Talk:Ecological restoration

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Merger proposal
I propose that ecosystem restoration be merged into restoration ecology. The two articles are redundant, covering the same topic and scope. Restoration ecology is the more complete article of the two and has many more incoming wiki links, and thus should be the article to keep. -- BlueCanoe (talk) 18:54, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Alternative thought: I suggest that the two terms are crucially different. Ecosystem restoration is best defined as the activity (spontaneous, unaided, ecosystem function or as aided by human intervention--most commonly thought of as solely the latter) that actually restores damaged or destroyed ecosystems, while restoration ecology is best defined as the study of the phenomena and applications which produce ecosystem restoration. If this is correct, the two articles, while needing rewriting, should be retained -- 02 September 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wolfhawker (talk • contribs) 22:26, 2 September 2011 (UTC)


 * That seems to be splitting hairs. Have you some convincing sources for that position. --Epipelagic (talk) 01:35, 21 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I see the point, and while I would be happy with three articles, one on theory, one on technique, and one that combines the two, unless the combined article would be unwieldy the other two should redirect to it. User:Fred Bauder Talk 12:37, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

It is possible that they could be merged, but there is sufficient difference between the science and practice of restoration that they be profiled separately. This would also avoid the problem of subsuming one in the other, when they are both highly important. These two disciplines are tightly coupled. without a doubt, but are not the same, with one being science based and one being practice based. (As correctly described in the first paragraph of this entry on Restoration Ecology'.) There are two other more obvious problems, however. First, the term 'Ecosystem Restoration' is not the one most broadly used in the discipline described. So the title of that entry should be changed to 'Ecological restoration'. Second, the current 'Ecolosystem Restoration' page is not yet well developed. This needs input from people in the Ecological Restoration field to flesh it out to reflect the philosophy, characteristics and advances in the fieldTein McDonald (talk) 06:24, 25 October 2012 (UTC)


 * As an applied science, restoration ecology is actually about the practice of restoration. I do think a merger is in order. Guettarda (talk) 06:36, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Whatever the decision on merger, I accept the difference between the practice and study, and I insist that the term should be ecological restoration. Bioecojess (talk) 19:06, 4 October 2013 (UTC)


 * Merge! Charles Essie (talk) 20:32, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Restoration ecology and ecological restoration should not have been merged
Ecological restoration is different from the study of ecological restoration. They should not have been merged any more than language should be merged with linguistics. An article on ecological restoration might be informed by restoration ecology, but would not be about the academic discipline itself. In its current state, this article is very confused in its equivocation between the two.

I would definitely support a split here. Warm Worm (talk) 22:19, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

I just realized there is an existing low quality environmental restoration article that should be included. Warm Worm (talk) 22:22, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Brief Critique of Article for class assignment
•Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? Yes, the article comes off as very neutral and rather informative. It includes a variety of reasons as to why people might apply restoration ecology into practice and tries to distinguish restoration ecology as a term from other closely related terms or topics. One could point out, however, that it fails to include more information as to why people would be against the study of restoration ecology or it being put into practice as ecological restoration. Just having worked for a few summers in restoration projects, I know that there are certain parties or entities that wish restoration not take place in the interest of further land development, private residencies, or corporate goals.

•Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? All the definitions and discussion of terminology concerning restoration ecology appear to be up to date and constantly being debated, especially here in the talk page. What does seem to be lacking is a an area dedicated to restoration projects so that people reading the page could see examples. It would be great to have a section for people to reference popular restoration projects or one with more info about current projects instead of just pictures of projects in the sidebar. Gino1017 (talk) 00:50, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

I think it would be beneficial to put some background on how restoration ecology became a scientific field. maybe using examples such as the burning of the cuyahoga or ocean and river dumping of waste. Also under the header "Focuses" it talks about conservation ecology using endangered species and conservation ecology using the whole community, which both these things are true but for the public involvement conservation and restoration both use "poster" animals to obtain funding for projects. challenges in restoration section it points to public opinion on the high economic costs of restoration. there should be a note like said earlier in the paragraph about the time scale that the public is impatient and doesn't want to fund a project that shows results in 10+ years. The presentation is understandable. The organization could be more focused with more subtitles. "challenges with restoration" could be split into financial challenges and personnel challenges. This article is more of an overview with a few subjects. It is not comprehensive. Most things are cited in this article, the citations are not uniform. Some information doesnt have citations and are probably someone's previously acquired knowledge. This page does have an introduction but it just really defines the difference between restoration ecology and ecological restoration and does not summarize the main points. There are plenty of headings and subheadings although its not comprehensive. there could be some pictures under theoretical foundations to clear up what they may look like. For the most part the coverage is neutral. One fact that is emphasized is the amount of people that are for leaving the land alone and letting nature take back over. The resources are well rounded, range from ecology journals to official collegiate institutions. § — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr397912 (talk • contribs) 14:19, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

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Wiki Education assignment: Ecological Methods
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Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology
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Deleting country examples
Hi, I'd like to propose deletion of the content under the two country examples "US" and "Australia". The Australia section in particular is far too long and I would argue the specificity of both detracts from the general usefulness of the article. A few key points could be taken from both these sections and placed in the section" History" if necessary.

Happy to hear any counter argument. If I don't hear anything I'll delete the aforementioned content on 13/03/2023. Thanks! TatjanaBaleta (talk) 13:16, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

Merger Proposal & Ecological restoration vs Restoration ecology
I propose merging Environmental restoration into Restoration ecology. I'm not aware of the term "environmental restoration" being in common use (its always ecosystem or ecological restoration), and the article is start class. See also supporting comments on the Talk page by @Guettarda.

In my opinion, this article should be called "Ecological restoration" - I suspect that most visitors to this page would be looking for information on practice over the academic field. As mentioned in earlier Talk page posts above, the two are closely aligned - if the articles are to remain merged (which I think is suitable) then there could be a section on Restoration ecology to draw any necessary distinctions. The Science–practice gap challenge should also remain.

I think this proposal is reasonable given that most of the framing of this article focuses on the practice instead of the academic field anyway.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. TatjanaClimate (talk) 10:26, 10 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I haven't heard any voices to the opposition, so I will be 1) merging Environmental restoration with this article and 2) renaming this article "Ecological restoration". TatjanaClimate (talk) 08:48, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Expert edits
I'll be making a series of edits to this article over the next little while in collaboration with Matteus Silva, an restoration ecology researcher as part of the Climate WiR at the University of Exeter. TatjanaClimate (talk) 13:47, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

Restoration economy
There could be scope for a short section on Restoration economy/markets in this article with Wikilinks to e.g.: biodiveristy offsetting.

I'm leaving this text, copied from "Envrionmental restoration" which I am currently in the process of merging with this article, here for possible later use for a possible section on this topic (not putting it into the current article as it is very surface level and focussed almost exclusively on the US alone).

Ecological restoration markets
Although the international field of restoration is driven primarily by the non-profit, government and academic sectors, in the U.S and certain other countries (e.g. Australia, which has a robust mining restoration sector), there are active markets for ecological restoration. The U.S. market blossomed shortly after Congress passed the Clean Water Act (United States. Clean Water Act (1972; amended 1977). Section 404. 33 U.S.C. § 1344) and the Environmental Protection Agency issued implementing regulations aimed at preventing the loss of streams and wetlands, and in the wake of the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. (United States. Endangered Species Act of 1973. Pub. L.  93–205 16 U.S.C. § 1531.) The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 also created restoration opportunities. (United States. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Pub. L.  95–87 30 U.S.C. § 1201) (Zipper, CE; Burger, JA; Skousen, JG; Angel, PN (2011). "Restoring forests and associated ecosystem services on appalachian coal surface mines". Environmental Management. 47 (5): 751–756. Bibcode:2011EnMan..47..751Z. doi:10.1007/s00267-011-9670-z. PMID 21479921. S2CID 10992807.) When regulations stemming from these laws came online in the mid-1980s, there were few firms that were qualified or experienced in performing large-scale restoration projects. The first estimate of the dollars and jobs in the U.S. was $9.5 billion in annual sales, with 126,000 people employed. (BenDor, JM; Newton, AC; Diaz, A; Bullock, JM (2015). "Estimating the Size and Impact of the Ecological Restoration Economy". PLOS ONE. 10 (6): e0128339. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1028339B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128339. PMC 4470920. PMID 26083034.) TatjanaClimate (talk) 09:53, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Developmental Biology
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Changing the latest edit from an external link to an internal link
The latest edit by @Jamesducker999 inserts an external link, possibly to improve the DA of the target website. I am changing this link, instead to target Environmental Degradation Wikipedia page.

@Jamesducker999, please see Public relations and marketing. Rubberdoorpost (talk) 15:05, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2024
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