SESYNC Director Publishes Foundations of Restoration Ecology, Second Edition

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Foundations of Restoration Ecology

Foundations of Restoration Ecology, second edition, published by Island Press  

Foundations of Restoration Ecology, Second Edition

Edited by Margaret A. Palmer, SESYNC Director and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, Joy B. Zedler, and Donald A. Falk

In 1862, Brazilian National Guard Major Manoel Archer oversaw one of the first well-documented acts of restoration. Over 100,000 seedlings were planted to restore the degraded Tijuca Forest, and along with them, the seeds for restoration ecology. Today, ecological restoration offers the potential to recover lands and waters from environmental damages that societies inflict on Earth’s natural resources by misuse or mismanagement.

A decade after the first edition was published, Foundations of Restoration Ecology, Second Edition provides the latest emerging theories and ideas in the science of restoration ecology. Fully one-third longer than the first edition and comprehensive in scope, it has been substantially updated to reflect new research and the challenges that restoration ecologists face as human pressures on natural resources continue to grow. This is the only book on restoration ecology with extensive examples of how theoretical concepts can be used in practical, on-the-ground restoration contexts.

Rather than addressing how to restore individual types of systems, such as lakes, streams, or forests, this book takes a holistic view of restoration ecology and its practice. Included are new sections devoted to concepts critical to all restoration projects as well as restoration of specific ecosystem processes, including hydrology, nutrient dynamics, and carbon. Also new to this edition are case studies that describe real-life restoration scenarios in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. They highlight supporting theory for restoration application and other details important for assessing the progress of restoration projects in a variety of contexts. Lists at the end of each chapter summarize new theory introduced in that chapter and its practical application.

The final chapter of the book reflects on theories that are essential to an understanding of restoration ecology (persistent themes) as well as new ideas entering the field (emergent themes). This is preceded by the newest section of the book dealing with the importance of cross-disciplinary knowledge essential to practice.

Written by acclaimed researchers in the field, this book provides practitioners as well as graduate and undergraduate students with a solid grounding in the newest advances in ecological science and theory.

Margaret A. Palmer is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Director of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. Joy B. Zedler is the Aldo Leopold Professor of Restoration Ecology and Professor of Botany at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Donald A. Falk is Associate Professor at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment, with joint appointments at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and the Institute of the Environment.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the book from Island Press, use the code 4RESECO, which is good for a 20% discount. You can also order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local independent bookseller.

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