Restoring Disturbed Landscapes is a hands-on guide for individuals and groups seeking to improve the functional capacity of landscapes. The book presents a five-step, adaptive procedure for restoring landscapes that is supported by proven principles and concepts of ecological science.
Written by restoration experts with a wealth of experience teaching restoration principles and techniques to practitioners and would-be practitioners from a variety of backgrounds, the book offers:
an outline of a science-based, ecologically sound approach to restoration discussion of the conceptual framework and rigorous principles that underlie the approach case studies of two types of restoration projects (restoring mined landscapes and restoring damaged rangelands) that illustrate how the approach, framework, and four key principles for restoring landscapes have been implemented a variety of scenarios that represent typical restoration problems and how those problems can be handled indicators for monitoring and how landscape function can be tracked and analyzed as part of a comprehensive monitoring program.
Abundantly illustrated with photos and figures that clearly explain concepts outlined in the book, Restoring Disturbed Landscapes is an engaging and accessible work designed specifically for restoration practitioners with limited training or experience in the field. It tells restorationists where to start, what information they need to acquire, and how to apply this information to their specific situations.
Foreword \ James Aronson Preface Acknowledgments
PART I. A Function-Based Approach to Restoring Disturbed Landscapes Chapter 1. Our Approach to Restoring Disturbed Landscapes: Five-Step Adaptive Procedure Chapter 2. A Framework for How Landscapes Function Chapter 3. Principles for Restoring Landscape Functionality
PART II. Case Studies on Restoring Landscapes: Mine Sites and Rangelands Chapter 4. Restoring Mined Landscapes Chapter 5. Restoring Damaged Rangelands
PART III. Scenarios for Restoring Landscapes: Mine Sites, Rangelands, Farmlands, and Roadsides Chapter 6. Restoration of Mine-Site Waste-Rock Dumps Chapter 7. Restoration of Mine-Site Tailings Storage facilities Chapter 8. Restoring Landscapes after Open-Cut Coal Mining Chapter 9. Restoring Rangelands with an Overabundance of Shrubs Chapter 10. Renewing Pastureland Functions Using Tree Belts Chapter 11. Restoration of Former Farmlands near Urban Developments Chapter 12. Restoring Verges after Road Construction
PART IV. Monitoring Indicators Chapter 13. Landscape Function Analysis: An Overview and Landscape Organization Indicators Chapter 14. Landscape Function Analysis: Soil-Surface Indicators Chapter 15. Ephemeral Drainage-Line Assessments: Indicators of Stability Chapter 16. Vegetation Assessments: Structure and Habitat Complexity Indicators Chapter 17. Reflections on Restoring Landscapes: A Function-Based Adaptive Approach
References Glossary Further reading About the Authors Index
"...the authors succeeded in their objective. That is, to make the reader think more about function or process and less about the simple presence or abundance of species and life forms as measures of restoration success."
