Ecological restoration is a growing field in many parts of the world. Although it started
as a field of practitioners in the Midwest of the USA, restoration is currently growing
rapidly as an academic discipline. In this paper the development of ecological restoration
is discussed by relating it to the propagated Mode 2 for the dynamics of science
and research in contemporary societies, that is, the shift from traditional discipline-
based research (Mode 1) to a problem-solving and transdisciplinary form of
science (Mode 2). It is argued that ecological restoration as understood here at times
includes the elements that have been claimed to indicate a Mode 2 form of science,
but the historical extrapolation of the development of restoration discloses a social
shifting of boundaries back-and-forth on an ongoing recursive loop between the
two forms of science. This suggests a recursive interdependence between the two
Modes, including phases of ‘re-traditionalization’ back to Mode 1, rather than a general
replacement of discipline-based research.