Some thoughts about restoration ecology
Restoration ecology is quite a new discipline.
I did a search of the principal scientific journals (using
JSTOR) with the Search term “restoration ecology” . The first “hits” (4) were
in 1984 (all insignificant), 3 in 1985, and 5 in 1986. A brief report of a
symposium on Restoration Ecology was published by Aber and Jordan (Restoration
Ecology: An Environmental Middle Ground; BioScience
Vol. 35, page 399). The term Restoration
Ecology started to become widely used after a 1986 symposium on the subject held at the UW-Madison Arboretum.
It was after that symposium that the journal “Restoration and Management Notes”
(now called “Ecological Restoration”) was established at the Arboretum by
William Jordan. The Society of Ecological Restoration itself arose out of that same
symposium and became “official” in 1989.
There are now a number of universities across North America
that offer degrees or programs in
Restoration Ecology. Interestingly, few of these are what might be called “major”
or “research” universities.
When I thought about Restoration Ecology as a “discipline” I
thought immediately of the widely cited quote of Louis Pasteur: “There are no
applied sciences, but only applications of science.” (Ils n’existe pas des sciences appliquées, mais seulement des
applications de la science.)
More simply put, the restoration ecologist is dealing with the
applications of plant ecology, a basic
science (and a branch of botany).
If I were a student starting out and interested in
restoration ecology, I would not enroll
in a department or program in Restoration Ecology. Rather, I would look for a
university that had a strong program in botany with advanced courses in plant population
ecology and plant physiological ecology. I would also look for a university
that offered or supported summer internship programs that would give me the
chance to get out in the field and do “hands on” work. While I was working in
the field (probably pulling weeds), I would be thinking about the basic science
related to the plants I was seeing.
Whether I stopped with a Bachelor’s degree, or went on for a
Master’s or Ph.D. would depend on my goals and on my abilities. If I wanted to do research, I would not stop
at a Master’s, but get a Ph.D. I would look for a professor who would give me a
good basic research problem in plant ecology, preferably with an herbaceous
plant.
My 60-year’s experience in science may be of some use here. I
was a botany major as an undergraduate, and I spent the summer after receiving
my B.Sc. degree at the Ohio Agricultural
Experiment Station in Wooster, Ohio, where I was able to associate with all
sorts of field workers. Although my graduate work was in basic science, I never
forgot my field experiences. Later, when I decided to work in microbial
ecology, I was quite comfortable out in the field.
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