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Renewal ecology: conservation for the Anthropocene
Author(s) -
Bowman David M. J. S.,
Garnett Stephen T.,
Barlow Snow,
Bekessy Sarah A.,
Bellairs Sean M.,
Bishop Melanie J.,
Bradstock Ross A.,
Jones Darryl N.,
Maxwell Sean L.,
Pittock Jamie,
ToralGranda Maria V.,
Watson James E. M.,
Wilson Tom,
Zander Kerstin K.,
Hughes Lesley
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
restoration ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1526-100X
pISSN - 1061-2971
DOI - 10.1111/rec.12560
Subject(s) - anthropocene , biodiversity , ecology , environmental resource management , harm , climate change , adaptive management , environmental change , ecosystem services , restoration ecology , environmental planning , ecosystem , geography , environmental science , biology , political science , law
The global scale and rapidity of environmental change is challenging ecologists to reimagine their theoretical principles and management practices. Increasingly, historical ecological conditions are inadequate targets for restoration ecology, geographically circumscribed nature reserves are incapable of protecting all biodiversity, and the precautionary principle applied to management interventions no longer ensures avoidance of ecological harm. In addition, human responses to global environmental changes, such as migration, building of protective infrastructures, and land use change, are having their own negative environmental impacts. We use examples from wildlands, urban, and degraded environments, as well as marine and freshwater ecosystems, to show that human adaptation responses to rapid ecological change can be explicitly designed to benefit biodiversity. This approach, which we call “renewal ecology,” is based on acceptance that environmental change will have transformative effects on coupled human and natural systems and recognizes the need to harmonize biodiversity with human infrastructure, for the benefit of both.