Taxa endemic to some deep-sea ecosystems have patchy distributions and populations (or meta-populations) that may be connected and interdependent

among sites at spatial scales relevant to maintenance of populations and gene flow. There are thus spatial and temporal dynamics, often on relatively large scales, GSK458 datasheet that make it challenging to understand how well a particular restoration effort fits into a larger landscape. Similarly, there are external threats to the health and integrity of restored deep-sea ecosystems (e.g., global changes in ocean circulation resulting from a warming climate) that may be impossible to avoid or minimize through restoration efforts, because of the physico-chemical connectivity of deep-sea ecosystems resulting from ocean circulation. Because

these ecosystems may be inter-connected with other ecosystems [44], we may consistently underestimate the entire suite of extended benefits that results from restoration (or that is lost due to damage). Further, governance of deep-sea ecosystems is an emergent property at both national and international levels. These points should not preclude consideration of deep-sea restoration Tacrolimus cell line efforts, but they do highlight some of the challenges that restoration practitioners working in the deep sea will need to take into account. A key challenge to promoting ecological restoration is to clarify and prioritize restoration opportunities. The basic decision parameters that determine whether or not to restore fall into at least three broad categories of decision parameters: socio-economic, ecological, and technological, within which there are multiple subcategories

(Table 1). Socio-economic factors reflect aspects of restoration that are likely to benefit people, impose costs on them, or are otherwise influenced by societal factors. Ecological factors reflect the ecological contribution of the proposed restoration activities. Technical factors deal with the real world difficulties of conducting restoration and the ultimate likelihood that Beta adrenergic receptor kinase restoration efforts will be successful. Specific factors and considerations that influence the decision to restore or not to restore ultimately lie with the stakeholders involved. The authors of this paper—whose expertise spans deep-sea ecology, ecological restoration and restoration practice, economics, ocean governance and policy, environmental management related to seafloor mineral extraction, and human ecology—convened in Sète France (November 2012) and considered how the decision parameters in Table 1 would apply to three specific case studies. As a comparison for deep-sea restoration, we chose one non-deep-sea case study, namely on-going restoration of 160 ha of saltmarsh in San Francisco South Bay that had been lost through coastal development. We also selected two different deep-sea habitats as hypothetical cases for restoration.