The nature and extent of environmental disturbance associated with mining commonly entails completely new and challenging combinations of climate,lithology and landform.Consequently,the outcomes of ecological processe...The nature and extent of environmental disturbance associated with mining commonly entails completely new and challenging combinations of climate,lithology and landform.Consequently,the outcomes of ecological processes associated with the recovery or restoration of ecosystems cannot be predicted reliably from previously known associations between their physical and biological components.For radically disturbed sites,we propose that it is not practicable to aim for the restoration of historical ecosystems.However,hybrid(reversibly different)or novel(irreversibly different)ecosystems comprising new combinations of physical and biological components,including both native and non-native species,could provide levels of stability and functionality acceptable to all stakeholders and within feasible management regimes.We propose that limiting physical conditions of the landscape can be identified and managed,and that alternative species combinations for introduction to these new landscapes may be considered with cautious optimism.展开更多
基金the two anonymous reviewers and Guest-Editor(M Perring)for their beneficial commentary which contributed highly to improving this manuscript for publication.Special thanks are also extended to M Perring and RJ Hobbs for providing early access to the compilation book Novel ecosystems:Intervening in the new ecological world order by RJ Hobbs,ES Higgs and CM Hall(eds).This study was made possible by funding to P.Audet from The University of Queensland and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council(NSERC)of Canada.
文摘The nature and extent of environmental disturbance associated with mining commonly entails completely new and challenging combinations of climate,lithology and landform.Consequently,the outcomes of ecological processes associated with the recovery or restoration of ecosystems cannot be predicted reliably from previously known associations between their physical and biological components.For radically disturbed sites,we propose that it is not practicable to aim for the restoration of historical ecosystems.However,hybrid(reversibly different)or novel(irreversibly different)ecosystems comprising new combinations of physical and biological components,including both native and non-native species,could provide levels of stability and functionality acceptable to all stakeholders and within feasible management regimes.We propose that limiting physical conditions of the landscape can be identified and managed,and that alternative species combinations for introduction to these new landscapes may be considered with cautious optimism.
