Restoration Ecology Glossary
Compiled by Carol Green

One of the main concerns regarding the concept of restoration ecology is the meaning of terms. The following definitions, (with additional annotations) are taken from Cairns, John Jr. 1995. "Restoration Ecology". Encyclopedia of Environmental Biology vol. 1, Academic Press. p. 235 and from "Biodegradation of Pollutants," p. 181 of the same volume. Also of interest is the extensive glossary provided by the U.S.EPA: Terms of Environment.

Amenities

Ecological features, traits, or characteristics that add to the physical or material comfort of human societies.

Bioremediation

Biological decontamination of soil, water, or other environmental media. (Phytoremediation is the use of plants for biological decontamination.)

Damage assessment

An accounting of the magnitude, physical extent, and types of damage suffered by an ecosystem.

Ecological capital

Stock of ecological goods and facilities devoted to providing ecosystem services.

Ecosystem services

Valuable functions ecosystems provide free of charge to human societies, including maintenance of atmospheric gases; regulation of the hydrologic cycle; provision of potable water, fertile soil, wood, fish, and other consumable products; processing of wastes; pollination of crops; and the genetic library from which people have domesticated crops and are now designing new foodstuffs.

Integrated environmental management

Coordinated control, direction, or influence of all human activities in a defined environmental system to achieve and balance the broadest possible range of short- and long-term objectives.

Mitigation

Actions taken to avoid, reduce, or compensate for the effects of environmental damage, including activities that restore, enhance, create, or replace damaged ecosystems.

No net loss

A policy by which the total amount of some habitat type is not decreased though individual units may change.

Reclamation Putting a natural resource to a new or altered use.

Rehabilitation

Improvements to a natural resource that return it to a good condition but not the condition prior to disturbance.

(In another source, Cairns defines rehabilitation and reclamation as "replacing selected original attributes of particular value to humans... or putting a natural resource to a new or greatly-altered use to serve human purposes." (Cairns, John, Jr. 1991. "The status of the theoretical and applied science of restoration ecology". The Environmental Professional 13 (3) p 187.)

Restoration

Return of an ecosystem to a close approximation of its condition prior to disturbance.

("Restoration means recreating both the structure and functions of the damaged ecosystem." (Cairns. 1991. p. 186) Others agree that restoration is a process that reestablishes the ecosystem structure and function and must be self-sustaining.

"Restoration means to reproduce the ecosystem structure and function that existed prior to disturbance. Reclamation allows the use of exotics but still requires an ecosystem which is self-organizing and stable; the resulting system is less structurally co mplex than restored land. Rehabilitation strives to make land productive again, but the systems produced may not be diverse or self-sustaining." (Ewing, Kern. 1996. "Beyond the pale (or beyond the boundaries of ecological restoration)". p. 95. (Peterson & Klimas, 1996)

Light and Higgs (1996) define Restoration Ecology as "research directly concerning the restoration of ecosystems", and Ecological Restoration as "a more inclusive term incorporating the wide-ranging practices and knowledges that constitute the broad definition.."-- a more inclusive term. (note p. 228) The terms are often used as synonyms.