Karen Holl

Karen D. Holl is a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she has taught courses and advised students on research and internships related to ecological restoration for more than 20 years. She has studied the restoration of ecosystems around the globe. She is an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, and the 2017 co-winner of the Theodore Sperry Award of the Society for Ecological Restoration. She has served as chair of the Environmental Studies Department and as the faculty director of the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Primer of Ecological Restoration

The pace, intensity, and scale at which humans have altered our planet in recent decades is unprecedented. We have dramatically transformed landscapes and waterways through agriculture, logging, mining, and fire suppression, with drastic impacts on public health and human well-being. What can we do to counteract and even reverse the worst of these effects? Restore damaged ecosystems.

The Primer of Ecological Restoration is a succinct introduction to the theory and practice of ecological restoration as a strategy to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems.

Foundations of Restoration Ecology

The practice of ecological restoration, firmly grounded in the science of restoration ecology, provides governments, organizations, and landowners a means to halt degradation and restore function and resilience to ecosystems stressed by climate change and other pressures on the natural world. Foundational theory is a critical component of the underlying science, providing valuable insights into restoring ecological systems effectively and understanding why some efforts to restore systems can fail.