Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession (Springer ... - Inecol

174 Richard J. Hobbs et al.
R 1 R 2 R 3
Figure 8.1 The three “R’s” of restoration—sequential restoration actions over time.
R1: “Reading” (assessing) the situation. Is restoration needed? Can it be done? What can
it accomplish? What are its goals? What minimum amount of information is needed for
it to begin? What is the nature of that information? R2: “Writing” (doing) restoration via
monitoring, maintenance, manipulating as needed to revise trajectories (R3 versus R4) or
remove bottlenecks, and responding to changing disturbance regimes and environmental
changes. R3,4: “Arithmetic” (evaluating) of restoration by measuring success at achieving
goals and by modeling results to provide generalities and lessons for future restoration
activities.
“arithmetic” = evaluating restoration success, e.g., by attainment of certain
ecosystem functions).
8.7.1 Planning
An old adage is that anything is possible if you throw enough money and resources
at it. In the case of restoration, this is only true if the activities do, in
fact, point restoration trajectories in the correct direction. Because money is
rarely available in an endless supply, decisions are needed on how to spend the
meager dollars most efficiently to achieve the aim. Restoration targets vary in
purpose from very narrow (one endangered species), to constrained (a particular
species), to narrow (a focal community), to moderate (a certain level of
biodiversity), to wide (certain growth forms, dominant species or ecosystem
functions). Successional studies can help in the restoration process (Fig. 8.1),
to define the broad goals or specific end-points and to choose which path to
take to reach the goals. In the planning phase, there are many opportunities for
inputs from succession. The initial phase (R1) is a period of assessment about
the utility of restoration and the critical phase of defining ecologically sound
restoration goals. Initial site amelioration is often needed (e.g., to stabilize or
adjust nutrients in the substrate) and experience from successional studies (e.g.,
about likely guilds or functional groups to introduce) can provide guidance for
restoration planning. Long-term goals can be refined to include both abiotic
and biotic structures and system states that are most likely to be achievable.
As a planning mechanism, there are many computer-based tools that can be
utilized to display a range of scenarios to assist both the decision making and
implementation phases of restoration. Such applications should aim to minimize
restoration effort and initiate, design, and suggest short-term interventions
that manipulate the long-term successional process.
There is often a range of potential restoration goals in any given situation
and the decision about which goal to aim for can be difficult. Decisions will
be based on an array of factors such as available resources, ecosystem type,
and societal attitudes toward the sustainability of particular ecosystems or the
goods and services provided. Information about long-term succession can improve
the certainty of particular management actions and reduce the possibility
of error or undesirable variants. For instance, restoration planning needs to
R 4