What many people believe to be natural in the wilderness actually contains anthropogenic influences. The ideal kind of river that most are accommodated to are the meandering rivers “thought of as ‘natural’ today” (Marris). By following the methods for creating these streams, conservationists consequently raise mercury levels in the river. There was no efficient way to optimize the environment through restoration. In fact, it was near impossible to restore the ecosystem back to the baseline. One solution to this problem is designer ecosystems.
Rather than restoring what was previously existing, these ecologists study how these environment operate and design. These restoration jobs can be counted as a redesign because these designers never achieve the level of biodiversity of what previously thrived in the area. Restoration ecologists “use lots of ‘hacks’”(Marris) to manipulate the natural environment to function harmoniously. Some great examples are having “wire baskets filled with rocks or the root balls of dead trees chained in place to slow stream flows
and create nooks and crannies for animals” and also having “old ships sunk to provide places for coral reefs to live” (Marris). These hacks are merely natural mimicry that recreates items utilized by creatures in the wild to shelter themselves. On the other side of the spectrum, we see scientists thowing the idea of restoring out the window and instead suggest the idea of “designing, engineering, cooking up”(Marris) strategies that heal the natural world.
Coming from humbler origins, some scientists simply call it “whatever works” (Marris). Dee Boersma, a Seattle ecologist seeks to preserve the Galapagos penguin through introducing a new habitat. Boersma simply “makes the habitat better than ‘normal’ for the birds” (Marris). The point to revisit is that these habitats work because these ecoystems are ever changing ones. When they try to restore environments, they are simply bringing about the habitat’s new current state. Baselines have been rendered moot since the Pre-European human alteration.
The third case to examine is a hybrid ecosystem that discusses abiotic alterations to the environment. Despite the minor climate shift, the organism can still survive. For instance, the “eucalyptus woodlands in Southwest Australia” (Marris) survived some mild climate shifts. What would benefit the woodlands would be the fertilizing methods, These scientists let us know how species react to the climate shifts and how to react when it does happen.
Faced with environmental dilemmas, these ecologists will be able to scope effective restoration campaigns. Science is constantly breaking ground and we begin asking ourselves, can we get the best from both worlds? Nature continually teaches us the relationships and behaviors of various species and how the interactions can be different through various methods of restoration.
