Grand challenges in restoration ecology

Destruction is so easy, restoration so hard.

Loss can be informative

Even tiny ones.

Global losses have introduced significant need for restoration

addremove observe

needs-driven syntheses

Science for Nature & People

grand challenges

grand challenge is global

grand challenge is a specific critical barrier or set of barriers that ifremoved help solve an important problem

health

innovation

the attributes of a grand challenge

major impacts if solved

ambitious but achievable

compelling & intrinsically motivating

Goldilocks level of specificity

drive & harness innovation

from Tom Kalil, White House

Grand challenges in restoration: steps to build

1. Questions that restoration examines

2. Challenges to effective restoration

3. Matching of questions to challenges

4. Solution synthesis/general blueprint

Sample questions

1. How well does conservation biology and restoration ecology support and enable one another?

2. Does fundamental ecological theory significantly contribute to restoration ecology or does most restoration begin with a ‘problem’ that needs a solution?

3. Is most restoration ecology manipulative? How are mensurative experiments and observation leveraged in restoration ecology?

Sample questions

4. How inter-related are management and restoration in their alignment of needs and research agendas?

5. Are there syntheses of the local-versus-regional drivers that influence the outcome restoration efforts?6. How commonly are the human factors included in restoration efforts or in experiments?

foundations

foundations

restoring natural capital is an opportunity

Aronson

Grand challenges in restorationare interdisciplinary