Integrative Methods to Improve Ecological Restoration

Samuel, Ella Madeline (2021) Integrative Methods to Improve Ecological Restoration. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

Though restoration ecology faces countless challenges associated with climate change and unprecedented environmental degradation, transdisciplinary problem solving offers a path forward. By integrating restoration science and environmental policy, we explore diverse opportunities to promote forward-looking restoration strategies. We investigate drivers of plant performance in a common garden environment for species prioritized for restoration in the southwestern United States, including two perennial grasses and one perennial forb. Through this work, we consider pathways to support the persistence of native plant communities in novel environmental scenarios. With the knowledge that social and political dynamics are also essential for determining restoration outcomes, we address social challenges at the restoration-policy interface, including collaboration and community engagement, incentive structures, divergent perspectives and values, and transboundary knowledge sharing. We investigate these challenges in view of limitations of existing domestic policy in order to synthesize suggestions to support restoration progress. Together, these transdisciplinary approaches offer an opportunity to holistically address restoration challenges.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	adaptive capacity; climate change; community engagement; ecological restoration; environmental policy; local adaptation; Southwest United States
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences > School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
Date Deposited:	07 Jul 2022 20:16
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2022 20:16
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/5813

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