Brett's Precis for "The Myths of Restoration Ecology"

In the review article “The Myths of Restoration Ecology”, Hilderbrand, Watts, and Randle identify and address five major myths (assumptions) of the restoration ecology responsible for current oversimplified approaches that often lead to failures. In turn, they discuss the theoretical underpinning and consequences of applying the assumptions that 1) restored ecosystem follow an innate trajectory toward a climax ecosystem (succession), 2) restoration of physical and chemical habitat is all that is needed to facilitate recovery of a biotic community, 3) restoration can be achieved in a compressed time frame, 4) universal recipes for restoration exist, and 5) managers can identify and manipulate dominant ecological drivers and that drivers are static. Though at times a digression into relativism and far from a ground breaking idea, Hilderbrand et al. effectively support their thesis that restoration needs to follow a context-dependent approach which acknowledges uncertainty and can adapt to changes. The intended purpose of this review was to encourage those engaged in restoration to acknowledge assumptions and embrace uncertainty in planning, practice, and evaluation of ecosystem restoration.