RESTORATION BIOLOGY - A POPULATION BIOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

A major goal of population biologists involved in restoration work is to restore populations to a level that will allow them to persist over the long term within a dynamic landscape and include the ability to u ndergo adaptive evolutionary change. We discuss five research areas of particular importance to restoration biology that offer potentially u nique opportunities to couple basic research with the practical needs of restorationists. The five research areas are: (1) the influence of numbers of individuals and genetic variation in the initial population on population colonization, establishment, growth, and evolutionary p otential; (2) the role of local adaptation and life history traits In the success of restored populations; (3) the influence of the spatial arrangement of landscape elements on metapopulation dynamics and popul ation processes such as migration; (4) the effects of genetic drift, g ene flow, and selection on population persistence within an often acce lerated, successional time frame; and (5) the influence of interspecif ic interactions on population dynamics and community development. We a lso provide a sample of practical problems faced by practitioners, eac h of which encompasses one or more of the research areas discussed, an d that may be solved by addressing fundamental research questions.