NOAA Restoration Center

"Habitat restoration is the process of reestablishing a self-sustaining habitat that, in time, can come to closely resemble a natural condition in terms of structure and function. Measures to monitor the success of restoration projects should include evaluations of these attributes. Structural success criteria include characteristics of the habitat’s water quality, sediment type, hydrodynamic properties, topography, morphology, flora and fauna. Functional success criteria include nutrient cycling, oxygen production, persistence and resilience of the created habitat, biomass production, and linkages to adjacent ecological systems. Achieving success is not a pass/fail test; rather, it is the measurement of gradual progress toward ecological recovery. The annotated bibliography presented in this publication is the result of an intensive literature search on restoration success criteria and monitoring protocols"--Introduction.

Technical Memorandum

United States