Reconsidering what enclosure and exclosure mean in restoration ecology

There is ambiguity in the use of the terms “enclosure” and “exclosure” in describing the passive method used for the restoration of degraded ecosystems. We argue that in the context of ecological restoration, the term enclosure is generally more appropriate to use than exclosure. Unlike exclosure, the term enclosure focuses on the degraded area to be restored, does not exclude selective permeability of external factors, and potentially accommodates local people's livelihood needs. However, the term exclosure is appropriate to use in the case of experimental exclosures or management of restoration sites which explicitly exclude specific disturbance factors.