Estuarine, coastal and marine ecosystem restoration: Confusing management and science – A revision of concepts

This review presents recent concepts, understanding and experience of the restoration, recovery and human-mediated modification of estuarine, coastal and marine ecosystems. It shows that these can be divided into four categories: natural recovery from a natural or anthropogenic change (whether adverse or otherwise); anthropogenic interventions in response to a degraded or anthropogenically changed environment; anthropogenic responses to a single stressor; and habitat enhancement or creation. A conceptual framework for restoration and recovery of marine marginal and semi-enclosed areas is presented after exploring and refining the plethora of terms used in restoration science and management. Examples of management action are given including managed realignment and the restoration of docks, biogenic reefs, saltmarsh, seagrass, beaches and upper estuarine water quality. We emphasise that although recovery techniques are worthwhile if they can be carried out, they rarely (if ever) fully replace lost habitat. Moreover, while they may have some success in marginal or semi-enclosed areas such as coastal bays, estuaries and fringing habitats, they are less relevant to open coastal and marine habitats. Therefore the best option available in the latter can only be to remove the stressor, as the cause of any change, to prevent other stressors from operating and to allow the conditions suitable for natural recovery. This review emphasises that whereas some ecological concepts related to restoration are well understood, for example, the nature of ecosystem structure and functioning, others such as carrying capacity, resilience and ecosystem goods and services are still poorly quantified for the marine and estuarine environments. The linking between these ecological concepts and the management framework is also relatively recent but is required to give a holistic approach to understanding, managing and manipulating these environments.

[1]  A. Bradshaw Handbook of Ecological Restoration: Introduction and philosophy , 2002 .

[2]  L. Gunderson Ecological Resilience—In Theory and Application , 2000 .

[3]  Mary E. Kentula,et al.  Wetland creation and restoration: the status of the science. , 1990 .

[4]  Michael Elliott,et al.  Integrated marine management and administration for an island state-the case for a new Marine Agency for the UK. , 2006, Marine pollution bulletin.

[5]  Á. Borja The new European Marine Strategy Directive: difficulties, opportunities, and challenges. , 2006, Marine pollution bulletin.

[6]  Thomas Leschine,et al.  An Evaluation of the Influence of Natural Science in Regional-Scale Restoration Projects , 2006, Environmental management.

[7]  Riki Therivel,et al.  Methods of Environmental Impact Assessment , 2002 .

[8]  M. Perrow,et al.  Handbook of ecological restoration , 2002 .

[9]  N. J. Frost,et al.  Predicting site quality for shorebird communities:a case study on the Humber estuary, UK , 2005 .

[10]  Michael Elliott,et al.  The Estuarine Ecosystem: Ecology, Threats, and Management , 2004 .

[11]  M. Elliott,et al.  Fishes in Estuaries , 2001 .

[12]  Maurice L. Schwartz,et al.  Encyclopedia of coastal science , 2005 .

[13]  M. Elliott,et al.  The use of environmental integrative indicators to assess seabed disturbance in estuaries and coasts: Application to the Humber Estuary, UK. , 2006, Marine pollution bulletin.

[14]  Robert Costanza,et al.  Ecosystem Health New Goals for Environmental Management , 1992 .

[15]  T. Mitchell Aide,et al.  Restoration Success: How Is It Being Measured? , 2005 .

[16]  Michael Elliott,et al.  European Environmental Management: Moving to an Ecosystem Approach , 2006, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[17]  K. Holl,et al.  Handbook of Ecological Restoration: Monitoring and appraisal , 2002 .

[18]  W. Clark,et al.  Sustainable development of the biosphere , 1988 .

[19]  M. Perrow,et al.  Restoration in practice , 2008 .

[20]  E. K. Duursma,et al.  Encyclopedia of Marine Sciences , 1992 .

[21]  S. Pimm The complexity and stability of ecosystems , 1984, Nature.

[22]  M. Glemarec,et al.  A three-year ecological survey in benoit and wrac'h abers following the Amoco Cadiz oil spill , 1982 .

[23]  M. Loreau,et al.  Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning : synthesis and perspectives , 2002 .

[24]  J. R. Allen,et al.  Marine and coastal ecosystems , 2002 .

[25]  Christopher Wood,et al.  Environmental Impact Assessment: A Comparative Review , 1995 .

[26]  Michel J. Kaiser,et al.  A BEHAVIOR-BASED MODELING APPROACH TO REDUCING SHOREBIRD-SHELLFISH CONFLICTS , 2004 .

[27]  Jennifer A. Dunne,et al.  Network structure and robustness of marine food webs , 2004 .

[28]  M. Huxham,et al.  Defining and detecting undesirable disturbance in the context of marine eutrophication. , 2007, Marine pollution bulletin.

[29]  S I Rogers,et al.  Ecosystem objectives to support the UK vision for the marine environment. , 2007, Marine pollution bulletin.

[30]  National Research Council,et al.  Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems. , 1993 .

[31]  Michael Elliott,et al.  The Estuarine Quality Paradox, Environmental Homeostasis and the difficulty of detecting anthropogenic stress in naturally stressed areas. , 2007, Marine pollution bulletin.

[32]  M. Perrow,et al.  Principles of restoration , 2002 .

[33]  A. Feest Establishing Baseline Indices for the Quality of the Biodiversity of Restored Habitats Using a Standardized Sampling Process , 2006 .

[34]  Joel E. Cohen,et al.  Population, economics, environment and culture : An introduction to human carrying capacity , 1997 .

[35]  R. Livingston Restoration of Aquatic Systems , 2005 .

[36]  A. Edwards Rehabilitation of Coastal Ecosystems , 1999 .

[37]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Handbook of Ecological Restoration: The ecological context: a landscape perspective , 2002 .

[38]  J. Collie,et al.  A quantitative analysis of fishing impacts on shelf-sea benthos. , 2000, The Journal of animal ecology.

[39]  Stephen J. Hall,et al.  The Effects Of Fishing On Mariane Ecosystems And Communities , 1998 .

[40]  C. Craft,et al.  Fifteen Years of Vegetation and Soil Development after Brackish‐Water Marsh Creation , 2002 .

[41]  Ecological restoration in coastal areas in the Netherlands: concepts, dilemmas and some examples , 2002 .

[42]  M. Elliott,et al.  Marine habitats: loss and gain, mitigation and compensation. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[43]  S I Rogers,et al.  A UK perspective on the development of marine ecosystem indicators. , 2005, Marine pollution bulletin.

[44]  P. W. French Managed realignment The developing story of a comparatively new approach to soft engineering , 2006 .

[45]  Charles A. Simenstad,et al.  When is restoration not?: Incorporating landscape-scale processes to restore self-sustaining ecosystems in coastal wetland restoration , 2006 .

[46]  C. S. Holling Resilience of ecosystems: local surprise and global change. , 1985 .

[47]  Garry D. Peterson Political ecology and ecological resilience: , 2000 .

[48]  Michael Elliott,et al.  A proposed multiple-use zoning scheme for the Irish Sea.: An interpretation of current legislation through the use of GIS-based zoning approaches and effectiveness for the protection of nature conservation interests , 2007 .

[49]  James Aronson,et al.  Vital landscape attributes: missing tools for restoration ecology , 1996 .

[50]  M. MacLeod,et al.  Carrying Capacity in Coastal Areas , 2019, Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series.

[51]  P. Winn,et al.  The Humber Estuary, Eastern England: Strategic planning of flood defences and habitats. , 2006, Marine pollution bulletin.

[52]  Ronald C. Baird On Sustainability, Estuaries, and Ecosystem Restoration: The Art of the Practical , 2005 .