Introduction to Restoration Ecology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Introduction to Restoration Ecology Instructor’s Manual Evelyn A. Howell John A. Harrington Stephen B. Glass About Island Press Since 1984, the nonprofit Island Press has been stimulating, shap- ing, and communicating the ideas that are essential for solving envi- ronmental problems worldwide. With more than 800 titles in print and some 40 new releases each year, we are the nation’s leading publisher on environmental issues. We identify innovative thinkers and emerging trends in the environmental field. We work with world- renowned experts and authors to develop cross-disciplinary solutions to environmental challenges. Island Press designs and implements coordinated book publication campaigns in order to communicate our critical messages in print, in person, and online using the latest tech- nologies, programs, and the media. Our goal: to reach targeted audiences—scientists, policymakers, environmental advocates, the media, and concerned citizens—who can and will take action to protect the plants and animals that enrich our world, the ecosystems we need to survive, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Island Press gratefully acknowledges the support of its work by the Agua Fund, Inc., The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Forrest and Frances Lattner Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, The Overbrook Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Summit Foundation, Trust for Architectural Easements, The Winslow Foundation, and other generous donors. The opinions expressed in this book are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of our donors. Introduction to Restoration Ecology Instructor’s Manual Evelyn A. Howell John A. Harrington Stephen B. Glass Washington | Covelo | London Copyright © 2013 Island Press All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009 Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Cover design by Mary McKeon Cover photos by John A. Harrington and Stephen B. Glass. Inset photos from left to right: sediment removal and reconstruction of former stream meanders, Pecatonica Watershed, southwest Wisconsin; volunteers replanting a restoration site disturbed by construction activities; bank restoration and stabilization, Raccoon Creek, Carl and Myrna Nygren Wetland Preserve, Rockton, Illinois. Background: prairie restoration, McHenry County Conservation District, Illinois. Contents Introduction About the Textbook: Introduction to Restoration Ecology Organization of the Instructor’s Manual Information about the Textbook Website References Online Resources Chapter 1: Restoration Ecology: Composing the Landscape of the Future Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 2: The Community Model: Ecological Theory Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Online Resources Chapter 3: Adaptive Restoration: Documentation and Research Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 4: Site Inventory and Analysis Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions References Online Resources Chapter 5: Gathering Onsite Resource Information Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions References Chapter 6: The Master Plan: Determining the Project Purpose, Solutions, and Goals Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 7: The Site Plan: Design and Plan Documents Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions References Chapter 8: The Implementation Plan Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 9: The Monitoring Plan Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 10: The Management Plan Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Chapter 11: The Role and Impact of Pest Species on Restoration Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Online Resources Chapter 12: User Impacts Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Online Resources Chapter 13: Working with People Major Themes Comments on Food for Thought Questions Supplemental Activities and Exercises Suggested Learning Objectives Outcomes Potential Issues, Questions, and Misconceptions Introduction Welcome to the Instructor’s Manual for Introduction to Restoration Ecology. Our goal is to supplement the textbook with additional insights about its structure and the reasoning behind it, as well as to share some of the approaches we have found to be useful in teaching restoration ecology at the college level for thirty years. Altogether we teach five different courses that include restoration ecology as a major focus: a student-led seminar; two combined lecture/discussion/lab courses (one with an enrollment of more than 150, the other with an enrollment of 12 to 25); a field study course; and a hands-on workshop. Our courses serve intermediate- and advanced-level undergraduates as well as master’s and doctoral candidates with biology, geography, environmental studies, soil science, and landscape architecture majors, among others. Many students come from the midwestern United States, but many are from other parts of the Americas, as well as from Europe and Asia. This diversity of backgrounds (often found in a single course) and formats has led us to create materials that can be modified to fit different learning contexts as well as to take advantage of the opportunity for students to teach their peers by sharing what they know with one another. We have found that helping students to learn about restoration ecology is as fascinating, intellectually challenging, and rewarding as the practice itself. We hope that you will use the ideas and examples presented in this manual as a jumping-off point to develop and share new creative learning tools that will inspire students to practice restoration ecology, either as a professional or as a volunteer. About the Textbook: Introduction to Restoration Ecology Restoration ecology is a complex conservation activity that creates plant and animal communities/ecosystems modeled on historical systems and ecological theory, on sites that have been significantly altered by modern human disturbance. The focus of Introduction to Restoration Ecology is on the process that guides the course of each restoration. The textbook is organized around a generalized problem-solving framework; the principles, theory, and contemporary practices that underlie this framework; the set of questions to be asked at each step in the process—the answers to which will guide the decisions that need to be made; and the different means by which each project can be designed so that it contributes the information needed to advance the field. Our goal is to provide students with a guide they can adapt to practice restoration on sites with varying degrees of disturbance located anywhere in the world, a guide that will teach them to apply and fit the general restoration framework to the details of each new situation. The textbook includes—in the narrative as well as in case studies and supplementary sidebars—examples illustrating specific applications of the ideas we present. From our experience, and because restoration ecology is such an interdisciplinary endeavor, we anticipate that this textbook will be useful for students of biology, botany, conservation, environmental studies, and ecology, as well as for students of landscape architecture or planning. Science students will benefit from learning about the logic of the restoration process and the components of the plans that result; what is involved in putting ecological principles to the test in designing restorations; and how to make choices and take actions in complicated circumstances when outcomes are uncertain. In addition, many science students assume that restoration rests primarily on natural science