Ecological Restoration

Ecological Restoration
Week 10

Regina Morin

Ecological restoration is an intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of a damaged, degraded, transformed or entirely destroyed ecosystem, mainly to its structural and functional integrity and sustainability, as a result of direct or indirect human activities which may involve physical, chemical or biotic challenges.
Ecosystem can benefit from ecological restoration. There are a few ways it is important to the ecosystem. It can help to stop biodiversity loss. It also helps to provide human society with a wealth of essential goods and services, such as clean air and water, protection against floods, soil erosion and climate change, provision of sustainable food and timber, space for recreation in a healthy and beautiful environment, for spirtual and mental revitalization, for green tourism.
There are four traditional reasons for the development of parks and protected areas. They are wilderness protections, protection of cultural features and tourism and recreation. Recently a fifth reason was added. This is to sustain use of resources and preservation of species and genetic diversity. Some of the things that can be done, within these five reasons to help the ecosystem, include cleaning polluted waterways, reintroducing indigenous species, and removing contaminated soil. I think that some other ways to aid a damaged ecosystems are simple things we can do. One of the easiest things to do in order to try to maintain what is left of the natural ecosystem is to take natural herbs for medicine instead of traditional medication. Other ways to preserve the wood that is taken from these environments include using recycled paper and purchasing a shopping bag that can be used repeatedly instead of taking paper bags from the store. In order to preserve the natural ecosystem that occurs in bodies of water you can follow fish and game regulations in your area and only fish in designated areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_ecology http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6150256/ecological_restoration.html?cat=75 http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ecosystem_restoration