| Title: |
Trait‐based approaches to restoration ecology: Synthesizing insights from diverse systems |
| Authors: |
Briand, Julia K; Hosler, Sheryl C; Merchant, Thomas K; Vinebrooke, Rolf D; Ostertag, Rebecca; Symons, Celia C; Cadotte, Marc W; Eviner, Valerie T; Bracken, Matthew ES; Carlson, Rachel R; Henn, Jonathan J; Garbowski, Magda; Bauer, Jonathan T; Luong, Justin C; Atkinson, Joe; Hughes, A Randall; Adams, Carrie Reinhardt; Bates, Amanda E; Funk, Jennifer L; Love, Allegra E; Zheng, Liting; Galloway, Emily; Green, Stephanie J |
| Source: |
Ecological Applications, vol 36, iss 2 |
| Publisher Information: |
eScholarship, University of California |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
University of California: eScholarship |
| Subject Terms: |
4101 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation (for-2020); 4102 Ecological Applications (for-2020); 31 Biological Sciences (for-2020); 3103 Ecology (for-2020); 41 Environmental Sciences (for-2020); Ecosystem (mesh); Conservation of Natural Resources (mesh); Animals (mesh); Environmental Restoration and Remediation (mesh); Ecology (mesh); community reassembly; cross‐system; ecological restoration; ecosystem function; functional traits; global change; knowledge‐sharing; management; multi‐trophic; variation; 05 Environmental Sciences (for); 06 Biological Sciences (for); 07 Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences (for); Ecology (science-metrix); 30 Agricultural; veterinary and food sciences (for-2020) |
| Description: |
Under accelerating global change, trait-based approaches are emerging as essential tools in the ecological restoration toolbox. Where restoration has traditionally focused on the recovery of focal species in isolated systems, trait-based methods can provide a common language that extends beyond species- or system-specific contexts, allowing scientists and practitioners to translate insights across organisms and ecosystems and predict functional variation critical to resilience in the face of rapidly changing environmental conditions. Trait-based insights can thus help achieve restoration that is both adaptable and scalable as future climate scenarios unfold. To date, trait-based approaches to restoration have developed and proceeded independently across habitats and ecosystems, limiting information sharing and innovation. Here, we synthesize diverse perspectives and research on trait-informed restoration across ecosystems, distilling our findings into three key insights. First, variable contexts and trade-offs in trait-function linkages shape restoration outcomes at distinct ecological scales and project stages. For example, individual-level traits that underpin stress tolerance may play a critical role in initial survival and establishment during early project stages, while traits that influence species interactions and modify energy transformation may play a larger role as communities reassemble and ecosystem function becomes a priority at later stages. Second, coordinating trait-informed restoration across ecosystems can advance multi-trophic and multi-system restoration by closing the divide between "top down" approaches that target individual organisms or populations typically in large, mobile animal reintroductions and "bottom-up" approaches that target community-level organization in the restoration of foundation species. Finally, enhanced interdisciplinary communication and knowledge-sharing can help develop solutions to major challenges hindering the progress of trait-informed restoration (e.g., ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
qt94c6d3gt; https://escholarship.org/uc/item/94c6d3gt |
| DOI: |
10.1002/eap.70193 |
| Availability: |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/94c6d3gt; https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.70193 |
| Rights: |
CC-BY-NC |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.ABE4ECFE |
| Database: |
BASE |