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.
Richard J. Hobbs is an Australian Professorial Fellow at Murdoch University in Western Australia. Katharine N. Suding is an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine.