As long as humans have been using natural resources, we have left behind a trail of degraded and diminished landscapes. Rehabilitation of these landscapes started as soon as we figured out that land and resources were not inexhaustible, and that we had to repair some of the damage. Most of these attempts have been localized and applied--reestablishing wetlands, replanting forests, cleaning up polluted soil and water. Since about the mid 1980's, however, these local and applied efforts have begun to evolve into the science of Restoration Ecology.
Restoration ecology is devoted to "returning damaged ecosystems to a condition that is structurally and functionally similar to the predisturbance state." (Cairns, 1995) Whether it is a science or not is still debated. In 1989, restoration was discussed as an "agronomic practice", not a science. (Allen, et. al. 1997). In 1991, Cairns recognized that "predictive models and testable hypotheses are not common in restoration ecology, which places its scientific status (both "pure" and "applied") in question." When the goal of restoration is the reestablishment of a process not a product, it comes closer to a science. (Cairns, 1991) In his later encyclopedic articles meant for a less specialize audience he simply asserts that it is a science and goes on to describe the needs for restoration efforts. (Cairns, 1994, 1995) As late as 1997, however, Allen et. al. state that "ecological restoration is still very much in the hands of managers and is moving only very slowly into the scientific realm of restoration ecology." The development of a science takes much time and effort.
Several milestones in the development of the discipline that moves it into the realm of legitimate research are outlined by Light & Higgs, (1996). The Society for Ecological Restoration, formed in 1987, has held regular conferences each year since then. Its official journal, Restoration Ecology , started in 1994, provided a forum for discussions of the status and progress of the discipline. A National Science Foundation program which started in 1987 was designed to help establish the topic as worthy of basic research, but had limited success because for many the discipline lacked a conceptual basis. As a response, an NSF workshop in 1996 described some of the issues, both practical and conceptual, that must be resolved in future research. (Restoration Ecology Vol 5. No. 4. December 1997). The workshop is summarized in Restoration and Management Notes 14(2): 148-150.
In addition to the debate as to whether restoration is an applied or basic science, a number of environmental ethicists are considering whether restoration is a legitmate activity at all. Articles in journals such as Environmental Ethics are concerned with the the goals of restoration (a return to "the natural"), and whether or not they are desirable. Some authors are at best ambivalent, fearing that restoration efforts will negate the need for preservation and conservation. (Scherer, 1995) (This debate is summarized well in Light and Higgs, 1996)
One of the problems with restoration ecology as a concept is that it contains so many facets. It involves issues in biology, sociology, public policy, ethics, philosophy, and technology. It includes forestry, marine environments, wetlands, degraded lands, and pollution of soils and water, etc. From a bibliographic standpoint, trying to describe a research strategy that will capture all of these areas is quite complex. Ecological restoration started with specific projects with limited objectives: cleaning up oil spills, revegetating mined land, restoring river processes, or providing habitat for endangered species. This is still the level of most efforts, and the focus of most literature and support. The attached list of Web sites illustrates a number of these projects. Others can be found in specific literature searches on established databases. A large body of literature can be found in government publications as much of the financial support comes from government agencies.
Reflecting the newness of the discipline, "restoration-ecology" as a controlled vocabulary term is quite recent. Some databases do not use it at all. In examing a number of databases, the term seems to come into use in the mid to late 1980's. GEOBASE seems to be using it extensively by 1990, but the Life Sciences Collection, Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts and Water Resources Abstracts do not use it as a controlled term, using "environmental- restoration" instead. In addition, controlled vocabulary terms such as "reclamation-of- land", "nature-conservation", "nature-effects-of-human-beings-on" and "conservation-of- natural-resources", "restoration-" and "reclamation-" elicit large numbers of references in several databases. Discipline specific terms ("wetlands-", "fish-habitat-improvement", "plant-reintroduction", "revegetation", "wildlife-habitat-improvement", "lake-restoration", "mined-land", and "pollution-control-and remediation", for example) result in important additional references.
As is apparent by the literature reviewed and the terminology used in databases, restoration ecology is highly interdisciplinary at both the applied and scientific levels. The bibliography, database analysis, glossary and links to web resources listed here may help in the search for appropriate resources.