VOLCANOES

Dantes peak adalah film science-adventure yang diklaim sukses menggambarkan secara relatively accurate tentang gunung berapi, a geological guidebook to dante’s peak menulis: “Dante’s peak is an all-too-rare opportunity for you to enjoy a good adventure/natural catastrophe movie, and at the same time, get a feel for how geologists (and other scientists) work”. Film yang dirilis pada tahun 1997 ini dibintangi oleh Pierce Brosnan dan Linda Hamilton. Film ini menceritakan tentang efek dari letusan gunung berapi disebuah kota fiktif, Dantes peak. Sedikit banyak film ini didasarkan pada kisah nyata letusan gunung St. Helens pada tahun 1980 di Washington.Sebenarnya telah ada beberapa film tentang volcano atau gunung berapi sebelumnya. Letusan legendaries Krakatau di tahun 1883 diceritakan dalam sebuah film berjudul krakatoa yang terdapat kesalahan ttg posisi krakatau. Krakatau di film tersebut digambarkan terletak di selat Bali (wuifh..talking about geography lesson huh?). Kemudian film Volcano dirilis beberapa bulan setelah film Dante’s peak ini. Ada banyak situasi parallel di dunia ini dimana gunung berapi menjadi point of interest. Gunung St Helen di Washington(seperti yang telah disebutkan di atas), Vesuvius di Italia, Gunung berapi di Hawaii, Selandia Baru, Pinnatubo di Flipina, Krakatau, Tambora dan Merapi di Indonesia. Mengapa gunung berapi menjadi sangat menarik untuk diangkat menjadi sebuah cerita? Karena gunung berapi dekat dengan kehidupan kita dan letusan gunung berapi telah menjadi salah satu fenomena alam yang menakjubkan sekaligus berdampak besar terhadap manusia dan lingkungan. Setiap tahunnya kurang lebih 60 gunung berapi di bumi ini meletus, dan meskipun sebagian besar atau 80% letusan ini adalah letusan di dasar samudra, namun selebihnya terjadi di daratan dan mengakibatkan kerusakan katalistik. Lebih dari setengah daripada jumlah gunung berapi aktif di dunia mengelilingi samudra Pasifik yang dikenal dengan nama cincin api atau the ring of fire. Sekitar 80% dari gunung berapi aktif ini terdapat di Negara-negara berkembang dan kurang mendapat perhatian dari segi riset dan upaya mitigasi bencananya.

ENDORHEIC BASIN OF THREE LAKES BERATAN-BUYAN-TAMBLINGAN BALI-INDONESIA

The Three lakes area of Beratan, Buyan and Tamblingan located in Bedugul, Bali Indonesia is an endorheic basin form by the remnant of ancient volcanic caldera as size of 12 x 7 km. Water surface level of the three lakes located in an altitude of 1214-1231 m a.s.l The land has a fertile soil and has become a major source of vegetables input of Bali island. The cool climate and beautiful view made this area suitable to be resident permanently for farming and also for tourism industry. This endorheic basin also has a nature reserve; the Batukahu, that comprise of three mountains, the Tapak, Pohen and Lesong. There is also a botanic garden at the foothill of this nature reserve, known as “Eka Karya” Botanic Garden, under the authority of Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI). Hinduism temples are also presence in this area of the endorheic basin. The Ulun Danu Beratan temples are a sacred place for Balinese Hindu believers and have been continuously visited by foreign tourists that came to see this ancient indigenous heritage of Balinese Hinduism offspring. This three lakes are also play an important role as a source of water supply for the lowland area such as the Tabanan, Badung and Buleleng district. Recently had just been discover a deep earth heat source (geothermal) that useful for fulfilling the supply of electricity of this island. Various of endemic flora also found in this area such as the Pinanga arinasae, Paphiopedillum and various species of orchids and other interesting flora. Hinduism and Islamic people from Java lives peacefully and harmonic each other in this area.Most people in this area make their living as a farmer and trader. Some people still depends on natural forest extraction to fulfill their daily need such as for fuel woods and other non timber forest products whether for sale or self intake. Farm lands of vegetables lies on the flat and less steep area around these lakes. Farming with over exploited land carrying capacity activities has resulted in the increasing of sedimentation rate in the bottom of these lakes. Decrease in these three lakes water quality is a result from the extensive use of pesticide and fertilizer, tourist activities and domestic wastes dump. Recently the decrease in the three lakes surfaces has reach until 3 meters and has becoming an important issue to the authority concern. As one of tourism site in Bali, tourism infrastructure development in this three lakes area such as hotels, villas, and restaurants also developed in a quite rapid pace. The lack of spatial management system has lead to the destruction of this area ecosystem function. There is not any sufficient realistic effort yet to help improve the environment management system in this area. Recent re-greening activity by re-planting the local trees species is less sufficient compare to the damage level.

Endorheic basin of the three lakes Beratan, Buyan and Tamblingan is a unique nature phenomenon. It is regrettable if this is damaged due to over exploitation. Policy management of this area needs to be form as an integrated management in order to conserve this unique nature phenomenon. Some concept was introduced such as the biosphere reserve concept launched by UNESCO, but there has not been a positive respond for it. In the future some salvation efforts needs to be conduct especially in the three lakes buffer zones. It can be in a form of forest restoration activity, improvement of agricultural efforts through land and water conservation technique application, introduction to organic farming and a more strict spatial regulation.

Volcanic disturbance, Pyroclastic flows and Merapi

Merapi 1920 (from Minakami et al. 1969 as cited in Voight et al 2000)

Disturbance is a key process that can affect diversity levels and change the community (Hobbs & Huenneke, 1992). Natural disturbances, such as volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and wildfires, can catastrophically change the ecosystem over a short time scale (Scheffer et al., 2001). Volcanic eruption has become the most enthralling natural phenomenon and yet largely impacting the environment (Marti & Ernst, 2005). Every year, approximately 60 volcanoes erupt on Earth, and despite almost 80% of them occurring under the oceans, terrestrial volcanic eruptions commonly cause great impacts on vegetation over large areas (Dale et al., 2005a).

More than half of the active volcanoes encircle the Pacific Ocean, known as the ‘ring of fire’. About 80% of these volcanoes are located in developing countries and have remained largely unstudied (Marti & Ernst, 2005). Deforestation, including those that caused by volcanic activities become the biggest threat to forest vegetation. Dale et al. (2005a) identifies six volcanic activities that can have complex effects upon the vegetation; lava formation, pyroclastic flows, debris avalanches, mudflows, tephra and blowdown. One of the most devastating types of volcanic disturbance is pyroclastic flows. A pyroclastic flow is a term to define “the fast movement of tremendously hot (more than 700° C), turbulent gases and fragmental material across a land surface from a volcanic vent” (Dale et al., 2005a p. 231).

The extreme heat that is released is one of the characteristic disturbance mechanisms from pyroclastic flows that destroy the vegetation along the course of the flow (Dale et al., 2005a). Plant responses in a different ways to this pyroclastic flow and the initial impact can be devastating. The heat released from pyroclastic flows can ignite wildfires. Vegetation responses to fire vary. Intense fire most likely kills or damages some of the plants, but others are more persistent and depend on fire for their regeneration (Pickett & White 1985; Riswan & Kartawinata, 1991; Bond & Wilgen, 1996). Hence these responses initiate gradual readjustments in species association through time and this process is known as succession (Walker et al., 2007).

Merapi is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, with its first eruptions estimated to have happened in 1006 (Bemmelen, 1970). This stratovolcanic mountain lies in the densely populated province of Central Java and Yogyakarta and has a summit that reaches over 2,900 m in altitude. Merapi has periodical ‘fury’ cycles of 5 to 6 years, and the most recent event was in 2006 (1000 years after its first eruption). Merapi also produces more pyroclastic flows than any other volcano on Earth and it has become the reference volcano of the ‘Merapi-type’ pyroclastic flows (Abdurachman et al., 2000). The pyroclastic flow of Merapi is a product from a collapsed lava dome

Global climate change and Biodiversity

There has been an increasing consensus that global warming occurs and that it is caused mostly due to the increase of the green house gasses emission that linked with human activities. The impacts of this global warming are not merely on the climate pattern, it will and it has been impacting the world’s ecosystems (Pachauri, 2007). Climate change disaster and the loss of biological diversity has been subject of considerable public concern.

Climate change can be driven by some factors: solar radiation, the Earth’s orbit and green house gases. The last factor is likely to become the main cause of global climate change. Green house effect refers to heat effect that felt due the entrapped sunlight by layer formed in the atmosphere from the accumulation of some gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. This layer has the nature of a glass-house-like effects which blocked some of the heat from the sunlight to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. This layer is important to keep the Earth warm because without it Earth will be as cold as the other planet in the galaxy. However, when concentration of the green house gases is become overwhelming, the layer becomes thicker and the amount of the heat that trapped is increasing hence making the Earth’s temperature to rise and global warming begin. The change of temperature, even only 1° C can change the world’s climate pattern.
The green house gases or GHG can come from nature activity such as volcanic eruption and lightning. However the major contribution of this GHG comes from human activities which can be in a form of the use of extensive fossil fuels, aerosols, changing land use and deforestation. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the GHG. The burning of tropical rain forest has contributed to the 20% increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Houghton, 1991). Heavy concentration of carbon dioxide can also come from a volcanic eruption. There are many parallel situations in the world where volcanic activity has become a major disturbance such as Hawaii, Mount St Helens, Krakatau and New Zealand (Hobbs, 2007). In the early 19th century the legendary eruption of Krakatau in Sunda Strait had caused catastrophic destruction, covering the air with heavy concentration of volcanic ash cloud that contains carbon dioxide across the continent (Thornton, 1996; Dale et al., 2005).
There has been a significance correlation between the increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the rising of the Earth’s temperature. Data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007), revealed that in the year of 2005 the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration was 379ppm³, rising as much as 135% from the last more than a hundred years ago in the 1850 where the CO2 level was 280ppm³. In these intervals, IPCC noted that there has also been an increase of 1° C in temperature and it is projected to continue to rise until 5° C in the year of 2100 if the current condition continues.

The rising temperatures have been impacting our ecosystems. It has caused the rising of the sea water level globally, decreasing the amount of ice and snow in the poles and causing heavy precipitation and extreme drought in other parts of the world (Pachauri, 2007). IPCC also has projecting the ‘next big things’ to hit our ecosystems due to this climate change. In the year 2020, Africa will go through an era where water stress will be at a worrying level. By the year 2050 Asia will also have the same problem with Africa where the supply of fresh water will decrease and follow by the increase of sea water flood risk especially in the heavily populated coastal and delta areas. This actually has been happening in Indonesia and other countries in Asia, so it seems that the disaster will come earlier than we might have predicted. As for the Small Island Developing States or SIDS they will face the threat of conversion to ‘water grave’ among other impacts if the rising sea level keep continue in the future.

Since the last decade, biodiversity has become one of the watchwords in environmental community in the world (Jutro, 1991). Biological diversity is a term to refers to the “variability among living organism from all resources including inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this include diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” (Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warns that global climate change will likely become the major driver of the loss of biodiversity in the end of the century. Even today climate change has brought serious impacts to biodiversity by causing habitat shifting, change in life cycle and the development of a new functional life traits and species extinction (CBD, 2007).

We have the luxury of looking at the past by studying paleontology fossils, pollens, tree life circle and historical documents and records to obtain information of how plants and animals abundance and distribution patterns across the globe. It is apparent that these patterns are greatly driven by the world’s climate patterns. Paleobiology study revealed that plants and animals are very sensitive to changes in climate (Davis, 1989). When the regional climate does not supportive then the life forms will disappear or colonizing other places where the climate is much more supportive and that is when habitat shifting happens. Changes in life cycles can be observed on the changes of flowering periods of many flowering plants in the world. If these changing in climatic patterns are so rapid and overwhelming it would be very hard for biota to adapt and species extinction will likely to occur, hence the world’s biological, habitat and ecosystems diversity, species and genetic diversity will be decreasing dramatically (Jutro, 1991).

Ecology and climate change

Professor Richard J. Hobbs from Murdoch University recently presented his concept of ECWEE. ECWEE stands for Everything Connected With Everything Else. It is the basic concept in ecology that often forgotten in every planning and decision making. ECWEE basically talks about how we see ourself in a broad sense. We all living in this system; the human and nature which are linked each other and this is a complex adaptive system where everything is not working in a linear and predictable way instead it is full of uncertainty and might take us to many different states of condition. This concept then takes us to the emerging notion of resilience concept in ecology. However, the resilience concept is not a new idea. C.S Holling is the one that set this idea in motion in 1973 with the first scientific paper that explain about resilience. Resilience basically defines as the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and ‘bounce back’ to regain its fundamental function and structure (Walker & Salt, 2006). Threshold, alternative stable states and adaptive cycles are some of the building blocks of resilience. In resilience concept, there are many different stable states (multiple equilibrium states) after a threshold have been crossed and sometimes when it does happens it is hard to bounce back or it may not be possible, hence we have to be cautious of choosing our pathways because we may not be able make it back to the previous condition. In the context of global climate change concern, this concept of resilience becomes essential. The awareness of the nature carrying capacity and its thresholds are the elements that are often neglected. Famine, epidemic, nature disaster, and biodiversity extinction, these are the possible undesirable states in the near future if we dare to have crossed the threshold of the continuous overwhelming concentration of green house gasses.
Mitigation is one of the efforts to not cross this threshold. Another important role of ecology in this effort is the emerging need of one of the field in ecology which is; restoration ecology. Why do we need ecological restoration? First of all, we all aware of the fact that deforestation is happening at an alarming rate across the globe. Whilst we also know that a healthy forest ecosystem can act as carbon sequester that can reduce the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Second, the consequences of this climate change have been impacting our environment and ecosystem as seen in the desertification, salinisation, and other ecosystems degradation. Ecological restoration is an intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem (SERI, 2004). Recently forest restoration has been acknowledged in Indonesia with the issue of the Forestry Ministry’s decree in 2004. However, efforts made merely focus on the idea of re-vegetation, but restoration is more than just re-vegetation: it proceeds beyond gardening. Neglecting the scientific knowledge concerning ecology and other related field has led many restoration programs to fail (Walker et al., 2007). Across the globe, the practice of ecological restoration, and the science of restoration ecology, has developed rapidly over the past few decades. Thus ecological restoration is more and more used as a major component of humanity’s ‘toolbox’, which will be essential to counter and adapt to the climate change (Harris et al., 2006). Our road ahead will not be easy but it worthwhile to think about what Eric Hoffer said regarding ecology in a changing world “In a time of drastic changes, it is a learner who inherits the future”.

UGM-Finest in Indonesia

Untuk yang ingin melanjutkan pendidikan ke universitas di Indonesia ada baiknya untuk membaca artikel berikut ini ;)selamat membaca

Senin, 26/11/2007 - 16:20 WIB
Peringkat 360 Dunia, UGM Terbaik di Indonesia

YOGYAKARTA - Setelah pada bulan Juli 2007 UGM menjadi satu-satunya universitas di Indonesia yang masuk pada 100 besar Webometric Asia, pada November 2007 ini, peringkat dunia diraih kembali oleh UGM.

Berdasarkan hasil survey sepanjang tahun yang dilakukan oleh Times Higher education Survey (THES), UGM menempatkan diri pada peringkat 360 dari 400 Universitas terbaik di dunia.

"Ini bukti kita tak berhenti mencetak prestasi. Juli lalu kita masuk 100 besar Webometric asia kali ini masuk 360 terbaik dunia versi THES," kata Kepala Humas dan Protokol UGM, Suryo Baskoro di UGM, Senin (26/11/2007).

Pemeringkatan prestasi UGM ini kata Suryo didasarkan pada empat aspek yaitu kualitas riset, keterpakaian lulusan, atmosfer internasional dan kualitas pembelajaran.

Sebelumnya imbuh Suryo, THES juga telah mendapatkan masukan dari sekira 3.703 akademisi di seluruh dunia serta menghitung jumlah sitasi tulisan dosen universitas yang bersangkutan.

"Sementara keterpakaian lulusan diperoleh atas masukan 738 lembaga internasional pemakai lulusan kita. Sedangkan atmosfer internasional didapat dari jumlah dosen dan mahasiswa internasional," tegas Suryo.

Di Indonesia UGM pemegang gelar juara umum PIMNAS (Pekan Ilmiah Mahasiswa Nasional) tahun 2006 dan 2007 ini mengokohkan dirinya sebagai universitas terbaik di Indonesia. Pada 400 besar dunia tadi selain UGM meraih peringkat 360, ITB bertengger pada posisi 369 dan UI di peringkat 395.

"Di Indonesia UGM tetap yang terbaik. Sementara posisi universitas Harvard (AS) masih tetap berada pada peringkat teratas dan belum tergeser oleh universitas lainnya," kata Suryo.

(Satria Nugraha / Trijaya / fit)
dari okezone.com

Swap Mart, Fremantle dan Tempe

Winter 2007
Hari itu saya bangun pagi sekali meskipun hari minggu. Ya karena pagi ini saya ingin jalan ke swap mart di Kardnya dan menyusuri bagian selatannya Perth.
Meskipun sedang musim dingin tetapi udaranya masih cukup nyaman dengan sinar matahari yang malu-malu mengintip.
Swap mart adalah pasar kaget yang rutin digelar setiap hari minggu pagi mulai pukul 6 hingga 11 siang di beberapa sudut kota Perth. Kardnya adalah salah satu kawasan yang masuk dalam bagian City of Melville di sebelah Selatan Perth dan Swan River. Di dekat sini tepatnya di South street berdiri Universitas tertua di Australia setelah the University of Western Australia yaitu Murdoch University.
Oh ya balik lagi ke Swap Mart ya disini banyak dijual barang-barang second hand dengan kualitas yang masih baik dan harga yang sangat miring. Jenis dagangannya bermacam-macam dari mulai pakaian dan sepatu, alat-alat rumah tangga, alat-alat elektronik, buku-buku, tanaman hias hingga mainan anak-anak. Tidak heran setiap hari minggu bila hari cerah pasar ini ramai dikunjungi orang mulai dari ibu-ibu, bapak-bapak, anak-anak hingga mahasiswa asing yang selalu ingin serba ngirit seperti saya hehehe. Lumayan hari itu saya dapat beberapa buku, sebuah raket tenis dan sebuah helm untuk bersepeda semua dengan harga kurang dari 10 dollar not bad lah
Puas di swap mart saya bejalan ke halte bus to catch a bus to Fremantle. Kenapa Fremantle? Well sejak pertama kali saya berkunjung ke kota ini saya selalu ketagihan untuk selalu kembali mengunjunginya. Fremantle atau ‘Freo’ adalah sebuah kota pelabuhan di Western Australia yang terletak di muara sungai Swan sekitar 19 km Barat Laut Perth. Didirikan pertama kali tahun 1829 dan kini populasinya sekitar 26,000 orang. Kota ini terkenal dengan atmosfer cosmopolitannya dengan nuansa Eropa Selatan yang sangat kental terutama nuansa Italia. Kita dapat berjalan menyusuri lorong-lorong kota ini dan serasa berjalan kembali ke masa lalu dengan gedung-gedung kunonya. Lalu dengan mudahnya pula kita bisa berjalan menuju ke pelabuhan dan pantainya dimana terdapat seafoodnya yang menggugah selera, semua dalam jangkauan berjalan kaki. Ada juga bus khusus yang rutenya mengelilingi kota Fremantle dan tidak perlu membayar alias gratis! Namanya Fremantle CAT Bus. Rute-rutenya salah satunya adalah melewati the Western Australia Maritime Museum dimana ada display replica kapal selam alias submarine dengan ukuran yang sebenarnya!
Setelah mengisi perut dengan fish and chips di Kaili’s restaurant near the harbour, saya teringat untuk mencari oriental shop untuk masak dinner malam nanti. Setelah berjalan mengubek-ubek blok-blok kota akhirnya saya menemukan sebuah toko Asian atau oriental shop. Lumayan besar dan cukup lengkap. Berbagai macam bumbu masakan dari Indonesia seperti Indofood dan Bamboe hingga Jahe Wangi Instan pengahangat badan saat winter dapat saya temukan disini. Saat sedang mengamati bakso di kulkas saya terperanjat menemukan sebuah bahan makanan yang sangat familiar, terbuat dari kacang keledai yang difermentasi alias….tempe waaah senan sekali rasanya saya bisa menemukannya karena amat jarang sekali bisa mendapatkan tempe di sini. Paling banter hanya tahu tapi tidak tempe. Langsung saya ambil dua buah tempe seharga 3 dollar. Yah kalau di Indonesia mah tempe 2000 perak juga dapat tapi disini harganya bisa jadi 25ribu rupiah per satu tempe hehehe tapi ga apa deh yang penting kerinduan akan balado tempe terobati hehehe.
Dalam perjalanan pulang saya kembali mampir di Fremantle market untuk membeli sayuran dan buah-buahan murah. Freo market ini termasuk salah satu bangunan di awal terbentuknya kota ini. Pasar ini mulai ada sejak tahun 1897 hingga sekarang. Bila weekend seperti ini apalagi menjelang sore biasanya para pedagang buah dan sayur mulai banting harga nah saat itulah saya mulai hunting sayur dan buah yang masih bagus lumayan kan bisa ngirit :) Menjelang sore saya sudah berada di dalam bus menuju Winthrop dimana saya tinggal. well itulah perjalanan saya sehari berputar-putar di Kardinya dan Fremantle. Kini selain romansa nuansa eropa kuno dan pantainya ada satu lagi yang membuat saya ketagihan dengan Freo yaitu tidak lain adalah.....Tempe!

Restorasi ekosistem

Cagar Alam salah satu bentuk kawasan hutan konservasi, artinya kawasan ini memiliki fungsi untuk perlindungan, pengawetan, dan pemanfaatan kawasan serta tempat berbagai jenis flora dan fauna. Cagar alam merupakan salah satu bentuk hutan hujan tropis yang masih tersisa di antara sekian banyak hutan tropis Indonesia yang telah rusak. Potensi keanekaragaman hayati yang dikandungnya memiliki peran dan posisi yang penting dalam peta biodiversitas Indonesia. Telah diketahui bahwa bahkan di dalam hutan alam yang telah mencapai klimaks pun, kondisinya tidak statis akan tetapi dinamis. Karena beberapa sebab alami maupun anthropogenic-driven dapat membuat eksositem yang sehat ini berubah menjadi eksosistem yang terdegradasi. Kita memang mengakui bahwa disturbances atau gangguan tersebut terkadang diperlukan bagi keberlanjutan beberapa spesies untuk berkembang biak seperti halnya Pinus merkusii yang memang tumbuh baik di daerah yang secara frekuensi sering terbakar atau prescribed burning. Namun kini gangguan hutan karena sebab manusia atau antropogenic-driven disturbances semakin menjadi trend. Penambangan di daerah kawasan konservasi baik legal maupun illegal mulai merambah kawasan dan mengubah eksosistem menjadi habitat yang terdegradasi. Sedikit atau banyak, kerusakan hutan tetap akan berpengaruh terhadap banyak hal. Antara lain kekhawatiran akan bertambah parahnya tingkat pemanasan global, perubahan iklim, bencana alam kekeringan, banjir dan tanah longsor. Kondisi ekosistem hutan yang sudah terdegradasi serta mengalami deforestasi menuntut segera dilakukan upaya pemulihan sehingga kawasan hutan dapat kembali berfungsi sebagaimana mestinya.
Suksesi ekologi adalah konsep yang mendasar dalam ekologi, yang merujuk pada perubahan-perubahan berangkai dalam struktur dan komposisi suatu komunitas ekologi yang dapat diramalkan. Suksesi dapat terinisiasi oleh terbentuknya formasi baru suatu habitat yang sebelumnya tidak dihuni oleh mahluk hidup ataupun oleh adanya gangguan terhadap komunitas hayati yang telah ada sebelumnya oleh kebakaran, badai, maupun penebangan hutan. Kasus yang pertama sering disebut juga sebagai suksesi primer, sedangkan kasus kedua disebut sebagai suksesi sekunder. Dengan demikian suksesi ekologi adalah suatu proses perubahan komponen-komponen spesies suatu komunitas selama selang waktu tertentu. Menyusul adanya sebuah gangguan, suatu ekosistem biasanya akan berkembang dari mulai tingkat organisasi sederhana (misalnya beberapa spesies dominan) hingga ke komunitas yang lebih kompleks (banyak spesies yang interdependen) selama beberapa generasi Restorasi adalah pengembalian suatu ekosistem atau habitat kepada struktur komunitas, komplemen alami spesies, atau fungsi alami aslinya (WRI, IUCN, UNEP; 1995). Retorasi, merupakan pemulihan melalui suatu reintroduksi secara aktif dengan spesies yang semula ada, sehingga mencapai struktur dan komposisi spesies seperti semula. Tujauannya untuk mengembalikan struktur, fungsi, kenekragaman dan dinamika suatu ekosistem yang dituju (Society for Ecological Restoration 199 dalam Primack, R.B. dkk, 1998).