Wang Xiaoming, Svensson Johan, Jonsson Bengt Gunnar, Singh Navinder J, Bubnicki Jakub W, Lopéz-Peinado Andrés, Angelstam Per, Mikusiński Grzegorz, Ardö Jonas
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.
iScience. 2025 Aug 8;28(9):113263. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113263. eCollection 2025 Sep 19.
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.
森林丧失、破碎化和转变对全球森林生物多样性和生态系统功能产生负面影响。通过恢复来改善景观完整性和连通性至关重要。然而，确定恢复地点仍然是一项挑战。作为一种确定恢复区域优先级的方法，我们将连通性森林（CFs）定义为公认的高保护价值森林（HCVFs）之外的森林，这些森林有能力支持景观尺度的连通性和绿色基础设施（GI）功能。在瑞典北部一个面积达130万公顷的流域内，我们确定了约130500公顷的连通性森林，相当于当前高保护价值森林面积的两倍。通过将连通性森林与连续降低的高保护价值森林概率相结合，我们展示了从较低到较高目标水平的规划实施，并确定了具体的恢复热点地区，以指导地方尺度的恢复规划。我们的连通性森林方法对于森林地区恢复的有效空间定位具有明确意义，在这些地区，需要在与持续的木材生产林业保持平衡的情况下改善保护，以实现国家和国际生物多样性及环境目标。
