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Week 6 Wednesday Question:
Describe what you believe is a very important component of restoration ecology - cite
real world examples. (Chapter 13 in text and use internet)
Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has
been degraded, damaged or destroyed. It is an intentional activity that initiates or
accelerates an ecological pathway—or trajectory through time—towards a reference
state (Society for Ecological Restoration, 2016). Ecological restoration has as its goal
an ecosystem that is resilient and self-sustaining with respect to structure, species
composition and function, as well as being integrated into the larger landscape and
supporting sustainable livelihoods (Society for Ecological Restoration, 2016). A very
important component of restoration ecology is captive breeding and reestablishing
fauna. Captive breeding and reestablishing fauna is the reintroduction of animals to their
environment. For example, Yellowstone National Park has had a 20-year experimental
restoration of wolves. Evidence indicates that these predators are reducing excessive
deer and elk populations, thus helping to restore vegetation, as well as reducing mid-
level carnivores such as coyotes (environmental science textbook, 2015).
Another example as to why captive breeding and reestablishing fauna is a very
important component of restoration ecology is because of a threatened species of
native duck called whio, was once extinct in the Egmont National park, but is almost to a
population topping 100. You can find the whio species only in New Zealand's fast
flowing waters. [As a means of captive breeding], the eggs were taken from nests within
Egmont National Park, incubated, hatched and raised in captivity (newzealand.govt.nz,
2014). The whio are adapted to live on fast-flowing rivers so finding whio means you will
