Harnessing ecological theory to enhance ecosystem restoration
Restoration can address climate and biodiversity crises, but efforts often fail or remain costly. Integrating ten underused ecological theories can boost efficiency and success, helping practitioners match theory to goals and more effectively rebuild resilient ecosystems.
Subject Tags
- Biodiversity
- Ecosystem management
- Health
Abstract
Ecosystem restoration can increase the health and resilience of nature and humanity. As a result, the international community is championing habitat restoration as a primary solution to address the dual climate and biodiversity crises. Yet most ecosystem restoration efforts to date have underperformed, failed, or been burdened by high costs that prevent upscaling. To become a primary, scalable conservation strategy, restoration efficiency and success must increase dramatically. Here, we outline how integrating ten foundational ecological theories that have not previously received much attention — from hierarchical facilitation to macroecology — into ecosystem restoration planning and management can markedly enhance restoration success. We propose a simple, systematic approach to determining which theories best align with restoration goals and are most likely to bolster their success. Armed with a century of advances in ecological theory, restoration practitioners will be better positioned to more cost-efficiently and effectively rebuild the world’s ecosystems and support the resilience of our natural resources.
Citation
Silliman, B.R., Hensel, M.J., Gibert, J.P., Daleo, P., Smith, C.S., Wieczynski, D.J., Angelini, C., Paxton, A.B., Adler, A.M., Zhang, Y.S. and Altieri, A.H., 2024. Harnessing ecological theory to enhance ecosystem restoration. Current Biology, 34(9), pp.R418-R434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.03.043
TNC Authors
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John Poulsen
Global Director of Science Capacity
The Nature Conservancy
Email: john.poulsen@tnc.org