable habitat conditions for endangered wetland species. The plan is implemented in a series of stages. To improve goal-oriented site selection and planning, local authorities need more training and a better hydrological understanding. To improve the effectiveness of ecological restoration projects, training and capacity building are as important as tool development and research.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007
Experimental Manipulation of Restoration Barriers in Abandoned Eucalypt Plantations
Abstract:Regeneration of native potential canopy trees, understorey trees, shrubs and woody climbers, and perennial forbs all increased with canopy retention. Grass cover dominated the regeneration where canopy cover was less than 50%. In the absence of weed control, the cover of introduced shrubs increased with reduction in canopy cover, as did the rate of understorey regeneration generally. These responses indicate that thinning and weed control can reinstate succession, leading to structurally and compositionally diverse forest. Given the abundance of native woody regeneration under retained canopy, the lantana understorey was more important in inhibiting native regeneration. The experimental approach will promote efficient use of resources across the remaining 200 ha of low conservation value plantations in this national park.
Resource Type:Peer-reviewed ArticlePublication Date: 2007