Biodiversity in timber tree plantations and plantation-dominated landscapes

Approximately 1/3rd of global timber is sourced from timber tree plantations. However, these areas can sometimes have important values for biodiversity. In this review, we examined the factors affecting biodiversity in timber tree plantations and plantation-dominated landscapes. We found that many factors can influence how biodiversity responds to the establishment and management of plantations, including (1) the type of environment and land use that existed prior to plantation establishment (e.g., an intact native forest versus an already cleared pasture); (2) the completeness of the land cover conversion to a plantation, and whether any biological legacies remain; (3) plantation proximity to native vegetation and the presence and location of plantations as part of a mosaic of vegetation types in a landscape; (4) the plantation tree species or mix of species established; (5) the silvicultural practices used to manage a plantation (e.g., thinning, coppicing, clearcutting); and (6) how plantations modify key ecological processes that can affect biodiversity such as altered fire regimes and hydrological regimes. This broad range of factors means that the response of biodiversity to plantations will often be highly context dependent. Based on an understanding of these factors, we outline strategies for plantation establishment and management that can enhance biodiversity conservation in plantations. The extent to which these factors are embraced will be highly context specific and vary, for example, on whether plantation management is more closely allied with a land sharing versus a land sparing model. Greater consideration of approaches to maintain biodiversity will be required in a land sharing model for plantations and these could include (1) completing detailed land assessments and plantation planning prior to plantation establishment; (2) retaining more key biological legacies from the previous land cover type within plantations; (3) considering the mix of timber tree species that comprise plantations, including whether they are a polyculture; (4) managing stand-level interventions; (5) maintaining aspects of landscape heterogeneity within plantations and across landscapes where plantations are part of the landscape mosaic; (6) controlling invasive plant and animal species within plantations and more broadly across plantation-dominated landscapes; and (7) limiting the number of potentially interacting factors that can affect biodiversity and key ecosystem process in plantations.