Wildlife observation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_observation 

 

Hobby photographers taking pictures of wildlife at the Chobe River / Botswana (2018)

Wildlife observation is the practice of noting the occurrence or abundance of animal species at a specific location and time, either for research purposes or recreation. Common examples of this type of activity are bird watching and whale watching.

The process of scientific wildlife observation includes the reporting of what (diagnosis of the species), where (geographical location), when (date and time), who (details about observer), and why (reason for observation, or explanations for occurrence). Wildlife observation can be performed if the animals are alive, with the most notable example being face-to-face observation and live cameras, or are dead, with the primary example being the notifying of where roadkill has occurred. This outlines the basic information needed to collect data for a wildlife observation; which can also contribute to scientific investigations of distribution, habitat relations, trends, and movement of wildlife species.

Wildlife observation allows for the study of organisms with minimal disturbance to their ecosystem depending on the type of method or equipment used. The use of equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, may disturb and cause negative impacts on wildlife. Specialized equipment can be used to collect more accurate data.

History

Wildlife observation is believed to have traced its origins to the rule of Charles II of England when it was first instituted in 1675 at the Royal Observatory in present-day Greenwich, part of London. In modern times, it has practiced as an observance of wildlife species monitored in areas of vast wilderness.

Importance

Through wildlife observation, there are many important details that can be discovered about the environment. For instance, if a fisher in Taiwan discovers that a certain species of fish he/she frequently catches is becoming rarer and rarer, there might be a substantial issue in the water that fisher is fishing in. It could be that there is a new predator in the water that has changed the animal food chain, a source of pollution, or perhaps even a larger problem. Regardless of the reason, this process of observing animals can help identify potential issues before they become severe problems in the world.

Additionally, through animal observation, those who participate are also actively participating in the conservation of animal life. Oftentimes, the two subjects go hand-in-hand with one another because through the observation of animals, individuals are also discovering what issues animals around the world are currently facing and if there are any ways to put up a fight against them. With more observation, fewer species of animals will become extinct.

Research

Before one can get started observing wildlife and helping the environment, it is important to research the animal they are choosing to observe. If one simply went into the observation process and skipped the crucial process of obtaining knowledge about the animals, it would be difficult for them to determine if anything was out of the ordinary. Before observing, it would be wise to find out simple information about the animal such as:

• What the animal eats - Is the animal a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore?
• What animals prey on the animal?
• Where does the animal live?
• Is the animal dangerous?
• Is it endangered?
• Does the animal travel in packs or alone?
• What are the animal's sleeping habits? 

Projects and programs devoted to wildlife observation

Projects

There are a variety of projects and websites devoted to wildlife observations. One of the most common projects are for bird observations (for example: e-bird). For those who enjoy bird watching, there are a variety of ways one can contribute to this type of wildlife observation. The National Wildlife Refuge System has volunteer opportunities, citizen science projects, and if one is limiting in time; could purchase a Federal Duck Stamp that donates money to the wildlife refuge lands. In the past few years, websites dedicated to reporting wildlife across broad taxonomic ranges have become available. For example, the California Roadkill Observation System provides a mechanism for citizen-scientists in California to report wildlife species killed by vehicles. The Maine Audubon Wildlife Road Watch allows reporting of observations of both dead and live animals along roads. A more recent addition to wildlife observation tools are the web sites that facilitate uploading and management of images from remote wildlife cameras. For example, the Smithsonian Institution supports the eMammal and Smithsonian Wild programs, which provide a mechanism for volunteer deployment of wildlife cameras around the world. Similarly, the Wildlife Observer Network hosts over a dozen wildlife-camera projects from around the world, providing tools and a database to manage photographs and camera networks.

Monitoring programs

Monitoring programs for wildlife utilize new and easier ways to monitor animal species for citizen scientists and research scientists alike. One such monitoring device is the automated recorder. Automated recorders are a reliable way to monitor species such as bird, bats, and amphibians as they provide ability to save and independently identify a specific animal call. The automated recorder analyzes the sounds of the species to identify the species and how many there are. It was found that using the automated recorders produced larger quantity and even more quality data when compared with traditional, point-count data recording. While providing better quality, it also provides a permanent record of the census which can be continually reviewed for any potential bias. This monitoring device can improve wildlife observation and potentially save more animals. Using this device can allow for continued tracking of populations, continued censusing of individuals within a species, and allow for faster population size estimates.

Live watching and observation

Birdwatching

One of the most popular forms of wildlife observation, birdwatching, is typically performed as a recreational pleasure. Those looking to birdwatch typically travel into a forest or other wooded area with a pair of binoculars in hand to aid the process. Birdwatching has become all the more important with the amount of deforestation that has been occurring in the world. Birds are arguably the most important factor in the balance of environmental systems: "They pollinate plants, disperse seeds, scavenge carcasses and recycle nutrients back into the earth." A decrease in the total number of birds would cause destruction to much of the environmental system. The plants and trees around the world would die at an alarming rate which would, in turn, set off a chain reaction that would cause many other animals to die due to the environment change and habitat loss.

Birdwatchers on a beach

One of the ways that birdwatching has an effect on the environment as a whole is that through consistent birdwatching, an observer would be able to identify whether they are seeing less of a certain species of bird. If this happens, there typically is a reasons for the occurrence, whether it be because of an increase in pollution in the area or possibly an increase in the population of predators. If a watcher were to take notice of a change in what they typically see, they could notify the city or park and allow them to investigate into the cause a bit further. Through this action, birdwatchers are preserving the future for both animal and human life.

Subsequently, by taking children birdwatching it is allowing the future generation to understand the importance of animal observation. If children learn at a young age how the environmental system works and that all life is intertwined, the world will be in much better hands. These children will be the ones pioneer conservation movements and attempt to protect the habit for all animals.

Livestreams

Live streams of animal exhibits at various zoos and aquariums across the United States have also become extremely popular. The Tennessee Aquarium has a webcam that allows online viewers to take a look into the happening so their Secret Reef exhibit which consists of reef fish, sharks, and a rescued green sea turtle.

Perhaps the most popular animals cams in the United States though come from, naturally, the largest zoo in the United States: The San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Zoo features eight live cams on their website – A panda, elephant, ape, penguin, polar bear, tiger, condor, and koala. The purpose of the live streams is to help educate the public about the behaviors of several different animals and to entertain those who might not be able to travel to a zoo.

The other notable zoos that have webcams are the National Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, Houston Zoo, and Atlanta Zoo.

Additionally, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has opened a butterfly and plant observation pavilion. Visitors walk into a large tent and experience a one-of-a-kind situation in which hundreds of rare butterflies from all across the world are inches from their faces.

Collecting data

As is the case with a majority of subjects, one of the best and most effective ways to observe live animals is through data collection. This process can be done through a livestream or in the wild but it is more useful if the data is collected on animals that are in currently in the wild. The ways the data can be collected are endless and it really just depends on what purpose an individual has as to what data would be the most useful.

For example, if someone is interested in how deer interact with other animals in a certain location, it would be beneficial for them to take notes and record all of the animals that are native to the area where the deer are located. From there, they can describe any scenarios in which the deer had a positive or negative interaction with the other species of animals. In this instance, it would not really be helpful for the observer to collect data pertaining to the types of food the deer eat because the study is only focusing on the interaction amongst animals.

Another example of how collecting data on wildlife would be useful is keeping track of the total number of a certain species exists within a forest. Naturally, it will be impossible to get a definitive number but if an accurate approximation can be made, it could be beneficial in determining if there has been a random increase or decrease in the population. If there is an increase, it could be due to a change in the species migration habits and if there is a decrease, it could be due to an external factor such as pollution or introduction of a new predator.

Deceased wildlife observation

An example of a wildlife crossing sign

Online systems and mobile apps

Many states have already begun to set up websites and systems for the public. The main purpose behind the movement is so that they can notify other individuals about road-killed wildlife. If enough people fill out the forms located on the websites, the government will become notified that there have been occurrences of a loss of animal life and will take the steps required to prevent it. Typically, the step that is taken is the posting of a wildlife crossing sign that, in turn, allows the public to know where there are common animal crossings. Maine and California are the states that have been the pioneers of this movement and this process has become particularly important on heavily traveled roads as no one would like endanger the animals or themselves.

Currently, there is an app (available on both iPhone and Android devices) made specifically for the purpose of identifying road-kill called “Mobile Mapper.” The app is a partner of the HerpMapper website. The purpose of the website is to use the user recorded observations for research and conservation purposes.

On average, the cost of repairing a car that has been damaged by a deer or other medium to large-sized animal is $2,000. Even though there is no way that accidents involving animals can completely be prevented, placing more signs about possible animal crossings zones would cause drivers to drive more carefully and therefore have fewer accidents. Economically, this means that more families will be saving money and it could be used in a different way to help contributed to society as a whole.

Issues leading to the extinction of animals

Climate change

Climate change is one of the most heavily discussed topics around the world today, both politically and scientifically. The climate that Earth is currently experiencing has been steadily changing over time due to both natural causes and human exploitation. Climate change has the potential to be detrimental to wildlife across the world, whether that be through rising sea levels, changes in temperatures through the years, or deforestation. These are just a few of the examples of the contributing factors to climate change.

Climate change is not something that citizens can entirely prevent from happening even if they wanted to. There are many natural causes such as volcanic activity and the Earth's orbit around the sun that are strong contributing factors to the phenomena. There are, however, prevention measures that can be taken to prevent climate change from happening as quickly. The primary way to prevent climate change is for society to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are present in the atmosphere. This can be done through the improving of energy efficiency in many buildings, the stoppage of deforestation so more carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere, and mode switching.

Rising sea levels

One of the more notable effects climate change has on the environment is the rising of sea levels around the world. Over the past 100 years, the sea level has risen approximately 1.8 millimeters each year. The steady rise in sea levels can be attributed to the steadily increasing temperatures the Earth faces each year which causes the ice caps and glaciers to melt. This increase in sea level is detrimental to the coastal ecosystems that exist around the world.

Polar bear hunting for food

The increase in sea level causes flooding on coastal wetlands, where certain animals will be unable to survive due to saltwater inundation. The increase in the total amount of saltwater present in these wetlands could prove to be problematic for many species. While some may simply have to migrate to other areas, smaller ecosystems within the wetlands could be destroyed which, once again, influences the animal food chain.

Polar bears are animals that are specifically affected through the process of rising sea levels. Living near the Arctic region, polar bears find their food on ice caps and sheets of ice. As these sheets continue to become fewer in quantity, it is predicted that the polar bears will have a difficult time sustaining life and that by the year 2050, there could be less than 20,000 on Earth.

Coral reefs are the primary ecosystem that would be affected through a continuing increase in the sea level:

"The coral reef ecosystem is adapted to thrive within certain temperature and sea level range. Corals live in a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae need the sunlight in order to produce the nutrients necessary for the coral. Sea level rise may cause a decrease in solar radiation at the sea surface level, affecting the ability of photosynthetic zooxanthellae to produce nutrients for the coral, whereas, a sudden exposure of the coral reef to the atmosphere due to a low tide event may induce coral bleaching."

Coral reef with fish

The loss of coral would have a subsequent effect on the total number of fish that exist within these ecosystems. In the Indo-Pacific coral reefs alone, there are in-between 4000 and 5000 different species of fish that have a relationship with the species of coral. Specifically, the numerous different species of butterfly fish that feed on coral within these reefs would be affected if the coral was unable to live due to an increase in sea level. Referring back to the food chain topic, this would then subsequently but directly affect species of snappers, eels, and sharks that use butterfly fish as a primary source of food. If the snappers cannot find any butterfly fish to eat because the butterfly fish are dying due to the lack of coral, it means that the snapper population will decrease as well.

The rising of sea level has the possibility to be catastrophic to the coastal ecosystems.

Pollution

Pollution is another crucial threat to animal life, and human life, across the world. Every form of pollution has an effect on wildlife, whether it be through the air, water, or ground. While sometimes the origin and form of pollution is visible and easy to determine, other times it can be a mystery as to what exactly is causing the death of animals. Through constant and consistent observation of habitat analysis, humans can help prevent the loss of animal life by recognizing the early signs of pollution before the problem becomes too large.

Ocean and water pollution

Map of the area where fishing was affected because of the BP oil spill

Pollution can enter bodies of water in many different ways - Through toxic runoff from pesticides and fertilizers, containers of oil and other hazardous materials falling off of ships, or just from debris from humans that has not been picked up. No matter what the form of pollution is, the effects water pollution has on animal life can be drastic. For example, the BP oil spill which occurred in 2010 impacted over 82,000 birds, 6,000 sea turtles, approximately 26,000 marine animals, and hundreds of thousands of fish.

While the observation of how animal life was and has been affected by this spill is unique and definitely on the larger scale, it still represents an accurate depiction of how observation can be crucial to animal lives. For example, by observing that a certain species of sea turtle was affected by the oil spill, zoologists and their teams would be able to determine the effects the loss of that sea turtle would have.

Another prominent example is how if one day a fisherman goes to a lake that he/she frequently visits and notices two or three dead fish on the surface. Knowing that that frequently does not happen, the fisherman tells his local city officials and park rangers about the occurrence and they find out that a farmer has been using a new pesticide that runs off into the lake. By simply observing what is common and what is not, the effects of some water pollution can be stopped before becoming too severe.

Air pollution

Smoke coming from a factory

Air pollution is commonly associated with the image of billowing clouds of smoke rising into the sky from a large factory. While the fumes and smoke previously stated definitely is a prominent form of air pollution, it is not the only one. Air pollution can come from the emission of cars, smoking, and other sources. Air pollution does not just affect birds though, like one may have thought. Air pollution affects mammals, birds, reptiles, and any other organism that requires oxygen to live. Frequently, if there is any highly dangerous air pollution, the animal observation process will be rather simple: There will be an abundance of dead animals located near the vicinity of the pollution.

The primary concern of air pollution is how widespread the pollution can become in a short period of time. Acid rain is one of the largest forms of pollution today. The issue with acid rain is that it affects literally every living organism it comes in contact with, whether that be trees in a forest, water in an ocean or lake, or the skin of humans and animals. Typically, acid rain is a combination of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that are emitted from factories. If it is not controlled in a timely manner, it could lead to loss of life due to the dangerous nature of the composition of the rain.

Deforestation

Deforestation has become one of the most prevalent issues environmentally. With a continuously growing population and not having the space to contain all the humans on Earth, forests are frequently the first areas that are cleared to make more room. According to National Geographic, forests still cover approximately 30 percent of the land on Earth but each year large portions are cleared.

With deforestation, there are numerous subsequent side effects. Most notably, the clearing of entire forests (in some instances) destroys the habitat for hundreds of species of animals and 70 percent of the animals that reside in the forest will die as a result. Additionally, deforestation causes a reduction in the total canopy cover which leads to more extreme temperature swings on the ground level because there are no branches and leaves to catch the sun's rays.

The way to combat the severe effects on the loss of animal life would be to stop cutting trees and forests down. While this is unlikely and almost impossible to happen, there is another solution: the partial removal of forests. Removing only portions of the forest keeps the environment of the entire forest intact which allows the animals to adapt to their surroundings. Additionally, it is recommended that for every tree that is cut down another one be planted elsewhere in the forest.

Economic effects of animal observation

Costs of observation

Typically, the costs of animal observation are minuscule. As previously stated, animal observation can be done on a small or large scale; it just depends what goal an individual has in mind. For example, animal observation can be performed in the backyard of a house or at a local state park at no charge. All one would have to do is take a notepad, phone, or other device to write down their data and observations. On a larger scale, animal observation could be performed at an animal reserve, where the associated costs would be those associated with keeping the animals happy inside the reserve.

While it is impossible to pinpoint exactly how much the zoos across the world spend on live streaming, it is estimated to be in the $1,000 range for every camera that is set up.

Costs that observation prevents

Referring back to the example from the "Deceased Wildlife Observation" section, it becomes apparent how animal observation can save families and the government money. With the average cost of repairing a car that has damage from a large sized animal being $2,000, families and the government could save money by making the public aware that they should proceed with caution in areas where animals have been hit.

Water pollution at Maracaibo lake

Additionally, approximately $44 million of the $4.3 billion spent on water purity is spent each year on protecting aquatic species from nutrient pollution. It is encouraging that the government is willing to spend the money to help save animals' lives, sometimes the effects of the pollution take effect before they are able to stop them entirely. One million seabirds and hundred thousand aquatic mammals and fish that are killed as a result of water pollution each year and that has its economic effects, both directly and indirectly.

Directly, the loss of aquatic mammals and fish has a direct impact on the sales of food. The EPA estimated recently that the effects of pollution cost the fishing industry tens of millions of dollars in sales. Indirectly, the loss of birds causes humans to spend more money on pest control because the food chain is out of order. The small rodents and insects that some birds prey upon are no longer being killed if the birds die. This means more of these pests find their ways into homes which causes more people to call exterminators, therefore setting off a chain reaction. The exterminators then must use insecticides to kill the animals which can have harmful runoff into the ground and local water systems, instead of allowing it to be done naturally by the animal food chain.

Field research

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_research 

 

Biologists collecting information in the field

 

Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct field research may simply observe animals interacting with their environments, whereas social scientists conducting field research may interview or observe people in their natural environments to learn their languages, folklore, and social structures.

Field research involves a range of well-defined, although variable, methods: informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group, collective discussions, analyses of personal documents produced within the group, self-analysis, results from activities undertaken off- or on-line, and life-histories. Although the method generally is characterized as qualitative research, it may (and often does) include quantitative dimensions.

History

Field research has a long history. Cultural anthropologists have long used field research to study other cultures. Although the cultures do not have to be different, this has often been the case in the past with the study of so-called primitive cultures, and even in sociology the cultural differences have been ones of class. The work is done... in "'Fields' that is, circumscribed areas of study which have been the subject of social research". Fields could be education, industrial settings, or Amazonian rain forests. Field research may be conducted by ethologists such as Jane Goodall. Alfred Radcliffe-Brown [1910] and Bronisław Malinowski [1922] were early anthropologists who set the models for future work.

Conducting field research

The quality of results obtained from field research depends on the data gathered in the field. The data in turn, depend upon the field worker, his or her level of involvement, and ability to see and visualize things that other individuals visiting the area of study may fail to notice. The more open researchers are to new ideas, concepts, and things which they may not have seen in their own culture, the better will be the absorption of those ideas. Better grasping of such material means a better understanding of the forces of culture operating in the area and the ways they modify the lives of the people under study. Social scientists (i.e. anthropologists, social psychologists, etc.) have always been taught to be free from ethnocentrism (i.e. the belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group), when conducting any type of field research.

When humans themselves are the subject of study, protocols must be devised to reduce the risk of observer bias and the acquisition of too theoretical or idealized explanations of the workings of a culture. Participant observation, data collection, and survey research are examples of field research methods, in contrast to what is often called experimental or lab research.

Field notes

Main article: Fieldnotes

When conducting field research, keeping an ethnographic record is essential to the process. Field notes are a key part of the ethnographic record. The process of field notes begin as the researcher participates in local scenes and experiences in order to make observations that will later be written up. The field researcher tries first to take mental notes of certain details in order that they be written down later.

Kinds of field notes

Field Note Chart

Types of Field Notes	Brief Description
Jot Notes	Key words or phrases are written down while in the field.
Field Notes Proper	A description of the physical context and the people involved, including their behavior and nonverbal communication.
Methodological Notes	New ideas that the researcher has on how to carry out the research project.
Journals and Diaries	These notes record the ethnographer's personal reactions, frustrations, and assessments of life and work in the field.

Interviewing

Another method of data collection is interviewing, specifically interviewing in the qualitative paradigm. Interviewing can be done in different formats, this all depends on individual researcher preferences, research purpose, and the research question asked.

Analyzing data

In qualitative research, there are many ways of analyzing data gathered in the field. One of the two most common methods of data analysis are thematic analysis and narrative analysis. As mentioned before, the type of analysis a researcher decides to use depends on the research question asked, the researcher's field, and the researcher's personal method of choice.

Field research across different disciplines

Anthropology

See also: Off the verandah

In anthropology, field research is organized so as to produce a kind of writing called ethnography. Ethnography can refer to both a methodology and a product of research, namely a monograph or book. Ethnography is a grounded, inductive method that heavily relies on participant-observation. Participant observation is a structured type of research strategy. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly, cultural anthropology, but also sociology, communication studies, and social psychology. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, or sub cultural group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment, usually over an extended period of time.

The method originated in field work of social anthropologists, especially the students of Franz Boas in the United States, and in the urban research of the Chicago School of sociology. Max Gluckman noted that Bronisław Malinowski significantly developed the idea of fieldwork, but it originated with Alfred Cort Haddon in England and Franz Boas in the United States. Robert G. Burgess concluded that "it is Malinowski who is usually credited with being the originator of intensive anthropological field research".

Anthropological fieldwork uses an array of methods and approaches that include, but are not limited to: participant observation, structured and unstructured interviews, archival research, collecting demographic information from the community the anthropologist is studying, and data analysis. Traditional participant observation is usually undertaken over an extended period of time, ranging from several months to many years, and even generations. An extended research time period means that the researcher is able to obtain more detailed and accurate information about the individuals, community, and/or population under study. Observable details (like daily time allotment) and more hidden details (like taboo behavior) are more easily observed and interpreted over a longer period of time. A strength of observation and interaction over extended periods of time is that researchers can discover discrepancies between what participants say—and often believe—should happen (the formal system) and what actually does happen, or between different aspects of the formal system; in contrast, a one-time survey of people's answers to a set of questions might be quite consistent, but is less likely to show conflicts between different aspects of the social system or between conscious representations and behavior.

Archaeology

Field research lies at the heart of archaeological research. It may include the undertaking of broad area surveys (including aerial surveys); of more localised site surveys (including photographic, drawn, and geophysical surveys, and exercises such as fieldwalking); and of excavation.

Biology and ecology

In biology, field research typically involves studying of free-living wild animals in which the subjects are observed in their natural habitat, without changing, harming, or materially altering the setting or behavior of the animals under study. Field research is an indispensable part of biological science.

Animal migration tracking (including bird ringing/banding) is a frequently-used field technique, allowing field scientists to track migration patterns and routes, and animal longevity in the wild. Knowledge about animal migrations is essential to accurately determining the size and location of protected areas.

Field research also can involve study of other kingdoms of life, such as plantae, fungi, and microbes, as well as ecological interactions among species.

Field courses have been shown to be efficacious for generating long-term interest in and commitment for undergraduate students in STEM, but the number of field courses has not kept pace with demand. Cost has been a barrier to student participation.

• 

  A biology class studying flora at a prairie, College of DuPage, USA

Earth and atmospheric sciences

In geology fieldwork is considered an essential part of training and remains an important component of many research projects. In other disciplines of the Earth and atmospheric sciences, field research refers to field experiments (such as the VORTEX projects) utilizing in situ instruments. Permanent observation networks are also maintained for other uses but are not necessarily considered field research, nor are permanent remote sensing installations.

Economics

The objective of field research in economics is to get beneath the surface, to contrast observed behaviour with the prevailing understanding of a process, and to relate language and description to behavior (e.g. Deirdre McCloskey, 1985).

The 2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Economics, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, have advocated mixed methods and complex approaches in economics and hinted implicitly to the relevance of field research approaches in economics. In a recent interview Oliver Williamson and Elinor Ostrom discuss the importance of examining institutional contexts when performing economic analyses. Both Ostrom and Williamson agree that "top-down" panaceas or "cookie cutter" approaches to policy problems don't work. They believe that policymakers need to give local people a chance to shape the systems used to allocate resources and resolve disputes. Sometimes, Ostrom points out, local solutions can be the most efficient and effective options. This is a point of view that fits very well with anthropological research, which has for some time shown us the logic of local systems of knowledge — and the damage that can be done when "solutions" to problems are imposed from outside or above without adequate consultation. Elinor Ostrom, for example, combines field case studies and experimental lab work in her research. Using this combination, she contested longstanding assumptions about the possibility that groups of people could cooperate to solve common pool problems (as opposed to being regulated by the state or governed by the market.

Edward J. Nell argued in 1998 that there are two types of field research in economics. One kind can give us a carefully drawn picture of institutions and practices, general in that it applies to all activities of a certain kind of particular society or social setting, but still specialized to that society or setting. Although institutions and practices are intangibles, such a picture will be objective, a matter of fact, independent of the state of mind of the particular agents reported on. Approaching the economy from a different angle, another kind of fieldwork can give us a picture of the state of mind of economic agents (their true motivations, their beliefs, state knowledge, expectations, their preferences and values).

Business use of field research is an applied form of anthropology and is as likely to be advised by sociologists or statisticians in the case of surveys. Consumer marketing field research is the primary marketing technique used by businesses to research their target market.

Ethnomusicology

Fieldwork in ethnomusicology has changed greatly over time. Alan P. Merriam cites the evolution of fieldwork as a constant interplay between the musicological and ethnological roots of the discipline. Before the 1950s, before ethnomusicology resembled what it is today, fieldwork and research were considered separate tasks. Scholars focused on analyzing music outside of its context through a scientific lens, drawing from the field of musicology. Notable scholars include Carl Stumf and Eric von Hornbostel, who started as Stumpf’s assistant. They are known for making countless recordings and establishing a library of music to be analyzed by other scholars. Methodologies began to shift in the early 20th century. George Herzog, an anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, published a seminal paper titled "Plains Ghost Dance and Great Basin Music", reflecting the increased importance of fieldwork through his extended residency in the Great Basin and his attention to cultural contexts. Herzog also raised the question of how the formal qualities of the music he was studying demonstrated the social function of the music itself. Ethnomusicology today relies heavily on the relationship between the researcher and their teachers and consultants. Many ethnomusicologists have assumed the role of student in order to fully learn an instrument and its role in society. Research in the discipline has grown to consider music as a cultural product, and thus cannot be understood without consideration of context.

Law

Legal researchers conduct field research to understand how legal systems work in practice. Social, economic, cultural and other factors influence how legal processes, institutions and the law work (or do not work).

Management

Mintzberg played a crucial role in the popularization of field research in management. The tremendous amount of work that Mintzberg put into the findings earned him the title of leader of a new school of management, the descriptive school, as opposed to the prescriptive and normative schools that preceded his work. The schools of thought derive from Taylor, Henri Fayol, Lyndall Urwick, Herbert A. Simon, and others endeavored to prescribe and expound norms to show what managers must or should do. With the arrival of Mintzberg, the question was no longer what must or should be done, but what a manager actually does during the day. More recently, in his 2004 book Managers Not MBAs, Mintzberg examined what he believes to be wrong with management education today.

Aktouf (2006, p. 198) summed-up Mintzberg observations about what takes place in the field:‘’First, the manager’s job is not ordered, continuous, and sequential, nor is it uniform or homogeneous. On the contrary, it is fragmented, irregular, choppy, extremely changeable and variable. This work is also marked by brevity: no sooner has a manager finished one activity than he or she is called up to jump to another, and this pattern continues nonstop. Second, the manager’s daily work is a not a series of self-initiated, willful actions transformed into decisions, after examining the circumstances. Rather, it is an unbroken series of reactions to all sorts of request that come from all around the manager, from both the internal and external environments. Third, the manager deals with the same issues several times, for short periods of time; he or she is far from the traditional image of the individual who deals with one problem at a time, in a calm and orderly fashion. Fourth, the manager acts as a focal point, an interface, or an intersection between several series of actors in the organization: external and internal environments, collaborators, partners, superiors, subordinates, colleagues, and so forth. He or she must constantly ensure, achieve, or facilitate interactions between all these categories of actors to allow the firm to function smoothly.’’

Public health

In public health, the use of the term field research refers to epidemiology or the study of epidemics through the gathering of data about the epidemic (such as the pathogen and vector(s) as well as social or sexual contacts, depending upon the situation).

Sociology

Pierre Bourdieu played a crucial role in the popularization of fieldwork in sociology. During the Algerian War in 1958–1962, Bourdieu undertook ethnographic research into the clash through a study of the Kabyle people (a subgroup of the Berbers), which provided the groundwork for his anthropological reputation. His first book, Sociologie de L'Algerie (The Algerians), was an immediate success in France and was published in America in 1962. A follow-up, Algeria 1960: The Disenchantment of the World: The Sense of Honour: The Kabyle House or the World Reversed: Essays, published in English in 1979 by Cambridge University Press, established him as a major figure in the field of ethnology and a pioneer advocate scholar for more intensive fieldwork in social sciences. The book was based on his decade of work as a participant-observer with Algerian society. One of the outstanding qualities of his work has been his innovative combination of different methods and research strategies as well as his analytical skills in interpreting the obtained data.

Throughout his career, Bourdieu sought to connect his theoretical ideas with empirical research, grounded in everyday life. His work can be seen as sociology of culture. Bourdieu labeled it a "theory of practice". His contributions to sociology were both empirical and theoretical. His conceptual apparatus is based on three key terms, namely, habitus, capital and field. Furthermore, Bourdieu fiercely opposed rational choice theory as grounded in a misunderstanding of how social agents operate. Bourdieu argued that social agents do not continuously calculate according to explicit rational and economic criteria. According to Bourdieu, social agents operate according to an implicit practical logic—a practical sense—and bodily dispositions. Social agents act according to their "feel for the game" (the "feel" being, roughly, habitus, and the "game" being the field).

Bourdieu's anthropological work was focused on the analysis of the mechanisms of reproduction of social hierarchies. Bourdieu criticized the primacy given to the economic factors, and stressed that the capacity of social actors to actively impose and engage their cultural productions and symbolic systems plays an essential role in the reproduction of social structures of domination. Bourdieu's empirical work played a crucial role in the popularization of correspondence analysis and particularly multiple correspondence analysis. Bourdieu held that these geometric techniques of data analysis are, like his sociology, inherently relational. In the preface to his book The Craft of Sociology, Bourdieu argued that: "I use Correspondence Analysis very much, because I think that it is essentially a relational procedure whose philosophy fully expresses what in my view constitutes social reality. It is a procedure that 'thinks' in relations, as I try to do it with the concept of field."

One of the classic ethnographies in Sociology is the book Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations & Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood by Jay MacLeod.^{[citation needed]} The study addresses the reproduction of social inequality among low-income, male teenagers. The researcher spent time studying two groups of teenagers in a housing project in a Northeastern city of the United States. The study concludes that three different levels of analysis play their part in the reproduction of social inequality: the individual, the cultural, and the structural.

Natural experiment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_experiment 

A natural experiment is an empirical study in which individuals (or clusters of individuals) are exposed to the experimental and control conditions that are determined by nature or by other factors outside the control of the investigators. The process governing the exposures arguably resembles random assignment. Thus, natural experiments are observational studies and are not controlled in the traditional sense of a randomized experiment (an intervention study). Natural experiments are most useful when there has been a clearly defined exposure involving a well defined subpopulation (and the absence of exposure in a similar subpopulation) such that changes in outcomes may be plausibly attributed to the exposure. In this sense, the difference between a natural experiment and a non-experimental observational study is that the former includes a comparison of conditions that pave the way for causal inference, but the latter does not.

Natural experiments are employed as study designs when controlled experimentation is extremely difficult to implement or unethical, such as in several research areas addressed by epidemiology (like evaluating the health impact of varying degrees of exposure to ionizing radiation in people living near Hiroshima at the time of the atomic blast) and economics (like estimating the economic return on amount of schooling in US adults).

History

John Snow's map showing the clustering of cholera cases in Soho during the London epidemic of 1854

One of the best-known early natural experiments was the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London, England. On 31 August 1854, a major outbreak of cholera struck Soho. Over the next three days, 127 people near Broad Street died. By the end of the outbreak 616 people died. The physician John Snow identified the source of the outbreak as the nearest public water pump, using a map of deaths and illness that revealed a cluster of cases around the pump.

In this example, Snow discovered a strong association between the use of the water from the pump, and deaths and illnesses due to cholera. Snow found that the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, which supplied water to districts with high attack rates, obtained the water from the Thames downstream from where raw sewage was discharged into the river. By contrast, districts that were supplied water by the Lambeth Waterworks Company, which obtained water upstream from the points of sewage discharge, had low attack rates. Given the near-haphazard patchwork development of the water supply in mid-nineteenth century London, Snow viewed the developments as "an experiment...on the grandest scale."^[5] Of course, the exposure to the polluted water was not under the control of any scientist. Therefore, this exposure has been recognized as being a natural experiment.

Recent examples

Family size

An aim of a study Angrist and Evans (1998) was to estimate the effect of family size on the labor market outcomes of the mother. For at least two reasons, the correlations between family size and various outcomes (e.g., earnings) do not inform us about how family size causally affects labor market outcomes. First, both labor market outcomes and family size may be affected by unobserved "third" variables (e.g., personal preferences). Second, labor market outcomes themselves may affect family size (called "reverse causality"). For example, a woman may defer having a child if she gets a raise at work. The authors observed that two-child families with either two boys or two girls are substantially more likely to have a third child than two-child families with one boy and one girl. The sex of the first two children, then, constitutes a kind of natural experiment: it is as if an experimenter had randomly assigned some families to have two children and others to have three. The authors were then able to credibly estimate the causal effect of having a third child on labor market outcomes. Angrist and Evans found that childbearing had a greater impact on poor and less educated women than on highly educated women although the earnings impact of having a third child tended to disappear by that child's 13th birthday. They also found that having a third child had little impact on husbands' earnings.

Game shows

Within economics, game shows are a frequently studied form of natural experiment. While game shows might seem to be artificial contexts, they can be considered natural experiments due to the fact that the context arises without interference of the scientist. Game shows have been used to study a wide range of different types of economic behavior, such as decision making under risk and cooperative behavior.

Smoking ban

In Helena, Montana a smoking ban was in effect in all public spaces, including bars and restaurants, during the six-month period from June 2002 to December 2002. Helena is geographically isolated and served by only one hospital. The investigators observed that the rate of heart attacks dropped by 40% while the smoking ban was in effect. Opponents of the law prevailed in getting the enforcement of the law suspended after six months, after which the rate of heart attacks went back up. This study was an example of a natural experiment, called a case-crossover experiment, where the exposure is removed for a time and then returned. The study also noted its own weaknesses which potentially suggest that the inability to control variables in natural experiments can impede investigators from drawing firm conclusions.'

Nuclear weapons testing

Nuclear weapons testing released large quantities of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere, some of which could be incorporated into biological tissues. The release stopped after the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963, which prohibited atmospheric nuclear tests. This resembled a large-scale pulse-chase experiment, but could not have been performed as a regular experiment in humans due to scientific ethics. Several types of observations were made possible (in people born before 1963), such as determination of the rate of replacement for cells in different human tissues.

Vietnam War draft

An important question in economics research is what determines earnings. Angrist (1990) evaluated the effects of military service on lifetime earnings. Using statistical methods developed in econometrics, Angrist capitalized on the approximate random assignment of the Vietnam War draft lottery, and used it as an instrumental variable associated with eligibility (or non-eligibility) for military service. Because many factors might predict whether someone serves in the military, the draft lottery frames a natural experiment whereby those drafted into the military can be compared against those not drafted because the two groups should not differ substantially prior to military service. Angrist found that the earnings of veterans were, on average, about 15 percent less than the earnings of non-veterans.

Industrial melanism

With the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, many species of moth, including the well-studied peppered moth, responded to the atmospheric pollution of sulphur dioxide and soot around cities with industrial melanism, a dramatic increase in the frequency of dark forms over the formerly abundant pale, speckled forms. In the twentieth century, as regulation improved and pollution fell, providing the conditions for a large-scale natural experiment, the trend towards industrial melanism was reversed, and melanic forms quickly became scarce. The effect led the evolutionary biologists L. M. Cook and J. R. G. Turner to conclude that "natural selection is the only credible explanation for the overall decline".

Restoration ecology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_ecology 

 

Recently constructed wetland regeneration in Australia, on a site previously used for agriculture

 

Rehabilitation of a portion of Johnson Creek, to restore bioswale and flood control functions of the land which had long been converted to pasture for cow grazing. The horizontal logs can float, but are anchored by the posts. Just-planted trees will eventually stabilize the soil. The fallen trees with roots jutting into the stream are intended to enhance wildlife habitat. The meandering of the stream is enhanced here by a factor of about three times, perhaps to its original course.

Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interruption and action. Effective restoration requires an explicit goal or policy, preferably an unambiguous one that is articulated, accepted, and codified. Restoration goals reflect societal choices from among competing policy priorities, but extracting such goals is typically contentious and politically challenging.

Natural ecosystems provide ecosystem services in the form of resources such as food, fuel, and timber; the purification of air and water; the detoxification and decomposition of wastes; the regulation of climate; the regeneration of soil fertility; and the pollination of crops. These ecosystem processes have been estimated to be worth trillions of dollars annually. There is consensus in the scientific community that the current environmental degradation and destruction of many of Earth's biota are taking place on a "catastrophically short timescale". Scientists estimate that the current species extinction rate, or the rate of the Holocene extinction, is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the normal, background rate. Habitat loss is the leading cause of both species extinctions and ecosystem service decline. Two methods have been identified to slow the rate of species extinction and ecosystem service decline, they are the conservation of currently viable habitat and the restoration of degraded habitat. The commercial applications of ecological restoration have increased exponentially in recent years. In 2019, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2021–2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Definition

Restoration ecology is the academic study of the process, whereas ecological restoration is the actual project or process by restoration practitioners. The Society for Ecological Restoration defines "ecological restoration" as an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability". Ecological restoration includes a wide scope of projects including erosion control, reforestation, removal of non-native species and weeds, revegetation of disturbed areas, daylighting streams, the reintroduction of native species (preferably native species that have local adaptation), and habitat and range improvement for targeted species. For many researchers, the ecological restoration must include the local communities: they call this process the "social-ecological restoration".

E. O. Wilson, a biologist, stated, "Here is the means to end the great extinction spasm. The next century will, I believe, be the era of restoration in ecology."

History

Restoration ecology emerged as a separate field in ecology in the late twentieth century. The term was coined by John Aber and William Jordan III when they were at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. However, indigenous peoples, land managers, stewards, and laypeople have been practicing ecological restoration or ecological management for thousands of years.

US

Considered the birthplace of modern ecological restoration, the first tallgrass prairie restoration was the 1936 Curtis Prairie at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum. Civilian Conservation Corps workers replanted nearby prairie species onto a former horse pasture, overseen by university faculty including renowned ecologist Aldo Leopold, botanist Theodore Sperry, mycologist Henry C. Greene, and plant ecologist John T. Curtis. Curtis and his graduate students surveyed the whole of Wisconsin, documenting native species communities and creating the first species lists for tallgrass restorations. Existing prairie remnants, such as locations within pioneer cemeteries and railroad rights-of-way, were located and inventoried by Curtis and his team. The UW Arboretum was the center of tallgrass prairie research through the first half of the 20th century, with the development of the nearby Greene Prairie, Aldo Leopold Shack and Farm, and pioneering techniques like prescribed burning.

The latter half of the 20th century saw the growth of ecological restoration beyond Wisconsin borders. The 285-hectare Green Oaks Biological Field Station at Knox College began in 1955 under the guidance of zoologist Paul Shepard. It was followed by the 40-hectare Schulenberg Prairie at the Morton Arboretum, which started in 1962 by Ray Schulenberg and Bob Betz. Betz then worked with The Nature Conservancy to establish the 260-hectare Fermi National Laboratory tallgrass prairie in 1974. These major tallgrass restoration projects marked the growth of ecological restoration from isolated studies to widespread practice.

Australia

Australia has also been the site of historically significant ecological restoration projects. They commenced in the 1930s. These projects were responses to the extensive environmental damage inflicted by colonising settlers, following the forced dispossession of the First Nations communities of Australia. The substantial Traditional Ecological Knowledge of First Nations communities was not utilised in the historical restoration projects.

Interestingly, many of the first Australian settler restoration projects were initiated by volunteers, often in the form of community groups. Many of these volunteers appreciated and utilised science resources, such as botanical and ecological knowledge. Local and state government agencies participated, and also industry. Australian scientists came to play an increasingly important role. A prominent scientist who took an interest in the reversal of vegetation degradation was botanist and plant ecologist Professor T G Osborn, University of Adelaide, who, in the 1920s, conducted pioneering research into the causes of arid-zone indigenous vegetation degradation. From this time, Australian botanists, plant ecologists and soil erosion researchers have increasingly developed interests in the recovery of ecological functioning on degraded sites.

The earliest known attempt by Australian settlers to restore a degraded natural ecosystem commenced in 1896, at Nairm (as it is known to people of the Kulin nation), or Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. Local government and community groups replanted degraded areas of the foreshore reserves with the indigenous plant species, Coastal Teatree (Leptospermum laevigatum). Possibly the ecological aspirations were limited, as essentially, the projects were motivated by utilitarian considerations: to conserve recreation sites, and promote tourism. However, some local residents, such as distinguished Australian journalist, nature writer and amateur ornithologist Donald Macdonald, were distressed at the loss of valued biological qualities, and campaigned to fully restore the Teatree ecosystems and conserve them and their indigenous fauna. Indeed, Macdonald espoused many of the principles and practices of ecological restoration, but he lacked opportunities to actually implement such a project.

The degraded arid-zone regions of Australia attracted historical ecological restoration projects. Following the forced dispossession of First Nations communities between ca.1830 and ca.1880, a pastoral industry was established in the arid-zone regions of South Australia and New South Wales. By ca.1900 these regions had become substantially degraded, due to a combination of overstocking, the ravages of rabbits and other feral animals, and the harsh arid conditions that inhibited recovery of the indigenous vegetation. Severe wind erosion resulted. From approximately 1930 Australian pastoralists implemented revegetation projects that had as their aim the substantial to full restoration of indigenous flora to degraded, wind eroded areas.

At his arid-zone Koonamore research station in South Australia, established in 1925, Professor T G Osborn studied the loss of indigenous vegetation caused by overstocking and the resultant wind erosion and degradation, concluding that restoration of the indigenous saltbushes (Atriplex spp. ), bluebushes (Maireana spp.) and Mulga (Acacia aneura) vegetation communities was possible, if a stock exclosure and natural regeneration revegetation technique was applied to degraded paddocks (or fields). Most likely influenced by Osborn's research, throughout the 1930s South Australian pastoralists adopted this revegetation technique. At Wirraminna station (or property, ranch), for example, following fencing to exclude stock, severe soil-drifts were fully revegetated and stabilised by means of natural regeneration of the indigenous vegetation. Also, it was found that furrowing (or ploughing) of eroded areas resulted in the natural regeneration of indigenous vegetation. So successful were these programs that the South Australian government adopted them as approved state soil conservation policies in 1936. Legislation introduced in 1939 codified these policies.

In 1936 mining assayer Albert Morris and his restoration colleagues initiated the Broken Hill regeneration area project. This project involved the natural regeneration of indigenous flora on a severely wind eroded site of hundreds of hectares, located in arid western New South Wales. Morris was responding to the widespread wind erosion that had arisen from pastoral industry overstocking practices. It is quite likely that he was influenced by the South Australian research work of Professor Osborn. Completed in 1958, the successful project still maintains substantial ecological functioning today as the Broken Hill Regeneration Area (1700 hectares). Morris was a pioneering and highly skilled arid-zone botanist, and was also familiar with some basic principles of ecology. Local and state governments, and the Broken Hill mining industry, supported and funded the project.

The Broken Hill regeneration area project has been described as an irrigation and tree planting project, and as a USA "dust bowl" shelterbelt planting project. However, to revegetate 1700 hectares by planting, hundreds of thousands of plants would have been required, but there is no historical documentation that reveals planting programs of this scale, or near it. Furthermore, although Morris did design some small tree planting and irrigation projects for the local community and a mining company, it is well documented that his main revegetation interest was in a stock exclosure and natural regeneration technique. As the historical documentation reveals, the regeneration area project relied almost entirely on the germination of the naturally distributed seed of the local indigenous flora species (natural regeneration), and the exclusion of damaging grazing animals (stock exclosure). In fact, as the regeneration area project was so well adapted to the harsh arid-zone conditions, the New South Wales state government adopted it as a model for the proposed restoration of the twenty million hectares of the arid western portion of the state that had been reduced to a severely eroded condition. Legislation to this effect was passed in 1949.

Another very significant, early Australian settler ecological restoration project occurred on the north coast of New South Wales. From approximately 1840 settlers forcibly occupied the coastal hinterlands, dispossessed First Nations communities, destroyed extensive areas of biologically diverse rainforest and converted the land to farms. Only smalll patches of rainforest survived. In 1935 dairy farmer Ambrose Crawford, alarmed by the possible loss of all of the rainforest, commenced restoring a degraded four acres (1.7 hectares) patch of local rainforest, or "Big Scrub" (Lowland Tropical Rainforest), as it was referred to, at Lumley Park reserve, Alstonville. Clearing of the weeds that were smothering the rainforest plants, and planting of suitable indigenous rainforest species, were his two main restoration techniques. Crawford utilised professional government botanists as advisors, and received support from his local government council. The restored rainforest reserve still exists today, a vital home to threatened plant and animal species.

Two attempted but ultimately unsuccessful projects that displayed many of the hallmarks of ecological restoration commenced in New South Wales in the early 1930s. Entomologist Walter Froggatt set out to restore Sydney Hawkesbury Sandstone flora to degraded Balls Head Reserve, Sydney Harbour, Sydney. Unfortunately, following Froggatt's death in 1937, the project lapsed into landscaping. About the same time, marine biologist David Stead commenced a project to restore the Australian Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) to New South Wales, where it had been much slaughtered by hunters engaged in fur trading. Unfortunately, Stead's project ran into financial difficulties.

Traditional ecological knowledge and restoration ecology

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) from Indigenous Peoples demonstrates how restoration ecology is a historical field, lived out by humans for thousands of years. Indigenous people have acquired ecological knowledge through observation, experience, and management of the natural resources and the environment around them. In the past, they used to manage their environment and changed the structure of the vegetation in a way not only to meet their basic needs (food, water, shelter, medicines) but also to improve desired characteristics and even increasing the populations and biodiversity. In that way, they were able to achieve a close relationship with the environment and learned lessons that indigenous people keep in their culture.

This means there are many things that could be learned from people locally indigenous to the ecosystem being restored because of the deep connection and biocultural and linguistic diversity of place. The dynamic of the use of natural resources by indigenous people contemplate many cultural, social, and environmental aspects, since they have always had an intimate connection with the animals and plants around them over centuries since they obtained their livelihood from the environment around them.

However, restoration ecologists must consider that TEK is place dependent due to intimate connection and thus when engaging Indigenous Peoples to include knowledge for restoration purposes, respect and care must be taken to avoid appropriation of the TEK. Successful ecological restoration which includes Indigenous Peoples must be led by Indigenous Peoples to ensure non-indigenous people acknowledge the unequal relationship of power.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Restoration Ecology in Practice

Kat Anderson wrote a descriptive, historically based background book, A Tended Wilderness, about the indigenous peoples of the California coast and their intimate interactions with the environment. California Indians have a rigid and complex harvesting, management and production practice. The practices observed leaned heavily into typical horticultural techniques as well as concentrated forest burning. The applications of preservation and conservation based on the California Indians' practices, she hopes will assist in shattering the hunter-gatherer stereotype so long perpetuated in western literature. In "A Tended Wilderness", Anderson breaks down the concept that California was an untouched civilization that was built into a fertile environment by European explorers. However this is not an accurate depiction; though to Westerners it may not seem modernized, the native peoples have since defined what the population ecology was in that land. For them, Wilderness was land not tended to by humans at all. In "Indigenous Resource Management" Anderson sheds light on the diverse ways native peoples of California purposely harvested and managed the wild. The California Indians had a rich knowledge of ecology and natural techniques to understand burn patterns, plant material, cultivation, pruning, digging; what was edible vs. what was not. This did not just extend to plants but also into wildlife management – how abundant, where the distribution was, and how diverse the large mammal population was. "Restoration" covers how contemporary land uses caused degradation, fragmentation and loss of habitat. The way the United States has counteracted that is through land set aside from all human influence. As for the future, Anderson highly suggests looking to indigenous practices for ecosystem restoration and wildlife management.

Theoretical foundations

Restoration ecology draws on a wide range of ecological concepts.

Disturbance

Disturbance is a change in environmental conditions that disrupt the functioning of an ecosystem. Disturbance can occur at a variety of spatial and temporal scales, and is a natural component of many communities. For example, many forest and grassland restorations implement fire as a natural disturbance regime. However the severity and scope of anthropogenic impact has grown in the last few centuries. Differentiating between human-caused and naturally occurring disturbances is important if we are to understand how to restore natural processes and minimize anthropogenic impacts on the ecosystems.

Succession

Ecological succession is the process by which a community changes over time, especially following a disturbance. In many instances, an ecosystem will change from a simple level of organization with a few dominant pioneer species to an increasingly complex community with many interdependent species. Restoration often consists of initiating, assisting, or accelerating ecological successional processes, depending on the severity of the disturbance. Following mild to moderate natural and anthropogenic disturbances, restoration in these systems involves hastening natural successional trajectories through careful management. However, in a system that has experienced a more severe disturbance (such as in urban ecosystems), restoration may require intensive efforts to recreate environmental conditions that favor natural successional processes.

Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes spatial discontinuities in a biological system, where ecosystems are broken up into smaller parts through land-use changes (e.g. agriculture) and natural disturbance. This both reduces the size of the population and increases the degree of isolation. These smaller and isolated populations are more vulnerable to extinction. Fragmenting ecosystems decreases the quality of the habitat. The edge of a fragment has a different range of environmental conditions and therefore supports different species than the interior. Restorative projects can increase the effective size of a population by adding suitable habitat and decrease isolation by creating habitat corridors that link isolated fragments. Reversing the effects of fragmentation is an important component of restoration ecology.

Ecosystem function

Ecosystem function describes the most basic and essential foundational processes of any natural systems, including nutrient cycles and energy fluxes. An understanding of the complexity of these ecosystem functions is necessary to address any ecological processes that may be degraded. Ecosystem functions are emergent properties of the system as a whole, thus monitoring and management are crucial for the long-term stability of ecosystems. A completely self-perpetuating and fully functional ecosystem is the ultimate goal of restorative efforts. We must understand what ecosystem properties influence others to restore desired functions and reach this goal.

Community assembly

Community assembly "is a framework that can unify virtually all of (community) ecology under a single conceptual umbrella". Community assembly theory attempts to explain the existence of environmentally similar sites with differing assemblages of species. It assumes that species have similar niche requirements, so that community formation is a product of random fluctuations from a common species pool. Essentially, if all species are fairly ecologically equivalent, then random variation in colonization, and migration and extinction rates between species, drive differences in species composition between sites with comparable environmental conditions.

Population genetics

Genetic diversity has shown to be as important as species diversity for restoring ecosystem processes. Hence ecological restorations are increasingly factoring genetic processes into management practices. Population genetic processes that are important to consider in restored populations include founder effects, inbreeding depression, outbreeding depression, genetic drift, and gene flow. Such processes can predict whether or not a species successfully establishes at a restoration site.

Applications

Leaf litter accumulation

Leaf litter accumulation plays an important role in the restoration process. Higher quantities of leaf litter hold higher humidity levels, a key factor for the establishment of plants. The process of accumulation depends on factors like wind and species composition of the forest. The leaf litter found in primary forests is more abundant, deeper, and holds more humidity than in secondary forests. These technical considerations are important to take into account when planning a restoration project.

Soil heterogeneity effects on community heterogeneity

Spatial heterogeneity of resources can influence plant community composition, diversity, and assembly trajectory. Baer et al. (2005) manipulated soil resource heterogeneity in a tallgrass prairie restoration project. They found increasing resource heterogeneity, which on its own was insufficient to ensure species diversity in situations where one species may dominate across the range of resource levels. Their findings were consistent with the theory regarding the role of ecological filters on community assembly. The establishment of a single species, best adapted to the physical and biological conditions can play an inordinately important role in determining the community structure.

Invasion and restoration

Restoration is used as a tool for reducing the spread of invasive plant species many ways. The first method views restoration primarily as a means to reduce the presence of invasive species and limit their spread. As this approach emphasizes the control of invaders, the restoration techniques can differ from typical restoration projects. The goal of such projects is not necessarily to restore an entire ecosystem or habitat. These projects frequently use lower diversity mixes of aggressive native species seeded at high density. They are not always actively managed following seeding. The target areas for this type of restoration are those which are heavily dominated by invasive species. The goals are to first remove the species and then in so doing, reduce the number of invasive seeds being spread to surrounding areas. An example of this is through the use of biological control agents (such as herbivorous insects) which suppress invasive weed species while restoration practitioners concurrently seed in native plant species that take advantage of the freed resources. These approaches have been shown to be effective in reducing weeds, although it is not always a sustainable solution long term without additional weed control, such as mowing, or re-seeding.

Restoration projects are also used as a way to better understand what makes an ecological community resistant to invasion. As restoration projects have a broad range of implementation strategies and methods used to control invasive species, they can be used by ecologists to test theories about invasion. Restoration projects have been used to understand how the diversity of the species introduced in the restoration affects invasion. We know that generally higher diversity prairies have lower levels of invasion. The incorporation of functional ecology has shown that more functionally diverse restorations have lower levels of invasion. Furthermore, studies have shown that using native species functionally similar to invasive species are better able to compete with invasive species. Restoration ecologists have also used a variety of strategies employed at different restoration sites to better understand the most successful management techniques to control invasion.

Successional trajectories

Progress along a desired successional pathway may be difficult if multiple stable states exist. Looking over 40 years of wetland restoration data, Klötzli and Gootjans (2001) argue that unexpected and undesired vegetation assemblies "may indicate that environmental conditions are not suitable for target communities". Succession may move in unpredicted directions, but constricting environmental conditions within a narrow range may rein in the possible successional trajectories and increase the likelihood of the desired outcome.

Sourcing land for restoration

A study quantified climate change mitigation potentials of 'high-income' nations shifting diets – away from meat-consumption – and restoration of the spared land. They find that the hypothetical dietary change "could reduce annual agricultural production emissions of high-income nations' diets by 61% while sequestering as much as 98.3 (55.6–143.7) GtCO₂ equivalent, equal to approximately 14 years of current global agricultural emissions until natural vegetation matures", outcomes they call 'double climate dividend'.

Sourcing material for restoration

For most restoration projects it is generally recommended to source material from local populations, to increase the chance of restoration success and minimize the effects of maladaptation. However the definition of local can vary based on species. habitat and region. US Forest Service recently developed provisional seed zones based on a combination of minimum winter temperature zones, aridity, and the Level III ecoregions. Rather than putting strict distance recommendations, other guidelines recommend sourcing seeds to match similar environmental conditions that the species is exposed to, either now, or under projected climate change. For example, sourcing for Castilleja levisecta found that farther source populations that matched similar environmental variables were better suited for the restoration project than closer source populations. Similarly, a suite of new methods are surveying gene-environment interactions in order to identify the optimum source populations based on genetic adaptation to environmental conditions.

Principles

Ecosystem restoration for the superb parrot on an abandoned railway line in Australia

Rationale

There are many reasons to restore ecosystems. Some include:

• Restoring natural capital such as drinkable water or wildlife populations
• Helping human communities and the ecosystems upon which they depend adapt to the impacts of climate change (through ecosystem-based adaptation)
• Mitigating climate change (e.g. through carbon sequestration)
• Helping threatened or endangered species
• Aesthetic reasons 
• Moral reasons: human intervention has unnaturally destroyed many habitats, and there exists an innate obligation to restore these destroyed habitats
• Regulated use/harvest, particularly for subsistence
• Cultural relevance of native ecosystems to Native people
• The environmental health of nearby populations 

Forest restoration in action at the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project in South Africa

There exist considerable differences of opinion on how to set restoration goals and how to define their success. Ultimately specifying the restoration target or desired state of an ecosystem is a societal choice, informed by scientists and technocrats, but ultimately it is a policy choice. Selecting the desired goal can be politically contentious. Some urge active restoration (e.g. eradicating invasive animals to allow the native ones to survive) and others who believe that protected areas should have the bare minimum of human interference, such as rewilding. Ecosystem restoration has generated controversy. Skeptics doubt that the benefits justify the economic investment or who point to failed restoration projects and question the feasibility of restoration altogether. It can be difficult to set restoration goals, in part because, as Anthony Bradshaw claims, "ecosystems are not static, but in a state of dynamic equilibrium…. [with restoration] we aim [for a] moving target."

Some conservationists argue that, though an ecosystem may not be returned to its original state, the functions of the ecosystem (especially ones that provide services to us) may be more valuable in its current configuration (Bradshaw 1987). This is especially true in cases where the ecosystem services are central to the physical and cultural survival of human populations, as is the case with many Native groups in the United States and other communities around the world who subsist using ecological services and environmental resources. One reason to consider ecosystem restoration is to mitigate climate change through activities such as afforestation. Afforestation involves replanting forests, which remove carbon dioxide from the air. Carbon dioxide is a leading cause of global warming (Speth, 2005) and capturing it would help alleviate climate change. Another example of a common driver of restoration projects in the United States is the legal framework of the Clean Water Act, which often requires mitigation for damage inflicted on aquatic systems by development or other activities.

Restored prairie at the West Eugene Wetlands in Eugene, Oregon

Challenges

Some view ecosystem restoration as impractical, partially because restorations often fall short of their goals. Hilderbrand et al. point out that many times uncertainty (about ecosystem functions, species relationships, and such) is not addressed, and that the time-scales set out for 'complete' restoration are unreasonably short, while other critical markers for full-scale restoration are either ignored or abridged due to feasibility concerns. In other instances an ecosystem may be so degraded that abandonment (allowing a severely degraded ecosystem to recover on its own) may be the wisest option. Local communities sometimes object to restorations that include the introduction of large predators or plants that require disturbance regimes such as regular fires, citing threat to human habitation in the area. High economic costs can also be perceived as a negative impact of the restoration process.

Public opinion is very important in the feasibility of a restoration; if the public believes that the costs of restoration outweigh the benefits they will not support it.

Many failures have occurred in past restoration projects, many times because clear goals were not set out as the aim of the restoration, or an incomplete understanding of the underlying ecological framework lead to insufficient measures. This may be because, as Peter Alpert says, "people may not [always] know how to manage natural systems effectively". Furthermore, many assumptions are made about myths of restoration such as carbon copy, where a restoration plan, which worked in one area, is applied to another with the same results expected, but not realized.

Science–practice gap

One of the struggles for both fields is a divide between restoration ecology and ecological restoration in practice. Many restoration practitioners as well as scientists feel that science is not being adequately incorporated into ecological restoration projects. In a 2009 survey of practitioners and scientists, the "science-practice gap" was listed as the second most commonly cited reason limiting the growth of both science and practice of restoration.

There are a variety of theories about the cause of this gap. However, it has been well established that one of the main issues is that the questions studied by restoration ecologists are frequently not found useful or easily applicable by land managers. For instance, many publications in restoration ecology characterize the scope of a problem in-depth, without providing concrete solutions. Additionally many restoration ecology studies are carried out under controlled conditions and frequently at scales much smaller than actual restorations. Whether or not these patterns hold true in an applied context is often unknown. There is evidence that these small-scale experiments inflate type II error rates and differ from ecological patterns in actual restorations. One approach to addressing this gap has been the development of International Principles & Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration by the Society for Ecological restoration (see below) – however this approach is contended, with scientists active in the field suggesting that this is restrictive, and instead principles and guidelines offer flexibility. 

There is further complication in that restoration ecologists who want to collect large-scale data on restoration projects can face enormous hurdles in obtaining the data. Managers vary in how much data they collect, and how many records they keep. Some agencies keep only a handful of physical copies of data that make it difficult for the researcher to access. Many restoration projects are limited by time and money, so data collection and record-keeping are not always feasible. However, this limits the ability of scientists to analyze restoration projects and give recommendations based on empirical data.

Food security and nature degradation

A range of activities in the name of "nature restoration", such as monoculture tree plantations, "degrade nature—destroying biodiversity, increasing pollution, and removing land from food production".

Consideration as a substitute for steep emission reductions

Climate benefits from nature restoration are "dwarfed by the scale of ongoing fossil fuel emissions". It risks "over-relying on land for mitigation at the expense of phasing out fossil fuels". Despite of these issues, nature restoration is receiving increasing attention, with a study concluding that "Land restoration is an important option for tackling climate change but cannot compensate for delays in reducing fossil fuel emissions" as it's "unlikely to be done quickly enough to notably reduce the global peak temperatures expected in the next few decades".

For instance, researchers have compared reforestation and prevention of (mainly tropical) deforestation in specific:

Timelapse of recent deforestation of the Amazon rainforest

 

Researchers, including from the European Commission, found that, in terms of environmental services, it is better to avoid deforestation than to allow for deforestation to subsequently reforest, as the former leads to i.a. irreversible effects in terms of biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Furthermore, the probability that legacy carbon will be released from soil is higher in younger boreal forest. Global greenhouse gas emissions caused by damage to tropical rainforests may be have been substantially underestimated until around 2019. Additionally, the effects of af- or reforestation will be farther in the future than keeping existing forests intact. It takes much longer − several decades − for the benefits for global warming to manifest to the same carbon sequestration benefits from mature trees in tropical forests and hence from limiting deforestation. Mackey and Dooley consider "the protection and recovery of carbon-rich and long-lived ecosystems, especially natural forests" "the major climate solution".

Contrasting restoration ecology and conservation biology

Restoration ecology may be viewed as a sub-discipline of conservation biology, the scientific study of how to protect and restore biodiversity. Ecological restoration is then a part of the resulting conservation movement.

Both restoration ecologists and conservation biologists agree that protecting and restoring habitat is important for protecting biodiversity. However, conservation biology is primarily rooted in population biology. Because of that, it is generally organized at the population genetic level and assesses specific species populations (i.e. endangered species). Restoration ecology is organized at the community level, which focuses on broader groups within ecosystems.

In addition, conservation biology often concentrates on vertebrate animals because of their salience and popularity, whereas restoration ecology concentrates on plants. Restoration ecology focuses on plants because restoration projects typically begin by establishing plant communities. Ecological restoration, despite being focused on plants, may also have "poster species" for individual ecosystems and restoration projects. For example, the Monarch butterfly is a poster species for conserving and restoring milkweed plant habitat, because Monarch butterflies require milkweed plants to reproduce. Finally, restoration ecology has a stronger focus on soils, soil structure, fungi, and microorganisms because soils provide the foundation of functional terrestrial ecosystems.

Natural Capital Committee's recommendation for a 25-year plan

The UK Natural Capital Committee (NCC) made a recommendation in its second State of Natural Capital report published in March 2014 that in order to meet the Government's goal of being the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than it was inherited, a long-term 25-year plan was needed to maintain and improve England's natural capital. The UK Government has not yet responded to this recommendation.

The Secretary of State for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, described his ambition for the natural environment and how the work of the Committee fits into this at an NCC event in November 2012: "I do not, however, just want to maintain our natural assets; I want to improve them. I want us to derive the greatest possible benefit from them, while ensuring that they are available for generations to come. This is what the NCC's innovative work is geared towards".

International Principles & Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) released the second edition of the International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration on September 27, 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa, at SER's 8th World Conference on Ecological Restoration.  This groundbreaking publication provides updated and expanded guidance on the practice of ecological restoration, clarifies the breadth of ecological restoration and allied environmental repair activities, and includes ideas and input from a diverse international group of restoration scientists and practitioners.

The second edition builds on the first edition of the Standards, which was released December 12, 2016, at the Convention on Biological Diversity's 13th Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico. The development of these Standards has been broadly consultative. The first edition was circulated to dozens of practitioners and experts for feedback and review. After release of the first edition, SER held workshops and listening sessions, sought feedback from key international partners and stakeholders, opened a survey to members, affiliates and supporters, and considered and responded to published critiques.

The International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration:

• Present a robust framework to guide restoration projects toward achieving intended goals
• Address restoration challenges including: effective design and implementation, accounting for complex ecosystem dynamics (especially in the context of climate change), and navigating trade-offs associated with land management priorities and decisions
• Highlight the role of ecological restoration in connecting social, community, productivity, and sustainability goals
• Recommend performance measures for restorative activities for industries, communities, and governments to consider
• Enhance the list of practices and actions that guide practitioners in planning, implementation, and monitoring activities, including: appropriate approaches to site assessment and identification of reference ecosystems, different restoration approaches including natural regeneration, and the role of ecological restoration in global restoration initiatives
• Include an expanded glossary of restoration terminology
• Provide a technical appendix on sourcing of seeds and other propagules for restoration.

The Standards are available for free at www.ser.org/standards.

Related journals

• Restoration Ecology, journal of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER)
• Ecological Management & Restoration, published by the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA)
• Ecological Restoration, published by the University of Wisconsin Press