Restaurando la funcionalidad de los ecosistemas: La importancia de las interacciones entre especies

Abstract

Restoration of natural ecosystems has traditionally focused on recovering specific richness to recover ecosystem functionality. However, species within a natural ecosystem are not isolated, they interact with others forming complex ecological networks. We know that human activities (such as selective logging or agriculture expansion) modify the structure of these interaction networks, with important effects on the functionality of ecosystems. Despite this, we still do not know whether techniques implemented today are able to restore the structure of these networks and their related functionality. In this article, we expose the reasons why we believe that restoration should consider the structure of the networks of species interactions. We review how the different types of disturbances affect this structure and we propose possible avenues for the study and application of these ideas. We hope that this perspective will help improve the management of the natural environment in response to global change. © 2019 Los Autores.