Abstract
Globally, forests cover nearly one third of the land area and they contain over 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. Both the extent and quality of forest habitat continue to decrease and the associated loss of biodiversity jeopardizes forest ecosystem functioning and the ability of forests to provide ecosystem services. In the light of the increasing population pressure, it is of major importance not only to conserve, but also to restore forest ecosystems.Ecological restoration has recently started to adopt insights from the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) perspective. Central is the focus on restoring the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Here we provide an overview of important considerations related to forest restoration that can be inferred from this BEF-perspective.Restoring multiple forest functions requires multiple species. It is highly unlikely that species-poor plantations, which may be optimal for above-ground biomass production, will outperform species diverse assemblages for a combination of functions, including overall carbon storage and control over water and nutrient flows. Restoring stable forest functions also requires multiple species. In particular in the light of global climatic change scenarios, which predict more frequent extreme disturbances and climatic events, it is important to incorporate insights from the relation between biodiversity and stability of ecosystem functioning into forest restoration projects. Rather than focussing on species per se, focussing on functional diversity of tree species assemblages seems appropriate when selecting tree species for restoration. Finally, also plant genetic diversity and above - below-ground linkages should be considered during the restoration process, as these likely have prominent but until now poorly understood effects at the level of the ecosystem.The BEF-approach provides a useful framework to evaluate forest restoration in an ecosystem functioning context, but it also highlights that much remains to be understood, especially regarding the relation between forest functioning on the one side and genetic diversity and above-ground-below-ground species associations on the other. The strong emphasis of the BEF-approach on functional rather than taxonomic diversity may also be the beginning of a paradigm shift in restoration ecology, increasing the tolerance towards allochthonous species.
Highlights
Loss of forest biodiversity may seriously jeopardize the functioning of forest ecosystems, and the ability of forest to provide ecosystem services [23]
To meet the increasing demands for ecosystem services provided by forests - in particular the many provisioning services of forests as many people heavily rely on forests for livelihoods and products such as timber, medicines, thatch, fiber and meat [1] - large-scale forest restoration is probably the only solution that will be effective in the long term [28,29,30]
The main aim of this article is to discuss how forest restoration may benefit from insights originating from the emerging biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) framework
Summary
The BEF approach provides a useful framework to evaluate forest restoration in an ecosystem functioning context. It highlights different aspects of forest restoration that do not always receive sufficient attention in the more traditional approaches to restoration. At the same time the BEF framework confronts us with huge knowledge gaps still present in restoration science. The mechanistic understanding of how plant functional traits and their mutual interactions affect ecosystem functioning, understanding the role of genetic diversity in ecosystem functioning, and acquiring insights in the interactions between below-ground biodiversity and forest functioning and restoration success, are the most urgent research needs
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