A journey through space and time: impact of forest planning approaches on spatio-temporal habitat connectivity

ContextBiodiversity and habitat protection are becoming increasingly important components of forest planning. However, key ecological concepts of spatial and temporal connectivity are often overlooked in planning studies. To effectively integrate biodiversity protection strategies into forest planning, we need to quantify their impacts on connectivity.ObjectivesWe evaluate the economic, ecological, and connectivity impacts of different forest planning approaches aiming at landscape multifunctionality in a boreal forest.MethodsWe use multi-objective optimization to develop four scenarios that maximize the combined economic and ecological value for a small, boreal forest landscape in Norway. The scenarios explore two key landscape planning dimensions: (1) land unit specialization , comparing functional segregation and Triad functional zoning, and (2) spatial configuration , comparing a mosaic landscape with a spatially clustered configuration.We evaluate each scenario for economic value (using net present value), ecological value (using deadwood volume and habitat availability), and spatio-temporal connectivity for three forest bird species of conservation interest over a 50-years planning horizon.ResultsWe find that the Triad functional zoning approach performs better in terms of deadwood volume and habitat availability with a slight degradation of economic performance when compared to the functional segregation approach. The Triad approach also sustains higher spatio-temporal connectivity of habitats on average for all species. Spatial clustering of conservation stands improves the economic value but decreases habitat availability and spatio-temporal connectivity.ConclusionsSpatial clustering does not lead to connectivity gains when the landscape provides very little habitat. Our results suggest that focus should be on improving habitat availability first, while species-specific connectivity patterns can inform managers on how to improve connectivity of existing habitats. Overall, the inclusion of connectivity as an assessment criterion improves the decision-making process when planning for species conservation in a managed forest landscape.