Where to restore: Connectivity forest for spatial prioritization in forest landscape restoration
Xiaoming Wang,
Johan Svensson,
Bengt Gunnar Jonsson,
Navinder J. Singh,
Jakub W. Bubnicki,
Andrés Lopéz-Peinado,
Per Angelstam,
Grzegorz Mikusiński,
Jonas Ardö
Affiliations
Xiaoming Wang
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Johan Svensson
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 901 83 Umeå, Sweden; Corresponding author
Bengt Gunnar Jonsson
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 901 83 Umeå, Sweden; Department of Natural Sciences, Design and Sustainable Development, Mid Sweden University, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden
Navinder J. Singh
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Jakub W. Bubnicki
Population Ecology, Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, 17-230 Białowieża, Poland
Andrés Lopéz-Peinado
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 901 83 Umeå, Sweden
Per Angelstam
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, University of Inland Norway, Campus Evenstad, 2480 Koppang, Norway
Grzegorz Mikusiński
School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 739 21 Skinnskatteberg, Sweden; Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 730 91 Riddarhyttan, Sweden
Jonas Ardö
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
Summary: Forest loss, fragmentation, and transformation negatively impact forest biodiversity and ecosystem functionality worldwide. Improving landscape intactness and connectivity through restoration is critical. Determining where to restore remains, however, a challenge. As an approach for prioritizing restoration areas, we define connectivity forest (CFs) as forests outside recognized high conservation value forests (HCVFs) with capacity to support landscape-scale connectivity and green infrastructure (GI) functionality. Across a 1.3 million-ha watershed in boreal Sweden, we identified approximately 130,500 ha of CFs, equal to double the current HCVF area. By integrating CFs with consecutively lower HCVF probabilities, we demonstrate planning implementation at lower to higher ambition levels and identified specific restoration hotspots to guide local-scale restoration planning. Our CF approach has clear implications for efficient spatial targeting of restoration in forest regions where improving conservation in balance with continued forestry for wood production is required to meet national and international biodiversity and environmental goals.
