James Sanders

Restoring Landscapes

Chapter 5 summary

In light of our current global situation, with the increase of population, climate change and degradation of some of the most integral mechanisms that make life on Earth habitable for all species, some new theories have come to the forefront. Yet, there is still a great divide between theory and practice due to the lack of research and empirical data that is attributed to the restoration of complex ecosystems, which is in terms of biodiversity. It is suggested, by some, that it is imperative to restore the whole ecosystem in terms of population rather than try to restore an individual species, and this theory itself is still under debate. Therefore, it seems that there is not a lot of headway being made in the area of restoration from one perspective, but the research that has been conducted has helped ecologists tremendously to gain a better understanding of how systems and species interact with each other.

One peculiar way that ecosystem engineers have been able to gain an understanding of the systems around them and restore them is by studying beavers. Beavers are able to transform their surrounding environment from lotic to lentic, which increases herbaceous plant species affluence. It is by drawing off of these natural observations not only with beavers but other key species that we will be able to determine and implement theory into practice.