This innovative book integrates practical information from restoration projects around the world with the latest developments in successional theory. It recognizes the critical roles of disturbance ecology, landscape ecology, ecological assembly, invasion biology, ecosystem health, and historical ecology in habitat restoration. It argues that restoration within a successional context will best utilize the lessons from each of these disciplines.

Cosponsored by the Society for Ecological Restoration International and Island Press, this series offers a foundation of practical knowledge and scientific insight that will help ecological restoration become the powerful reparative and healing tool that the world needs.As scientific understanding about ecological processes has grown, the idea that ecosystem dynamics are complex, non-linear, and often unpredictable has gained prominence. Of particular importance is the idea that rather than following an inevitable progression toward an ultimate endpoint, some ecosystems may occur in a number of states depending on past and present ecological conditions. The emerging idea of 'restoration thresholds' also enables scientists to recognize when ecological systems are likely to recover on their own and when active restoration efforts are needed.Conceptual models based on alternative stable states and restoration thresholds can help inform restoration efforts. "New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration" brings together leading experts from around the world to explore how conceptual models of ecosystem dynamics can be applied to the recovery of degraded systems and how recent advances in our understanding of ecosystem and landscape dynamics can be translated into conceptual and practical frameworks for restoration.In the first part of the book, background chapters present and discuss the basic concepts and models and explore the implications of new scientific research on restoration practice. The second part considers the dynamics and restoration of different ecosystems, ranging from arid lands to grasslands, woodlands, and savannahs, to forests and wetlands, to production landscapes. A summary chapter by the editors discusses the implications of theory and practice of the ideas described in preceding chapters."New Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration 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.

Harold A. Mooney and Richard J. Hobbs At present there is enormous concern about the changes that are occurring on the surface of the earth and in the earth's atmosphere, primarily as a result of human activities. These changes, particularly in the atmosphere, have the potential for altering the earth's habitability. International pro grams unprecedented in scope, including the International Geosphere Biosphere Program, have been initiated to describe and understand these changes. The global change program will call for coordinated measure ments on a global scale of those interactive physical and biological pro cesses that regulate the earth system. The program will rely heavily on the emerging technology of remote sensing from airborne vehicles, particularly satellites. Satellites offer the potential of continuously viewing large seg ments of the earth's surface, thus documenting the changes that are occur ring. The task, however, is not only to document global change, which will be an enormous job, but also to understand the significance of these changes to the biosphere. Effects on the biosphere may cover all spatial scales from global to local. The possibility of measuring biosphere function remot ly and continuously from satellite imagery must be explored quickly and thoroughly in order to meet the challenge of understanding the con sequences of global change. Initial guidelines and approaches are currently being formulated (Dyer and Crossley, 1986; JOI, 1984; NAS, 1986; Rasool, 1987). There are many conceptual and technical issues that must be resolved H. A. Mooney and R. J."

This innovative book integrates practical information from restoration projects around the world with the latest developments in successional theory. It recognizes the critical roles of disturbance ecology, landscape ecology, ecological assembly, invasion biology, ecosystem health, and historical ecology in habitat restoration. It argues that restoration within a successional context will best utilize the lessons from each of these disciplines.

This book was first published in 2006. Despite many well-intentioned policies and changes to management practices, the world's natural resources continue to decline. The roles and interplay between science and policy in the regional broadacre agriculture landscape are examined here, offering readers a thorough understanding of the complex interactions that occur across spatial scales to produce the regional-scale impacts. The fundamental causes of resource degradation, social decline and environmental pollution are addressed, examining the cross-scale drivers from the individual farm level to the global level of commodity systems. Broadacre agriculture is a common land use throughout all continents of the world and is driven by the same type of dynamics, and this case study of the Western Australia agricultural region can be used to clearly demonstrate the principles for other agricultural systems. Aimed at academics, ranging from researchers through to policy analysts, this book will inspire innovation and action in sustainable natural resource management.

The practice of ecological restoration, firmly grounded in the science of restoration ecology, provides governments, organisations, and landowners a means to halt degradation and restore function and resilience to ecosystems stressed by climate change and other pressures on the natural world. Foundational theory is a critical component of the underlying science, providing valuable insights into restoring ecological systems effectively and understanding why some efforts to restore systems can fail In turn on-the-ground restoration projects can help to guide and refine theory, advancing the field and providing new ideas and innovations for practical application. This new edition of Foundations for Restoration Ecology provides the latest emerging theories and ideas in the science of restoration ecology. Fully one-third longer than the first edition and comprehensive in scope it has been dramatically updated to reflect new research. Included are new sections devoted to Concepts critical to all restoration projects as we'll as restoration of specific ecosystem processes, including hydrology, nutrient dynamics and carbon.Also new to this edition are case studies that describe real-life restoration scenarios in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. They highlight supporting theory for restoration application and other details important for assessing the degree of success of restoration projects in a variety of contexts. Lists at the end of each chapter summarise new theory introduced in that chapter and its practical application. Written by acclaimed researchers in the field, this book provides practitioners as well as graduate and undergraduate students with a solid grounding in the newest advances in ecological science and theory.

Landscape ecology is a relatively new area of study, which aims to understand the pattern of interaction of biological and cultural communities within a landscape. This book brings together leading figures from the field to provide an up-to-date survey of recent advances, identify key research problems and suggest a future direction for development and expansion of knowledge. Providing in-depth reviews of the principles and methods for understanding landscape patterns and changes, the book illustrates concepts with examples of innovative applications from different parts of the world. Forming a current 'state-of-the-science' for the science of landscape ecology, this book forms an essential reference for graduate students, academics, professionals and practitioners in ecology, environmental science, natural resource management, and landscape planning and design.

This book was first published in 2006. Despite many well-intentioned policies and changes to management practices, the world's natural resources continue to decline. The roles and interplay between science and policy in the regional broadacre agriculture landscape are examined here, offering readers a thorough understanding of the complex interactions that occur across spatial scales to produce the regional-scale impacts. The fundamental causes of resource degradation, social decline and environmental pollution are addressed, examining the cross-scale drivers from the individual farm level to the global level of commodity systems. Broadacre agriculture is a common land use throughout all continents of the world and is driven by the same type of dynamics, and this case study of the Western Australia agricultural region can be used to clearly demonstrate the principles for other agricultural systems. Aimed at academics, ranging from researchers through to policy analysts, this book will inspire innovation and action in sustainable natural resource management.

Social historians will look back on the 1980s as a period when a global consciousness of the environment developed. Stimulated by major issues and events such as oil and chemical spills, clearing of rainforests, pollu tion of waterways, and, towards the end of the decade, concern over the greenhouse effect, concern for the environment has become a major social and political force. Unfortunately, the state of the environment and its future manage ment are still very divisive issues. Often, at a local level, concern for the environment is the antithesis of development. The debate usually focusses on the possible negative environmental impacts of an activity versus the expected positive economic impacts. It is a very difficult task to integrate development and conservation, yet it is towards this objec tive that the sustainable development debate is moving. The issues in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia are typical of the environment versus development debate. It is undoubted that the development of the area, which involved clearing the native vegetation, has had a major impact upon the original ecosystems. Many of the natural habitats are threatened and local extinction of flora and fauna species is a continuing process. Moreover, there are clear signs that land degradation processes such as dryland salinity are depleting the land resource."