Classroom Resources: Wounds That Can Heal

by Marguerite Holloway

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Discussion Questions

1.     What search criteria did Jones and Schmitz use for their study? To what extent might those criteria have affected the outcome, and how might you have modified the search for a more general result on restoration success?

2.     Have you ever heard of the field of conservation psychology? Or environmental psychology? If so, what was your general understanding of them before reading the article?

3.     How might information from these fields of psychology help society to develop and implement more effective conservation projects?

4.     What factors may impede authors from reporting failure in a project? How could those factors be overcome in order to better understand when and where projects succeed or fail?

Websites for Further Information

  • Conservation psychology network: http://www.conservationpsychology.org/
  • Conservation psychology resource list: http://faculty.wwu.edu/gmyers/cp/
  • Society for Ecological Restoration International: http://www.ser.org/

Restoration Ecology in the News

Nature 2.0: Redefining conservation (New Scientist, July 7, 2008): http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926631.400-nature-20-redefining-conservation.html?full=true

A new chestnut (The Atlantic, June 2003): http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/06/a-new-chestnut/2742/

Tracking the results of salmon habitat restoration (U.S. News and World Report, April 13, 2009): http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2009/04/13/tracking-the-results-of-salmon-habitat-restoration.html

Key Concepts

  • Restoration ecology
  • Resilience
  • Definitions of success
  • Conservation psychology