Restoration of degraded landscapes has become necessary to reverse the pervasive threats from human exploitation. Restoration requires first the monitoring of progress toward any chosen goals to determine their resilience and persistence, and second to conduct in a comparable adjacent area but with less human impact the restoration of trophic structures and ecosystem processes to act as reference systems (controls) with which we compare the viability of the chosen goal. We present here the rationale and a method for predicting the trajectory of restoration and assessing its progress toward a predetermined state, the endpoint, using a restoration index. This assessment of restoration requires that we know when a predetermined endpoint has been achieved and whether the envisioned community of species and their interactions can be restored. The restoration index can use species’ presence or density, and the rate of change of ecosystem processes. The index applies to trophic levels, functional groups, successional stages, alternative states, and novel ecosystems. Also, our method allows measurement of the resilience of ecosystems to disturbance, a desired property for conservation and management. We provide global examples to illustrate these points.

中文翻译：

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预测和评估生态系统恢复的进展

恢复退化的景观对于扭转人类剥削造成的普遍威胁已变得十分必要。恢复需要首先监测任何选定目标的进展情况，以确定其复原力和持久性，其次要在可比较的相邻区域进行，但对人类的影响较小，恢复营养结构和生态系统过程，以用作参考系统（控制）。我们比较所选目标的可行性。我们在这里介绍使用恢复指数预测恢复轨迹并评估其向预定状态（终点）进展的原理和方法。。对恢复的评估要求我们知道何时达到预定的终点，以及是否可以恢复设想的物种群落及其相互作用。恢复指数可以利用物种的存在或密度以及生态系统过程的变化率。该指数适用于营养级别，功能组，演替阶段，替代状态和新型生态系统。同样，我们的方法可以测量生态系统对干扰的复原力，这是保护和管理的理想属性。我们提供了全球示例来说明这些观点。