Human population growth and increased land-use change and natural resource consumption have led to ecosystem degradation as well as habitat loss or fragmentation. Humans are significantly changing our world often with negative repercussions such as species extinctions. As biodiversity declines, most conservationists and scientists have wanted to determine what happens to ecosystem function as species are lost. Ecosystem restoration projects offer an exciting opportunity for exploring the alternative, innovative question: what happens to ecosystem function as additional species are added to a newly restored system? This symposium will address key questions about biodiversity and ecosystem restoration and investigate how to incorporate our understanding of the role of biodiversity in ecosystems to improve restoration efforts. We have chosen two key questions of interest to ecologists and restoration practitioners: How does increasing species diversity affect the provisioning and stability of ecosystem functions? Can ecosystem restoration be an effective tool to protect and preserve biodiversity? In this symposium biodiversity will be broadly defined to include species and functional diversity. We will examine the role of biodiversity in a broad spectrum of restored ecosystems including wetlands, prairies, cloud forests, temperate forests, and the Arctic. Given the focus on diversity of this symposium, it is fitting that this symposium will also feature a diversity of speakers including international scientists. The speakers represent both established ecologists as well as members of the next generation of scientists facing the challenges of ecology in a changing world. Speakers will talk about topics of general interest supported by examples from their work. This symposium is meant to integrate biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) with restoration ecology, to understand how each field can benefit from or contribute to the other, and how both fields can help direct human activities toward a more sustainable future. This symposium will involve exchanges that will clarify the role of biodiversity in restorations and enlighten future restoration efforts as well as biodiversity conservation efforts. The conclusion of the symposium will be a brief discussion synthesizing the main highlights of the symposium followed by a general discussion with the audience.