Society for Ecological restoration Liverpool 2000 Reflections on the past directions for the future Abstracts PREFACE This volume contains the 332 abstracts of all the contributions, whether oral or poster, to SER 2000. They give an excellent overview of what restoration ecology is about at the start of the new millenium. It is clear that there is a wealth of opportunities for restoration, to which a wealth of ideas are being applied. Restoration is no longer, in most cases, just putting back a plant cover of any sort, but putting back a carefully constructed mixture of species which restores original biodiversity and is self sustaining This cannot be done without the support of good science, careful application of established and new techniques, and the wise involvement of people. There is, however, an understandable tendency amongst practitioners who want to get on with the job, who perhaps form the majority of the membership of SER, to get on with the job and record little about what was done. By this we can all gain personal experience, but learn little from each other’s mistakes and successes. These abstracts, which record, if only briefly, what has worked and what has not, therefore have great value. With the remarkable wealth of offers it has not been possible for everyone to make an oral presentation, and many have opted for a poster presentation anyway. So no distinction is made between the two sorts of offers because none is deserved. The posters merit as much attention as the oral papers, and will be given excellent exposure in Liverpool’s great St Georges Hall, before the Conference Dinner. The abstracts would not have been assembled without the hard work of the SER2000 office, Richard Scott, Vicky Keen and Alex Kraberg, to whom we should all be very grateful. We hope there are no errors but if there are, please forgive us - time was not on our side. Tony Bradshaw Chair SER 2000 Programme Committee