Developing strategies that restore the capacity for self-repair to sites in positive feedback degradation spirals is an important challenge for ecological restoration. Contemporary ecological theory describes this catastrophic change as a transition threshold that inhibits natural recovery. Restored or otherwise healthy ecosystems capture and retain limiting resources through a combination of biotic and abiotic controls over resource flows. During degradation, resource leakage increases as the dominant mechanisms of control shift from biotic to abiotic processes. Although each ecosystem has a unique combination of processes contributing to proper functioning, healthy ecosystems have sustainable resources fluxes, often dominated by biotic control mechanisms. In contrast, the recovery of severely depleted, leaky ecosystems often requires the capture and retention of additional resources. In the absence of biotic control mechanisms, physical features, ranging in scale from micro-depressions to concave landforms, can both capture and retain limiting resources. These naturally occurring resource sinks suggest management opportunities for initiating autogenic restoration that ultimately improves biotic control mechanisms. Ultimately, the recovery of damaged ecosystems requires the repair of both abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems. The challenge of ecological restoration is in determining the minimum intervention necessary to initiate positive feedback improvement systems.
