Restoration Ecology - Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology

Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology

With regard to biodiversity preservation, it should be noted that restoration activities are complementary to, not a substitute for, conservation efforts. Many conservation programmes, however, are predicated on historical bio-physical conditions - i.e. they are incapable of responding to global climate change, and the assemblages "locked in" that become increasingly fragile and liable to catastrophic collapse. In this sense, restoration is essential to provide new spaces for migration of habitats and their associated flora and fauna. Also, conservation biology often has organisms, and not entire ecosystems and their functions, as its focus, a narrowed approach with more limited aims.

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, is theoretically rooted in conservation biology. While restoration ecology may be viewed as a sub-discipline of conservation biology, foundational differences exist between the disciplines' approaches, focuses and modes of inquiry.

The fundamental difference between conservation biology and restoration ecology lies in their philosophical approaches to the same problems. Conservation biology attempts to preserve and maintain existing habitat and biodiversity. In contrast, restoration ecology assumes that environmental degradation and population declines are somewhat reversible processes. Therefore, targeted human intervention is used to promote habitat and biodiversity recovery and associated gains. This does not provide, however, an excuse for converting extremely valuable "pristine" habitat into other uses.