La restauración de ecosistemas constituye una disciplina en auge con una demanda creciente de profesionales. Ello se debe tanto a la necesidad de remediar el deterioro creciente de los ecosistemas provocado por las actividades humanas, como al desafio científico que constituyen los ecosistemas restaurados. Diferentes gremios profesionales convluyen en esta disciplina, aunque la ciencia de la Ecología juega un papel central. A lo largo de las páginas de este libro se aborda la problematica de la restauración de ecosistemas mediterráneos de mano de numerosos expertos en diferentes facetas de la restauración de ecosistemas.

Ecology is the study of the interrelationships between organisms and their environment, including the biotic and abiotic components. There are at least six kinds of ecology: ecosystem, physiological, behavioural, population, and community. Specific topics include: Acid Deposition, Acid Rain Revisited, Biodiversity, Biocomplexity, Carbon Sequestration in Soils, Coral Reefs, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Fire Ecology, Floods, Global Climate Change, Hypoxia, and Invasion. This new book presents new research on dealing with forest ecosystems.

The continuously growing human population along the world’s coasts will exacerbate the impact of human activities on all coastal environments. Restoration activities will therefore become increasingly important. In particular, sandy shores and coastal dunes will require significant restoration efforts because they are preferred sites for human settlement, industrial and urban development and tourism. With this book experts in the field present a comprehensive review of restoration studies and activities, where ‘successful’ and ‘failed’ studies or approaches from around the world are contrasted and compared. A major asset the book provides is a compendium of studies showing that coastal dune restoration has many definitions and thus leads to many different actions. This volume addresses those with an interest in conservation ecology and biology, coastal dune dynamics and geomorphology, and coastal management who are seeking information on the different strategies for coastal dune restoration applied in different regions of the world. Finally, it will be a valuable resource for coastal scientists and planners, as well as for local and state officials, residents of coastal communities, environmental advocates and developers.

This book has been published a decade after Fires Effects on Ecosystems by DeBano, Neary, and Folliott (1998), and builds on their foundation to update knowledge on natural post-fire processes and describe the use and effectiveness of various restoration strategies that may be applied when human intervention is warranted. The chapters in this book,