Knowra Ecological restoration Ecological restoration Ecological restoration assists the recovery of a degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystem toward a reference condition. It can restore ecological processes, native species, and relationships between organisms and their environment.
Ecological succession : The process by which ecological communities change over time, often following disturbance or the creation of new habitat. Recovery may follow succession, which restoration can initiate, guide, or accelerate.
Wetland restoration : The repair or re-establishment of wetland ecosystems, including their hydrology, soils, and characteristic communities. Restoring water flows and wetland habitat is a distinct, widely used form of ecosystem repair.
Ecological rehabilitation : The repair of ecosystem functions or services without necessarily recreating the composition or structure of a reference ecosystem. Rehabilitation may improve a site while setting less comprehensive goals than restoration.
Biodiversity : The variety of life across genes, species, and ecosystems, together with the ecological relationships among them. Recovery can rebuild habitat and species interactions, but species counts alone do not show full ecosystem recovery.
Novel ecosystem : An ecosystem whose species composition or functioning differs substantially from historical conditions because of human influence. Novel ecosystems challenge the assumption that restoration should always target a historical reference.
Reference ecosystem : An ecosystem model used to define restoration goals, informed by historical, contemporary, or regional evidence. It gives restoration a benchmark without requiring an exact return to the past.
Forest landscape restoration : A process that restores ecological integrity and improves human well-being across deforested or degraded forest landscapes. It applies restoration across connected landscapes rather than treating each forest site in isolation.
Ecological reclamation : The stabilization and return of disturbed land to a useful or safe condition, which may not recreate an ecosystem. Reclamation can prioritize safety or land use over recovery of ecological integrity.
Ecosystem services : Benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including food, water regulation, climate regulation, and cultural value. Restoration can recover services, though service gains do not always match biodiversity goals.
Shifting baseline syndrome : The gradual acceptance of degraded environmental conditions as normal when each generation uses a diminished reference point. Changing baselines can make restoration targets less ambitious than earlier ecological conditions warrant.
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