School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
PLoS Biol. 2012 Jan;10(1):e1001248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001248. Epub 2012 Jan 24.
It is widely held that humankind's destructive tendencies when exploiting natural resources leads to irreparable harm to the environment. Yet, this thinking runs counter to evidence that many ecological systems damaged by severe natural environmental disturbances (e.g., hurricanes) can restore themselves via processes of natural recovery. The emerging field of restoration ecology is capitalizing on the natural restorative tendencies of ecological systems to build a science of repairing the harm inflicted by humans on natural environment. Evidence for this, for example, comes from a new meta-analysis of 124 studies that synthesizes recovery of impacted wetlands worldwide. While it may take up to two human generations to see full recovery, there is promise, given human will, to restore many damaged wetlands worldwide.
人们普遍认为，人类在开发自然资源时的破坏倾向会对环境造成不可挽回的伤害。然而，这种观点与许多事实相矛盾，即许多受到严重自然环境干扰（如飓风）破坏的生态系统可以通过自然恢复过程来自我修复。正在兴起的恢复生态学领域正在利用生态系统的自然恢复趋势，建立一门修复人类对自然环境造成的破坏的科学。例如，这方面的证据来自对全球受影响湿地的 124 项研究的新元分析。虽然可能需要长达两代人的时间才能看到完全恢复，但只要有人类的意愿，就有希望恢复全球许多受损的湿地。
