Ecology of Ecosystems and Biotic Communities - Restoration Ecology: The New Frontier - page 63

Figure 6.1 Observations of regular patterns from arid ecosystems, boreal wetlands, mussel beds and intertidal mudfl ats.
(a) Labyrinth pattern of bushy vegetation in Niger (scale = 100 m); after Rietkerk et al . (2002). (b) Regular maze patterns of
shrubs and trees in West Siberia (scale = 100 m); after Rietkerk et al . (2004b). (c) Patterned mussel bank in the Wadden Sea,
the Netherlands (scale = 50 m); after van de Koppel et al . (2005). (d) Labyrinth pattern of marine benthic diatoms in the
Netherlands (scale = 1 m); after Rietkerk and van de Koppel (2008). (Photograph (d) by Johan van de Koppel.)

the dynamics of ecosystems and their response to
changed conditions. The notion of 'alternative stable
states' is particularly relevant to the fi eld of restoration
ecology (Suding et al . 2004), as their presence is an
important determinant of the success of restoration
efforts. Indeed, degraded systems may also be resilient.
Essential for the conservation and restoration of
natural systems is the development of indicator
systems for so - called critical transitions between alter-
nate states, not only in ecological systems such as arid
grazing systems (Solé 2007), but also in socio-economic
systems such as the fi nancial market (Scheffer et al .
2009). Research on this topic is still tentative and in a
highly theoretical stage of development, outside the
scope of this topic, but its applicability may not be far

away, for example to identify early-warning signals for
future climate change based on understanding of anal-
yses of the past.
When restoring ecosystems to their natural state, it
is important to consider that the spatial structure of
the original systems was, in part, self-organized, which
can have large implications for the functioning and
resilience of these ecosystems. Restoration efforts that
do not take into account the original spatial structure
will likely lead to a community or ecosystem that is
more vulnerable to disturbances, supports lower popu-
lation sizes, and is possibly less species-rich than the
pre-disturbance ecosystem. A good example of a resto-
ration project that explicitly took this factor into
account was carried out by Tongway and Ludwig