Understanding how ecosystems are assembled -- how the species that make up a particular biological community arrive in an area, survive, and interact with other species -- is key to successfully restoring degraded ecosystems. Yet little attention has been paid to the idea of assembly rules in ecological restoration, in both the scientific literature and in on-the-ground restoration efforts. Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology, edited by Vicky M. Temperton, Richard J. Hobbs, Tim Nuttle, and Stefan Halle, addresses that shortcoming, offering an introduction, overview, and synthesis of the potential role of assembly rules theory in restoration ecology. It brings together information and ideas relating to ecosystem assembly in a restoration context, and includes material from a wide geographic range and a variety of perspectives. Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology contributes new knowledge and ideas to the subjects of assembly rules and restoration ecology and represents an important summary of the current status of an emerging field. It combines theoretical and practical aspects of restoration, making it a vital compendium of information and ideas for restoration ecologists, professionals, and practitioners.
Contents Preface Chapter 1 Why assembly rules are important to the field of restoration ecology Richard J. Hobbs, Vicky M. Temperton, Tim J. Nuttle, Marzio Fattorini & Stefan Halle Part I: Assembly rules and the search for a conceptual framework for restoration ecology Chapter 2 Advances in restoration ecology: insights from aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems Stefan Halle & Marzio Fattorini Chapter 3 The search for ecological assembly rules and its relevance to restoration ecology Vicky M. Temperton & Richard J. Hobbs, Chapter 4 Assembly models and the practice of restoration Julie L. Lockwood & Corey L. Samuels, Part II Ecological filters as a form of assembly rule Chapter 5 Ecological filters, thresholds and gradients in resistance to ecosystem reassembly Richard J. Hobbs & David A. Norton, Chapter 6 The dynamic environmental filter model: how do filtering effects change in assembling communities after disturbance? Marzio Fattorini & Stefan Halle, Chapter 7 Beyond ecological filters: feedback networks in the assembly and restoration of community structure Lisa R. Belyea Part III Assembly rules and community structure Chapter 8 Self-organization of plankton communities: a test of freshwater restoration Carmen Rojo Garcia-Morato Chapter 9 Functional group interaction patterns across trophic levels in a regenerating and a seminatural grassland Winfried Voigt & Jörg Perner Chapter 10 Structure, dynamics and restoration of plant communities: do arbuscular mycorrhizae matter? Carsten Renker, Martin Zobel, Maarja Öpik, Michael F. Allen, Edith B. Allen, Miroslav Vosatka, Jana Rydlová & Francois Buscot Chapter 11 Application of stable isotopes to investigate food web development in regenerating ecosystems. Jan Rothe and Gerd Gleixner Part IV Assembly rules in severely disturbed environments Chapter 12 Plant community assembly in extreme habitats: a case study on the roles of seed dispersal capacity and seedling salt tolerance Markus Wagner Chapter 13 Order of arrival and availability of safe sites--an example of their importance for plant community assembly in stressed ecosystems Vicky M.Temperton & Kerstin Zirr Chapter 14 Are assembly rules apparent in the regeneration of a former uranium mining site? Hartmut Sänger & Gottfried Jetschke Chapter 15 The role of nutrients and the importance of function in the assembly of ecosystems Anthony INITIAL? J. ?Bradshaw Part V Disturbance and assembly Chapter 16 Disturbance, succession, and community assembly Peter S. White & Anke Jentsch, Chapter 17 Disturbance, assembly rules and benthic communities in running waters: A review and some implications for restoration projects Christoph D. Matthaei, Kathi A. Peacock, Chris J. Arbuckle, Dean A. Olsen & Colin R. Townsend Chapter 18 How structure controls assembly in the hyporheic zone of rivers and streams--colmation as a disturbance Eva-Barbara Meidl & Wilfried Schönborn Chapter 19 Modelling of plant community assembly in relation to deterministic and stochastic processes Gerrit Heil Synthesis Chapter 20 Assembly rules and ecosystem restoration: where to from here? Tim J. Nuttle, Richard J. Hobbs, Vicky M.Temperton, & Stefan Halle List of Contributors Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Restoration ecology, Biotic communities
