A global meta-analysis on the ecological drivers of forest restoration success
Open accessAbstract
Two billion ha have been identified globally for forest restoration. Our meta-analysis encompassing 221 study landscapes worldwide reveals forest restoration enhances biodiversity by 15–84% and vegetation structure by 36–77%, compared with degraded ecosystems. For the first time, we identify the main ecological drivers of forest restoration success (defined as a return to a reference condition, that is, old-growth forest) at both the local and landscape scale. These are as follows: the time elapsed since restoration began, disturbance type and landscape context. The time elapsed since restoration began strongly drives restoration success in secondary forests, but not in selectively logged forests (which are more ecologically similar to reference systems). Landscape restoration will be most successful when previous disturbance is less intensive and habitat is less fragmented in the landscape. Restoration does not result in full recovery of biodiversity and vegetation structure, but can complement old-growth forests if there is sufficient time for ecological succession.
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Values of biodiversity and vegetation structure after forest restoration remained below those found in old-growth forests.
“A global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase biodiversity (mammals, birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and plants) by 15-84% and vegetation structure (biomass, cover, stem density, and height or amount of leaf litter) by 36-77% above degraded ecosystems-although values remained below those found in old-growth forests (119).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [119]
The Results section reports that biodiversity and vegetation-structure values in restored systems were lower than in reference systems. The comparison does not establish the result specifically for old-growth forests: the paper's reference systems also included less-disturbed forests. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase biodiversity (mammals, birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and plants) by 15-84% above degraded ecosystems.
“A global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase biodiversity (mammals, birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and plants) by 15-84% and vegetation structure (biomass, cover, stem density, and height or amount of leaf litter) by 36-77% above degraded ecosystems-although values remained below those found in old-growth forests (119).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [119]
A global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase vegetation structure (biomass, cover, stem density, and height or amount of leaf litter) by 36-77% above degraded ecosystems.
“A global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase biodiversity (mammals, birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and plants) by 15-84% and vegetation structure (biomass, cover, stem density, and height or amount of leaf litter) by 36-77% above degraded ecosystems-although values remained below those found in old-growth forests (119).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [119]
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“A global meta-analysis found that forest restoration can increase biodiversity (mammals, birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and plants) by 15–84% and vegetation structure (biomass, cover, stem density, and height or amount of leaf litter) by 36–77% above degraded ecosystems—although values remained below those found…”
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- Authors
- Crouzeilles, R., Curran, M., Ferreira, M. S., Lindenmayer, D. B., Grelle, C. E. V., & Rey Benayas, J. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (BR)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Crouzeilles, Renato
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2016-05-19
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11666-11666
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4874030
- OpenAlex
- W2398582793
- Cited by
- 652
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 87 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 89 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 4
- FWCI
- 4.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- e_Buah (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ETH Zürich Research Collection (cc-by)
- Funders
- Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
- Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Keywords
- forest restoration, restoration success, ecological drivers, biodiversity recovery, vegetation structure, old-growth forest, secondary forest, selective logging, disturbance intensity, habitat fragmentation, landscape context, ecological succession, degraded ecosystems
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biodiversity, Environmental Restoration and Remediation, Forests
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