We examine the efficiency with which a suite of ecosystem services can be restored by different reforestation configurations. We use spatial analysis to quantify the ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies of five equal-area, large-scale bottomland hardwood reforestation scenarios for a study area in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Each reforestation configuration is designed to achieve a different environmental objective: nutrient retention, intact riparian and floodplain areas, forest breeding bird habitat, and black bear habitat connectivity. Random reforestation of the same area is also created to represent an opportunistically driven scenario. The opportunistic reforestation delivered services between 85% and 94% less efficiently than targeted reforestation. We also find a distinct service trade-off between reforestation to address water quality and reforestation to provide habitat for large vertebrates. This analysis underscores the importance of spatially quantifying ecosystem services and their trade-offs when seeking to optimize the ecosystem service benefits of restoration.
Mapping trade-offs in ecosystem services from reforestation in the Mississippi alluvial valley
Year: 2016
