© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org The Society for Ecological Restoration’s

ecological restoration as the process of assisting the recovery of damaged, degraded, or destroyed ecosys-tems (SER 2002). While ecological restoration involves restoring ecosystems at specific project sites, restoration ecology is the science on which the prac-tice is based, and should ideally provide clear concepts, models, methodologies, and tools to support it. Restoration ecology is still an emerging science, with its roots in practical restoration projects around the world. Research generally focuses on improving the conceptual, technical, and socioeconomic bases for conducting effective ecological restoration. In recent years, there has been a move away from site- and situa-tion-specific studies of particular restoration projects to a broader consideration of the conceptual basis fo