Restoration & rehabilitation of ecological systems
Do drylands present a greater challenge regarding the restoration of natural ecosystems?
Characteristically, desert biomes are typified by scarcity of water, intense solar radiation, relatively poor soils, and high variance in precipitation over time and space. Consequently, many desert species poses special adaptations to deal with the water-limited and unpredictable environment. These factors point to several problems that may hinder restoration in drylands and may be synergistic as well: slow and highly variable vegetative growth rates, quick erosion, and specialized and opportunistic species. Thus, once damaged, drylands are presumably very difficult and expensive to repair. What have we learned so far about dryland restoration? Do empirical studies confirm that desert ecosystems are, in fact, more difficult to restore? Do drylands require unique restoration protocols? Can we identify general rules for restoring dryland systems? In this session we will attempt to deal with these issues
Theme Organizers:
Prof. Yael Lubin
Ben Gurion University
Show Biography
Yael Lubin, an ecologist at the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, investigates ecological mechanisms determining species diversity in spiders, spiders as biocontrol agents in agro-ecosystems, the evolution of sociality and mating and sexual selection in spiders. She received her Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Florida and conducted ecological research in Papua New Guinea, Panama and the Galapagos Islands before joining the BIDR.
Invited Guests:
Brandon Bestelmeyer
U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, United States
Title Of Abstract:
Model-Based Restoration in Drylands: Putting Practice into Theory
Show Biography
Brandon Bestelmeyer is a research ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range and a co-PI of the Jornada Basin Long-Term Ecological Research site at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. His work focuses on understanding and managing long-term change in ecosystems. This work has occurred primarily in dryland rangelands where change can be initially difficult to detect, against the background of variation in space and time. Bestelmeyer's research interests include: the mechanisms causing alternative states and thresholds and the practical utility of these ideas, the effects of landscape heterogeneity on state change and restoration success, how biodiversity responds to state changes and restoration actions, and monitoring/assessment approaches. His current projects emphasize collaborations with governmental and non-governmental organizations to use ecological science in rangeland decision-making. The projects occur in the southwestern U.S., Mongolia, and Argentina. He obtained an M.S. in Zoology and Ph.D in Ecology at Colorado State University and undergraduate degrees in Biological Sciences and Applied Ecology at University of California, Irvine.
Prof. Michael Rosenzweig
University of Arizona, United States
Title of Abstract:
Restoration Ecology and Reconciliation Ecology: Important, and Useful in Arid and Semi-Arid Settings
Show Biography
Michael L. Rosenzweig is an evolutionary ecologist and a professor and founding head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He is also the Director of Tumamoc: People & Habitats at the University. In 2007, the Ecological Society of America honored him with the title of Distinguished Ecologist, a title held by very few other living ecologists. He has studied population dynamics, the ecology of desert mammals in the United States and Israel, as well as how nature controls the number of species at local and global scales. Since 1997, he has also contributed to conservation biology by conceiving of and developing reconciliation ecology - a strategy to help preserve biodiversity by re-engineering human-occupied habitats so that they support both humans and wild species. Tumamoc: People & Habitats, based in the Tumamoc Hill ecological reservation, the world's oldest restoration ecology project, is working to accomplish that in a mid-size American city. As a member of the Science Advisory Board for the Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program of the USA, Rosenzweig helps to guide the US Dept of Defense in its research to maintain and improve environmental quality on US military installations. He is publisher and editor-in-chief of the trend-setting journal Evolutionary Ecology Research. Among his many scientific publications are three books: And Replenish the Earth: the evolution, consequences and prevention of overpopulation (1974); Species Diversity In Space and Time (1995): and Win-Win Ecology (2003). For four decades, Rosenzweig has educated, challenged, entertained and even provoked academic and lay audiences across North America, South America, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Africa.
