Part Seven, Issue 30

Restoration Ecology

Objectives

After reading the assigned chapter and reviewing the materials presented the students will be able to understand:•What is an ecosystem?•Which ecosystems are most endangered?•What is restoration ecology?

Ecosystem Restoration

• Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

• Ecological restoration can be conducted on a small scale (like a backyard or park) or a large scale (Everglades, Great Lakes, etc).

Ecosystem and Ecosystem Services

• An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and their nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit.

• Ecosystem services are the process by which the environment produces resources that we often take for granted such as clean water, timber, and habitat for fisheries, and pollination of native and agricultural plants.

• Coastal systems have a disproportionally high value, contributing 43% of the value of an ecosystem while occupying only 6.3 % of the Earth’s surface.

• Endangered ecosystems include forests, wetlands, coral reefs, estuaries, and grasslands.

The Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

• Longleaf pines (softwood) are used by the construction and non-wood products (e.g., turpentine) industry.

• Longleaf ecosystems provide habitat for numerous endangered and rare species such as woodpecker, tortoise, and fox squirrel as well as game animals such as deer and wild turkey.

• Primary causes of destruction include logging, conversion to agriculture, conversion to pine plantations, grazing by hogs on young seedlings and fire suppression.

Summary• Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an

ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.• An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism

communities and their nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit.

• Ecosystem services are the process by which the environment produces resources that we often take for granted such as clean water, timber, and habitat for fisheries, and pollination of native and agricultural plants.

• Coastal systems have a disproportionally high value, contributing 43% of the value of an ecosystem while occupying only 6.3 % of the Earth’s surface.

• Endangered ecosystems include forests, wetlands, coral reefs, estuaries, and grasslands.

Home Work

• 1. What is an ecosystem?• 2. Which ecosystems are most endangered?