Ecological restoration in the context of "Overgrazing"

Biodiversity loss happens when species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in biological diversity in a given area. The decrease can be temporary or permanent. It is temporary if the damage that led to the loss is reversible in time, for example through ecological restoration. If this is not possible, then the decrease is permanent. The cause of most of the biodiversity loss is, generally speaking, human activities that push the planetary boundaries too far. These activities include habitat destruction (for example deforestation) and land use intensification (for example monoculture farming). Further problem areas are air and water pollution (including nutrient pollution), over-exploitation, invasive species and climate change.

Many scientists, along with the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, say that the main reason for biodiversity loss is a growing human population because this leads to human overpopulation and excessive consumption. Others disagree, saying that loss of habitat is caused mainly by "the growth of commodities for export" and that population has very little to do with overall consumption. More important are wealth disparities between and within countries. In any case, all contemporary biodiversity loss has been attributed to human activities.

Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.

The idea helps connect scattered efforts to address environmental issues in architecture, agriculture, engineering, and ecological restoration, among others. The term was first used by Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan in 1996. Ecological design was originally conceptualized as the "adding in "of environmental factor to the design process, but later turned to the details of eco-design practice, such as product system or individual product or industry as a whole. With the inclusion of life cycle modeling techniques, ecological design was related to the new interdisciplinary subject of industrial ecology.

Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also distinct from other forms of restoration in that, while it places emphasis on recovering geographically specific sets of ecological interactions and functions that would have maintained ecosystems prior to human influence, rewilding is open to novel or emerging ecosystems which encompass new species and new interactions.

A key feature of rewilding is its focus on replacing human interventions with natural processes. Rewilding enables the return of intact, large mammal assemblages, to promote the restoration of trophic networks. This mechanism of rewilding is a process of restoring natural processes by introducing or re-introducing large mammals to promote resilient, self-regulating, and self-sustaining ecosystems. Large mammals can influence ecosystems by altering biogeochemical pathways as they contribute to unique ecological roles, they are landscape engineers that aid in shaping the structure and composition of natural habitats. Rewilding projects are often part of programs for habitat restoration and conservation biology, and should be based on sound socio-ecological theory and evidence.

Nature-based solutions (or nature-based systems, and abbreviated as NBS or NbS) describe the development and use of nature (biodiversity) and natural processes to address diverse socio-environmental issues. These issues include climate change mitigation and adaptation, human security issues such as water security and food security, and disaster risk reduction. The aim is that resilient ecosystems (whether natural, managed, or newly created) provide solutions for the benefit of both societies and biodiversity. The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit highlighted nature-based solutions as an effective method to combat climate change. For example, nature-based systems for climate change adaptation can include natural flood management, restoring natural coastal defences, and providing local cooling.

The concept of NBS is related to the concept of ecological engineering and ecosystem-based adaptation. NBS are also related, conceptually to the practice of ecological restoration. The sustainable management approach is a key aspect of NBS development and implementation.

Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Bird conservation efforts aim to protect species and mitigate the decline of threatened bird population numbers. According to Worldwatch Institute, many bird populations are currently declining worldwide, with 1,200 species facing extinction in the next century. Current estimates imply a total of nearly 11,000 extant species, suggesting that 11.6% of all bird species, a near ratio of one in nine birds, have gone extinct over the last 126,000 years of human history. The biggest cited reason surrounds habitat loss. Other threats include overhunting, accidental mortality due to structural collisions, long-line fishing bycatch, pollution, competition and predation by pet cats, oil spills and pesticide use and climate change. Governments, along with numerous conservation charities, work to protect birds in various ways, including legislation, preserving and restoring bird habitat, and establishing captive populations for reintroductions.

See Late Quaternary prehistoric birds for birds which disappeared in prehistoric and early historic times, usually due to human activity (i.e., starting with the Upper Paleolithic Revolution). For birds having gone extinct in modern times (since 1500), see List of extinct birds.

A controlled burn or prescribed burn (Rx burn) is the practice of intentionally setting a fire to change the assemblage of vegetation and decaying material in a landscape. The purpose could be for forest management, ecological restoration, land clearing or wildfire fuel management. Controlled burns may also be referred to as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing or a burn-off.

Controlled burns are conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of more dangerous, hotter fires. Controlled burning stimulates the germination of some trees and reveals soil mineral layers which increases seedling vitality. In grasslands, controlled burns shift the species assemblage to primarily native grassland species. Some seeds, such as those of lodgepole pine, sequoia and many chaparral shrubs are pyriscent, meaning heat from fire causes the cone or woody husk to open and disperse seeds.

Regarding the civil engineering of shorelines, soft engineering is a shoreline management practice that uses sustainable ecological principles to restore shoreline stabilization and protect riparian habitats. Soft Shoreline Engineering (SSE) uses the strategic placement of organic materials such as vegetation, stones, sand, debris, and other structural materials to reduce erosion, enhance shoreline aesthetic, soften the land-water interface, and lower costs of ecological restoration.

To differentiate Soft Shoreline Engineering from Hard Shoreline Engineering, Hard Shoreline Engineering tends to use steel sheet piling or concrete breakwalls to prevent danger and fortify shorelines. Generally, Hard Shoreline Engineering is used for navigational or industrial purposes. To contrast, Soft Shoreline Engineering emphasizes the application of ecological principles rather than compromising the engineered integrity of the shoreline. The opposite alternative is hard engineering.