Conserving Biodiversity through Ecological Restoration: The Potential Contributions of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta

Miller, J.S., P.P. Lowry II, J. Aronson, S. Blackmore, K. Havens & J. Maschinski (2016). Conserving biodiversity through ecological restoration : the potential contributions of botanical gardens and arboreta. Candollea 71 : 91–98. In English, English abstract. In the face of ever-increasing destruction and degradation of ecosystems and landscapes worldwide, there is critical and growing need for ecological restoration to maintain both biodiversity and the quality and quantity of ecosystem services. The term holistic restoration has been used for efforts with these dual goals. Botanical gardens and arboreta often have the full range of skills and resources needed to accomplish ecological restoration, including the ability to identify the appropriate species composition of reference ecosystems, to plan and design succession strategies, to propagate and cultivate trees and other plants for successful reintroduction, to monitor the success of restoration, and to play an important role in education and capacity building and serve as advocates for ecological restoration as part of a new paradigm of sustainability. Received: February 2, 2016; Accepted: March 9, 2016; First published online: March 31, 2016