28 July 2017 | By Patricia Holmes
The 2017 Routledge Handbook of Ecological and Environmental Restoration incorporates a chapter on Mediterranean-type shrublands and woodlands; these ecosystems are of high biodiversity importance and include the Cape Region of South Africa.
This chapter was coordinated by Prof Ladislav Mucina from the University of Western Australia and involved contributions by ecologists from the five Mediterranean-climate regions. C·I·B Associate Dr Patricia Holmes and Core Team Member Dr Mirijam Gaertner wrote the section on the Cape Region of South Africa.
The chapter opens with an introduction and then follows with more detailed summaries for each of the five regions. The latest research for the Cape Region reviewed the main drivers of ecosystem degradation and the motivation for and theoretical underpinning of ecological restoration. Approaches to ecological restoration were outlined with specific reference to a case study example of an alien-invaded fynbos ecosystem in the Overberg.
The chapter brings together information on ecological restoration from different floras that share a similar climate but also face many similar challenges, including intensifying human pressures, global warming, changing fire regimes and alien invasions. It is proposed that restoration of such species-rich and functionally complex ecosystems lies at the frontier of restoration science and practice.
Read the chapter
Ladislav Mucina, Marcela A. Bustamante-Sánchez, Beatriz Duguy Pedra, Patricia Holmes, Todd Keeler-Wolf, Juan J. Armesto, Mark Dobrowolski, Mirijam Gaertner, Cecilia Smith-Ramírez and Alberto Vilagrosa (2017). Chapter 13 Ecological restoration in mediterranean-type shrublands and woodlands. In: Stuart K. Allison and Stephen D Murphy (editors) Routledge Handbook of Ecological and Environmental Restoration.
For more information, contact Dr Patricia Holmes at Patricia.Holmes@capetown.gov.za
