Data from: Restoration and repair of Earth's damaged ecosystems

Given that few ecosystems on Earth have been unaffected by humans,
restoring them holds great promise for stemming the biodiversity crisis
and ensuring ecosystem services are provided to humanity. Nonetheless, few
studies have documented the recovery of ecosystems globally or the rates
at which ecosystems recover. Even fewer have addressed the added benefit
of actively restoring ecosystems versus allowing them to recover without
human intervention following the cessation of a disturbance. Our meta
analysis of 400 studies worldwide that document recovery from large-scale
disturbances, such as oil spills, agriculture, and logging, suggests that
though ecosystems are progressing towards recovery following disturbances,
they rarely recover completely. This result reinforces conservation of
intact ecosystems as a key strategy for protecting biodiversity. Recovery
rates slowed down with time since the disturbance ended, suggesting that
the final stages of recovery are the most challenging to achieve. Active
restoration did not result in faster or more complete recovery than simply
ending the disturbances ecosystems face. Our results on the added benefit
of restoration must be interpreted cautiously, because few studies
directly compared different restoration actions in the same location after
the same disturbance. The lack of consistent value added of active
restoration following disturbance suggests that passive recovery should be
considered as a first option; if recovery is slow then active restoration
actions should be better tailored to overcome specific obstacles to
recovery and achieve restoration goals. We call for more strategic
investment of limited restoration resources into innovative collaborative
efforts between scientists, local communities, and practitioners to
develop restoration techniques that are ecologically, economically, and
socially viable.