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Encyclopedia EcoRaftWhat are Heliconia? What do Erythrina do for the ecosystem? How does an island become deforested? This page has the answers to these ecology questions and more. Click on images to see a bigger view. You can see pictures of the restoration team at work in Costa Rica in our Restoration Gallery. Who's Who in EcoRaft?Coral Tree (Scientific name: Erythrina berteroana)
Heliconia Plant (Scientific name: Heliconia pogonantha)
Tabebuia Tree (Scientific name: Tabebuia ochracea)
Centropogon vine (Scientific name: Centropogon granulosus)
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Scientific name: Amazilia tzacatl)
Long-billed Starthroat (Scientific name: Heliomaster longirostris)
Violet Sabrewing (Scientific name: Camplyoterus hemileucurus)
Green Hermit (Scientific name: Phaethornis guy) Deforestation and RestorationWhat is ecological succession? Environments are constantly changing. When changes occur, such as the availability of water, nutrients, and sunlight, the types of plant and animals that inhabit these environments can also change. Biologists call this process ecological succession. Ecological succession is the gradual change in the kinds of plants, animals, and other organisms that live in an ecosystem as it ages with time. For convenience, succession is often broken down into three stages: early, middle, and late stage succession. Plants and animals that live within the same stage of succession often share similarities with one another. For example, plants that inhabit early successional stages tend to grow rapidly, and do so under high light and low nutrient availability. In contrast, late successional plant species grow slowly and prefer shadier habitats. One of the goals of EcoRaft is to present these patterns and illustrate how they can be used to improve restoration. One important pattern is that degraded environments tend to look a lot like environments in early successional stage. Introducing species that naturally grow well in early succession may therefore grow well in degraded environments, providing a jump start to restoration. Middle and late successional species can then move in, hastening what is usually a very slow process. What is ecological restoration? Ecological restoration is the field of science concerned with understanding degraded environments and discovering ways of returning them to their original state. Tropical ecosystems can become degraded many ways, including by logging and intensive farming. When the land can no longer support these activities, it is often abandoned. Tropical ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to this process because of their nutrient poor soils and the heavy rainfall that quickly washes away the thin top soil. Unfortunately, forests may not grow back to their original state without human assistance. The goal of restoration ecologists is to find ways to initiate or speed up this recovery process. Your goal as an EcoRaft user is to restore the rainforests of several tropical islands. Just like in nature, the fate of your EcoRaft ecosystem will depend on how you choose to take care of it. Why is ecological restoration important? Ecological restoration is important for many reasons. Ecological restoration re-establishes the interactions between plants, animals and their environments. Restored ecosystems also provide food and shelter for wildlife. They also offer valuable services to people including clean water, protection from natural disasters like floods and landslides, and place for recreation and rejuvenation. Advice to the young restoration biologist One of the most important parts to being a good biologist is to carefully observe your surroundings. What do you see, smell, and hear around you? For example, do you see or hear animals? Do the flowers have a pleasant scent? What shape are they? These are the kinds of questions biologists ask themselves when exploring the natural world. You will need to use your own power of observation to understand and restore the EcoRaft ecosystem. For more information about restoration ecology, please visit Lynn Carpenter's web site. Last updated: September 1, 2005 |