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Landscape Ecology and Restoration Processes

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Book cover Foundations of Restoration Ecology

Abstract

There is now an increasing and robust set of evidence showing that restoration processes are not only affected by local factors, but also by landscape factors. The landscape context where restoration takes place, characterized by the proximity of species sources, the surrounding land use types, the existence of landscape elements facilitating or impeding movement of organisms, water, and energy, affects restoration outcomes (Leite et al. 2013). Landscape-level factors can be useful to reduce the cost of restoration and to increase its effectiveness. This can be particularly relevant given the global demand for restoration, which aims to restore large land areas, as expressed by the Bonn Challenge, the New York Declaration on Forests, or Aichi Biodiversity Target 15 of the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity (Menz et al. 2013; Suding et al. 2015).

Theory and Application

• There is significant empirical evidence supported by a number of theoretical predictions that landscape structure and dynamics affect restoration processes and outcomes.

• A landscape perspective considers the influence of the landscape structure on the local restoration potential as well as the impact restoration may, in turn, have on the landscape.

• A landscape ecology perspective seeks to understand the relationships between process and patterns. To explore those relationships better requires an understanding of the biological mechanisms relating the landscape structure to the restoration.

• A landscape perspective can inform prioritization of restoration sites, enhance and speed ecological recovery, and improve restoration cost-effectiveness.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ryan Richards for language checking, the external reviewers, and editor, Margaret Palmer.

Authors
  1. Jean Paul Metzger
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  2. Pedro H. S. Brancalion
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Socio Environmental Synthesis Center, Park Place, Suite 300, 1, 21401, Annapolis, MD, USA

    Margaret A. Palmer

  2. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lincoln Drive, 430, 53706, Madison, WI, USA

    Joy B. Zedler

  3. University of Arizona School Natural Resources and Environment, E. Lowell Street, 1064, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Donald A. Falk

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Metzger, J.P., Brancalion, P.H.S. (2016). Landscape Ecology and Restoration Processes. In: Palmer, M.A., Zedler, J.B., Falk, D.A. (eds) Foundations of Restoration Ecology. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-698-1_4

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