Future restoration should enhance ecological complexity and emergent properties at multiple scales

Summary

This conceptual paper argues that restoration ecology should adopt ecological complexity as a complementary or alternative paradigm to the conventional focus on re-establishing indigenous reference communities. The authors argue that complexity—defined as the number of components and connections in a system—can be measured at multiple scales and is empirically linked to enhanced ecosystem functions and resilience. They propose that complexity-focused restoration could integrate existing methods alongside newer approaches such as rewilding, and suggest that adopting this paradigm requires development of applicable metrics and acceptance that unprecedented global change necessitates restoration approaches fit for future conditions.

Regional applicability

The paper is a theoretical contribution with global relevance rather than a geographically specific study. Its conclusions are applicable to United Kingdom restoration practice and policy, particularly given ongoing commitments to ecosystem resilience through initiatives such as landscape-scale habitat connectivity projects and nature recovery networks, though operationalising complexity metrics at both local and regional scales would require further development within UK contexts.

Key measures

Ecological complexity metrics including: structural heterogeneity, trophic interactions, functional diversity, β diversity, habitat patch heterogeneity, landscape connectivity; ecosystem functions and resilience as emergent properties

Outcomes reported

The paper proposes that ecological restoration should prioritise enhancing ecological complexity (defined as the number of system components and connections among them) at multiple scales—individual ecosystems and landscapes—rather than solely re-establishing indigenous reference communities. It examines how complexity metrics encompassing structural heterogeneity, trophic interactions, functional diversity and landscape-scale measures (β diversity, habitat heterogeneity, connectivity) relate to emergent ecosystem properties including functions and resilience.

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