Towards an integrated perspective of biological conservation and ecological restoration

Biological conservation and ecological restoration differ in their motivations, objectives, and dominant concepts. These differences translate into a dichotomy between the two disciplines in academia, which we illustrate through a review of the scientific literature. Conversely, in practice, conservation and restoration are part of an environmental management continuum and are often used as complementary tools. While we found an increasing transdisciplinary trend in the literature, there is much room for improvement. Optimized implementation of conservation and restoration actions is critical for addressing the increasing pressures of global change and we propose steps to better integrate the two disciplines.