BOOK REVIEW

Assembly Rules and RestorationEcology: Bridging the Gap BetweenTheory and Practice

Vicky M. Temperton, Richard J. Hobbs,Tim Nuttle, and Stefan Halle, editors.2004. Island Press, Washington, D.C.,439 pages, $45, ISBN 15596–337–51(paperback).

Acriticism of restoration ecologyas currently practiced is that it

is not founded on any solid concep-tual basis. The argument goes thatrestoration ecology consists ofnumerous case studies from whicha nice story may be told but inwhich predictive capacities and gen-eralizability are lacking. Numerousobservers and practitioners havenoted the urgent need for restora-tion ecology to fill this conceptualhole to increase the success ofrestoration projects. In light of thiscriticism, several books have beenproduced in the past few years at-tempting to provide such a founda-tion for restoration ecology. Thecurrent volume is a further and wel-comed addition to this dialogue.

The title and subtitle tell thereader clearly about the contentsand aims of the book, that is, todetermine if the rules that causelocal communities to assemble ofparticular regional species dictatethe outcome of restoration ecology.What the reader will find insideof the covers of this book are pa-pers based on presentations givenat an international workshop called‘‘Assembly Rules in the Regenera-tion of Ecosystems’’ held near Jena,Germany, in fall 2001. The main aimof the workshop and of this book

was to show how assembly rulesalong with succession theory couldbe useful in forming a conceptualbasis for restoration ecology as wellas to provide guidelines for man-agers and restoration practitioners.Because of these goals, the book isof interest to a wide range of peopleincluding scientists, students, man-agers, and restoration practitioners.The writing is clear and scientificwithout being boring or pedantic.The book has no glossary, but thatshould not be a great hindrance toany reader. Each chapter has its ownreference section, instead of a largelisting of citations at the back of thebook. Overall, I found the book tobe well and clearly laid-out, a com-mon feature with other books fromthis publisher.The book is divided into five parts

dealing with various aspects ofassembly rules and their relation-ship to restoration ecology. Part 1contains several chapters that pro-vide introductions to the conceptualissues involved. All these chaptersprovide a wealth of up-to-date in-formation. The overview of currentrestoration ecology practice high-lights the weaknesses of restora-tion ecology but points out to thereader where improvements havebeen made. The chapter introducingassembly rules is exceptional partic-ularly because the chapter gives thehistory and current thinking on thisconcept. The idea of assembly rules,which is based on island biogeogra-phy, is still a young and evolvingconcept, with different ‘‘schools’’ ofthought (the narrowly defined, bi-otic-only view vs. the inclusive, abi-otic, and biotic interactions view).Both schools emphasize the dy-namic nature of assembly rules, aperspective mentioned in many ofthe chapters. These conceptual chap-ters in the first part of the bookwould make good review materialfor any ecology class and a good ref-erence source for students as well asmanagers.

The relationship between theideas of ecological filters and assem-bly rules is the focus of the chaptersin Part 2. The chapters by Hobbsand Norton (Chapter 5) and Belyea(Chapter 7) provide good overviewsof the filter concept and how filtersmay change over time and space asconditions change. Similar to Part 1of the book, these chapters empha-size the dynamic nature of ecologi-cal systems. After reading thesechapters, I came away with a betterunderstanding of these concepts butcould not shake the feeling thatthere is much overlap between thefilter and assembly rules conceptsand that any differences expressedmay be only semantic in nature.These problems may need to beresolved via more discussion amongthose who work in these disciplines.

Parts 3 and 4 contain case studiesshowing how assembly rules maybe used to explain the developmentof plant or animal communities innatural areas and restoration sites.These range from self-organizationin plankton communities (Chapter8) to the importance of mycorrhizalassociations for restoring plant com-munities (Chapter 10). Of specialnote to those of us in the CzechRepublic is that there has beensome good work conducted hereon mycorrhizal associations and res-toration that has been included inthis book. Other chapters are con-cerned with restoring communitieson highly degraded lands. The Chap-ter 16 by Anthony Bradshaw, whobrings at least 40 years of experienceto the restoration of plant communi-ties on acidic mine lands, is of ex-ceptional note.

The little discussed relationshipbetween disturbance and assemblyrules is the focus of Part 5. Whiteand Jentsch (Chapter 17) providea very good review of the distur-bance concept and its place in eco-logical theory and history. Thediscussion of the importance of dis-turbance and how it is useful for

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Book Review

successfully developing the desiredcommunity trajectory in a restora-tion project is quite enlightening.The two other chapters in this sec-tion are case studies that incorporatethe ideas discussed in the chapterby White and Jentsch.

Overall, this is a well-writtenbook with clear writing that con-tains little fat. The book readilymeets its desired aims, as expressedin the introductory chapter. How-ever, as the editors point out in theconcluding chapter, very few resto-ration projects have explicitly usedthe ideas expressed in this book.Thus, there is much room for newand improved studies that study theimpact of assembly rules in restora-tion projects. The editors should be

commended for being so forthrightin their pronouncements. I foundthis to be a refreshing and encourag-ing aspect of this book. Also, manyof the authors provided guidelinesthat they thought would be of use inthe practice of restoration ecology,especially in terms of developingrestoration projects or in makingchanges to already existing projects(especially Chapters 7 and 17).These recommendations are notdirected toward any particularsituation instead are general guide-lines to help practitioners answersuch questions as to whether a res-toration is following a desired tra-jectory or, if not, what correctivemeasures could be taken to movethe system to the desired state.

Many of the authors do not followa traditional equilibrium view ofecology instead consider that alter-nate states may ultimately developon a restoration site.

This book is a welcome and illu-minating contribution to the grow-ing literature on the need for a solid,conceptual basis in restoration ecol-ogy. The book would be a usefuladdition to the book collections ofrestoration practioners, students,and academics.

Keith R. Edwards, Faculty of BiologicalSciences, University of South Bohemia in

Ceske Budejovice, Branisovska 31, 37005

Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. Emailkredwards59@yahoo.com

Book Review

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