ABSTRACT
This chapter examines cross-scalar ecological restoration impacts on fish populations and communities in the context of ecological modelling. It describes that restoration ecology is really about the changes in evolutionary ecology – how drivers like natural selection, genetic drift, and phylogenetic constraints are changed by humans and how humans may then try and manipulate them further to repair ecosystem damage. However, the traditional oeuvre of restoration ecology is still entrenched in population scales – rescuing endangered species – because legal instruments tend to focus solely on this scale. Population ecology bleeds into other scales of restoration ecology because it is based on genetic assortment, differentiation and diversity. Restoration ecologists also have to take care in how they measure the state and function of populations. If one uses proper sampling techniques – and what is proper depends on the context of the research or desired outcome of restoration – it is feasible to census most populations.
