Curriculum Information

Addresses the why, what, how and where we restore degraded ecological systems, considering the causes of habitat degradation and loss - building, human development, deforestation, land drainage for agricultural productivity and overexploitation of living resources.

Theoretical context of restoration ecology and how this translates to ecological restoration. Unifying concepts of ecological restoration.

Global challenges (e.g., climate change, habitat degradation, fragmentation, and loss, overexploitation of biocapacity) and the role of ecological restoration.

Planning and implementing landscape-scale restoration, including goal setting, monitoring and evaluation.
Societal and community support from, and inclusion in ecological restoration.

Ecological foundations relating to restoration, including landscape ecology, the ecology of ecosystems and communities, and population ecology and genetics.

The rewilding approach to reinstating natural ecosystem processes and functionality, and large-scale restoration.
Protection and reintroduction of large terrestrial mammals in industrialised countries, including issues and case studies. Examples of species reintroductions to re-establish ecosystem functioning, e.g. large carnivores and herbivore populations, beavers.

Assessment of alien invasive species (IAS) control effectiveness. Pesticides in species control. Biological methods of pest control and management. Review of case studies. Restoring for the future, including biological invasions, and ecosystem resilience and responses, shifting baselines, community dynamics and novel ecosystems, and pathways to sustainability.

Biome and habitat-specific restoration approaches that focus on abiotic and biotic components, and which may include tropical and temperate forests, upland heathlands, bogs and grasslands, rivers, sand dunes, and coral reefs, and linking this to key ecosystem functions, goods, and services, e.g., frugivory and seed dispersal, pollination, hydrology.

Global carbon sources and sinks, carbon markets, and national and global schemes of payments for ecosystem services, including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, alongside the sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+).

Practical work: This will include visits to two field sites in different ecosystems and with different restoration approaches and challenges, with these field visits attached to module assessment.