Integrate Biodiversity Conservation Research Articles

The use of biosphere reserves by a wide-ranging avian scavenger indicates its significant potential for conservation

SummaryThe framing of environmental conservation has been changing, mainly towards a reconciliation between human needs and nature conservation. A major challenge of biosphere reserves (BRs) is the integration of biodiversity conservation and the sustainable development of local communities. Although these areas are large, they are often not large enough to contain the movements of wide-ranging species. We studied immature Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) movements to evaluate their habitat use in relation to protected areas (PAs). We particularly aimed to determine whether BRs significantly increase the protection of this wide-ranging species. We analysed the movement overlap of 26 GPS-tagged birds with the PAs of Patagonia, and we evaluated preferences for particular landscape categories with a use–availability design. Condors were mainly located in unprotected areas (56.4%), whereas 26.4% of locations were within International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) PAs and 17.2% of locations were in BRs (not including IUCN PAs). When compared to availability, birds preferred BRs over other areas, highlighting the importance of BRs in protecting species that forage in humanized areas. However, the lack of controls and management policies expose condors to several threats, such as poisoning and persecution, in both private lands and BRs. Implementing strict management practices for BRs will help to conserve wide-ranging scavengers that feed in humanized areas.

Integrating biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services into operational plan of community forest in Nepal : status and gaps

After initiation of community forestry system in Nepal, the status of forest cover has improved due to significant roles of people in conservation, management and utilization of forest resources. As a result of increased productivity of the forest and restoration of degraded areas, forest users have been able to receive various economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits to strengthen their livelihood. Despite many positive outcomes of community forestry, there are still some factors which haven’t allowed the proper biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services maintenance. The study carried out on 100 operational plans from different parts of the country and it showed that the incorporation status of biodiversity and ecosystem services into community forest operational plan is worse despite the fact that such plan is the main component to lead the destination of any community forest. In addition to this, some gaps and challenges were observed in community forestry which have not favoured to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services management systematically at an optimum level. Among them, duplication problem of biodiversity and ecosystem services related issues in operational plan; timber oriented operational plan; limited provision about wildlife conservation and negative perception of people on wildlife and their conservation owing to human wildlife conflict; dominant socioeconomic factors; impact of introduced species, invasive and alien species; lacking in provision of adaptation and mitigation methods to cope with impact of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services and shrinking of biological corridor due to habitat fragmentation were major issues. Besides this, to address these issues, it was also identified from the national consultation workshop of forest officials and experts that most appropriate uniform methods, measures and mechanisms are needed to be developed for the complete assessment, prioritization, analysis and development of action plans to main stream biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services management into operational plan of community forestry.

Forest fragmentation and impacts of intensive agriculture: Responses from different tree functional groups.

Agricultural landscapes are seen as areas of extreme importance for studying and developing strategies which integrate biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services with food production. The main strategies for intensifying agriculture are based on conventional agricultural practices of frequently using inputs for fertilization and correcting soil pH. Some studies show that these practices generate impacts on nearby forest fragments through soil contamination and increasing nutrient content. The objective of this study was to identify the impacts on the functional groups of sciophilous (late successional/shade-tolerant species) and heliophilous (pioneer/sun-loving) species of a tree community of 14 forest fragments near pasture areas and agricultural areas under conventional practices, raising the hypothesis that higher-fertility forest fragments adjacent to intensive agriculture modify the floristic composition of the tree community. Consequently, this study is based on the following questions: i) Do forest fragments within intensive farming environments present differences in floristic composition of species?; ii) Does the soil fertility influence the tree species composition?; iii) Which variables influence species abundance and richness in the forest fragments with different types of use around their environment? The floristic composition of fragments close to agricultural areas are more similar to each other than the composition of fragments close to pasture areas. Furthermore, the General Linear Model (GLM) results show a clear influence of the intensive farming environment on the richness and abundance of the two functional groups in the forest fragments, directly benefiting the abundance of heliophilous species, which are also benefited by the greater declivity and smaller fragment area, while the abundance of sciophytes is negatively correlated with these last two variables. The increase of calcium content is beneficial for the richness of heliophilous species, while the increase in phosphorus content influences a reduction in the richness of sciophyte species, which also strongly respond to the isolation between fragments. The results indicate a dominance trend of pioneer species in fragments with nutritionally enriched soils, providing evidence that the intense adoption of inputs in cultivated areas causes concrete impacts on the diversity of the tree community.

Extinction risk of narrowly distributed species of seed plants in Brazil due to habitat loss and climate change.

In a world where changes in land cover and climate happen faster than ever due to the expansion of human activities, narrowly distributed species are predicted to be the first to go extinct. Studies projecting species extinction in tropical regions consider either habitat loss or climate change as drivers of biodiversity loss but rarely evaluate them together. Here, the contribution of these two factors to the extinction risk of narrowly distributed species (with ranges smaller than 10,000 km2) of seed plants endemic to a fifth-order watershed in Brazil (microendemics) is assessed. We estimated the Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI) of these watersheds (areas with microendemics) and projected three scenarios of land use up to the year 2100 based on the average annual rates of habitat loss in these watersheds from 2000 to 2014. These scenarios correspond to immediate conservation action (scenario 1), long-term conservation action (scenario 2), and no conservation action (scenario 3). In each scenario, areas with microendemics were classified into four classes: (1) areas with low risk, (2) areas threatened by habitat loss, (3) areas threatened by climate change, and (4) areas threatened by climate change and habitat loss. We found 2,354 microendemic species of seed plants in 776 areas that altogether cover 17.5% of Brazil. Almost 70% (1,597) of these species are projected to be under high extinction risk by the end of the century due to habitat loss, climate change, or both, assuming that these areas will not lose habitat in the future due to land use. However, if habitat loss in these areas continues at the prevailing annual rates, the number of threatened species is projected to increase to more than 85% (2,054). The importance of climate change and habitat loss as drivers of species extinction varies across phytogeographic domains, and this variation requires the adoption of retrospective and prospective conservation strategies that are context specific. We suggest that tropical countries, such as Brazil, should integrate biodiversity conservation and climate change policies (both mitigation and adaptation) to achieve win-win social and environmental gains while halting species extinction.

Retention as an integrated biodiversity conservation approach for continuous-cover forestry in Europe

Retention forestry implies that biological legacies like dead and living trees are deliberately selected and retained beyond harvesting cycles to benefit biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This model has been applied for several decades in even-aged, clearcutting (CC) systems but less so in uneven-aged, continuous-cover forestry (CCF). We provide an overview of retention in CCF in temperate regions of Europe, currently largely focused on habitat trees and dead wood. The relevance of current meta-analyses and many other studies on retention in CC is limited since they emphasize larger patches in open surroundings. Therefore, we reflect here on the ecological foundations and socio-economic frameworks of retention approaches in CCF, and highlight several areas with development potential for the future. Conclusions from this perspective paper, based on both research and current practice on several continents, although highlighting Europe, are also relevant to other temperate regions of the world using continuous-cover forest management approaches.

Resilience through policy integration in Europe? Domestic forest policy changes as response to absorb pressure to integrate biodiversity conservation, bioenergy use and climate protection in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden

In this paper, we analyse how and why domestic forest policies in Europe have responded to pressures to integrate biodiversity conservation, climate and bioenergy policies. We use content analysis of documents and interviews to analyse change and stability in domestic forest policy goals, instruments and practices in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden over time. We find that decision-makers in forest policy and practice responded to pressure to integrate biodiversity into forestry through four different types of policy change outcomes and processes. Depending on the context, these responses included layering, drift, conversion and/or replacement. In all countries, the forest policy changes were driven by (partly shifting) coalitional politics and changes in external conditions. Domestic forest policy regimes shifted from ‘timber production’ towards ‘multifunctional’, ‘sustainable forest management’ or ‘biodiversity’ primacy, and then back to ‘timber harvesting’. Forest policy also integrated bioenergy and climate change policies in order to minimise pressure by EU and national biodiversity policy sectors and to enable ‘timber harvesting’ (re-)turns in forest policy. We conclude that policy integration processes and the shifts in forest policy they contain refer to a sectoral resilience, that is, the ability of forest policy to react to, minimise, and absorb pressures to integrate biodiversity conservation policies.

Integrating variable retention systems into strategic forest management to deal with conservation biodiversity objectives

For the past few decades, the integration of biodiversity conservation into forest management has constituted an important challenge, since the new forest management models should make conservation objectives compatible with production issues. In many countries, timber production is no longer the main ecosystem service provided, thus other aspects such as biodiversity conservation are taken into account. One of the strategies developed to do so is to define, at the stand level, areas where final cuttings are not allowed. These areas can be found dispersed or aggregated (comprised of multiple stands) throughout the forest, helping to maintain a percentage of mature forest that fulfils conservation goals. In this study, we have developed a strategic forest planning model that allows us to integrate several retention systems compared to the business-as-usual treatment traditionally used. Production, technical and environmental criteria have been considered in order to analyse the degree of conflict between them by designing a pay-off matrix. Using multicriteria techniques conflicting objectives were assessed, and decision makers’ interactions have been introduced. These interactions range from criteria selection to the allocation of preferential weights to each criterion until the best solution among a set of possible alternatives is identified. The presented analytical procedure is based on the extended goal programming method applied in an exemplary forest in central Spain. Our results show that the proposed methodology allows deriving solutions that are acceptable for decision makers while estimating physical and economic opportunity costs of conservation measures in timber volume and Euros respectively.

Segregated versus integrated biodiversity conservation: Value-based ecosystem service assessment under varying forest management strategies in a Swiss case study

There is an ongoing debate regarding segregated and integrated approaches to biodiversity conservation in Central European forests. The ecosystem services provisioning of timber, recreation and carbon sequestration are, however, also of great importance. The existence of manifold objectives makes it difficult to find an appropriate strategy in forest management, especially for practitioners at the management unit level. We simulated forest development over 50 years under five management strategies in a Swiss forest enterprise: business as usual (BAU), segregated (BC-seg) and integrated (BC-int) biodiversity conservation, intensive management (INTENS) and no management (NO). INTENS and BAU were used as benchmark strategies. The available forest inventory data was used as input for the growth simulator WaldPlaner. Management strategies were analysed over time with a value-based multi-criteria approach based on 21 indicators regarding the provisioning of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) as well as their synergies and conflicts.The analysis yielded the best overall BES values for the strategies INTENS, BAU and BC-seg. However, INTENS and BAU were not envisaged as alternatives for biodiversity conservation because they lack essential late successional forest elements. Strategy NO had the lowest BES values, despite the good biodiversity results of the climax states (micro-habitat bearing large deadwood and large old living trees). Of the two intended conservation strategies integration and segregation, the latter had higher values. Segregation therefore offers a compromise by combining the positive aspects of both conservation and management-oriented strategies. With regard to the case study area, we thus conclude that a small-scale segregation of the forest into zones with multiple management strategies is best for achieving structural biodiversity aspects in multiple-objective forest management.

Large Scale Propagation and In vitro Weaning for the Restoration Viola palustris to Support Assisted Colonisation of a Threatened Butterfly

The distribution and abundance of Boloria selene (small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly SPBF) declined over the decades in many parts of the UK. Availability of food plants, especially marsh violet (Viola palustris), for the caterpillars of the SPBF has been identified as one of the major limiting factors for this decline. To achieve augmentation of existing colonies and develop new populations of SPBF large numbers of marsh violet propagules were required specifically to feed the larvae. The main objectives of the study were to produce thousands of good quality marsh violet propagules to restore selected habitats in the Heart of Durham, Northern England, using in vitro methods. Preliminary trials showed that in vitro multiplication of seedlings from wild collected seeds through conventional agar-based cultures was lengthy, expensive and turned out to be a non-viable route to achieve the objectives. This study explored the potential of bioreactor-based cloning and cost-effective one step rooting and weaning. Robust propagules, ready for transplantation following rapid propagation and one step rooting and weaning in vitro, were raised in a plug system for transplantation and establishment under field conditions. This was achieved by using simple and cost-effective methods to support the large-scale restoration exercise using 14,000 propagules. Application of high throughput micropropagation and low cost one step weaning systems for time-bound conservation and restoration projects are discussed in detail. This research highlights the important role of in vitro methods to support integrated biodiversity conservation of threatened native plant and butterfly.

Spatial and temporal changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services in the San Antonio River Basin, Texas, from 1984 to 2010

A fundamental premise of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is that biodiversity and ecosystem services are key determinants of long-term sustainability of social-ecological systems. With a continuing decline in local and global biodiversity and ecosystem services, it is crucial to understand how biodiversity and various ecosystem services interact and how land change may modify these interactions over time. However, few studies have been conducted to quantify these relationships. In this study, we present the first empirical comparative results to analyze how spatial associations between biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) changed at multiple scales between 1984 and 2010 in the rapidly urbanizing San Antonio River Basin (SARB), Texas, USA. We found statistically significant positive spatial associations among biodiversity, carbon storage, and sediment retention both in the entire SARB and the urban watersheds in Bexar County. Overall, biodiversity and carbon storage declined across the SARB, while sediment retention remained relatively stable. Moreover, the rates of biodiversity loss and carbon storage degradation were negatively related to the urban expansion and have accelerated since the inception of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. During the pre- and post-NAFTA periods (1984–1995 and 1995–2010, respectively) the rates of biodiversity loss increased from 0.7% to 0.9%, and the rates of carbon-storage loss increased from 0.1% to 1.4% per annum in the urban watersheds. Our hotspot analyses indicate that the upstream watersheds in the Basin, which supply water to the critically important Edwards Aquifer, should be targeted for priority conservation to mitigate the adverse impacts of land change on BES. Our results suggest the strong need for green infrastructure policies that integrate biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of multiple ecosystem services to address the environmentally deleterious impacts of the extensive land change under the NAFTA and to ensure the long-term social-ecological sustainability of the rapidly urbanizing SARB.

Sharma, Lila Nath. 2016. The disturbance-diversity relationship: integrating biodiversity conservation and resource management in anthropogenic landscapes

Sharma, Lila Nath. 2016. The disturbance-diversity relationship: integrating biodiversity conservation and resource management in anthropogenic landscapes

Combining habitat requirements of endemic bird species and other ecosystem services may synergistically enhance conservation efforts.

Biodiversity conservation and the optimisation of other ecosystem service delivery as a contribution to human well-being are often tackled as mutually alternative targets. Modern agriculture is a great challenge for the fulfilment of both. Here, we explore the potential benefits of integrating biodiversity conservation and the preservation of wider ecosystem services, considering the conservation of an endemic species (Moltoni's warbler Sylvia subalpina; Aves: Sylvidae) and soil erosion control (a final ecosystem service) in intensive vineyards in Italy. We modelled factors affecting warbler occurrence and abundance at 71 study plots by means of N-mixture models, and estimated soil erosion at the same plots by means of the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Shrub cover had positive effects on both warbler abundance and soil retention, whereas higher slopes promote warbler abundance as well as soil erosion. Creating shrub patches over sloping sites would be at the same time particularly suited for warblers and for soil retention. We simulated three alternative conservation strategies: exclusive focus on warbler conservation (1), exclusive focus on soil preservation (2), integration of the two targets (3). Strategies assumed the creation of 1.5-ha shrub patches over 5% of the total area covered by plots and targeted either at wildlife or soil conservation. The exclusive strategies would allow an increase of 105 individuals and the preservation of 783 tons ha-1year-1, respectively. Each individual strategy would ensure benefits for the other target corresponding to 61-64% of the above totals. The integrated strategy would allow for the achievement of 91-93% of the benefits (96 warblers and 729 tons ha-1year-1) of the individual strategies. The integration of the two approaches could provide important synergies, allowing to broaden the effects of conservation strategies, such as agri-environmental schemes that could be drawn from our results (and which are particularly urgent for intensive permanent crops).

Mind the gap: time to make sure that scientists and practitioners are on the same page

Mind the gap: time to make sure that scientists and practitioners are on the same page

Compact development minimizes the impacts of urban growth on native mammals

Summary Unprecedented global human population growth and rapid urbanization of rural and natural lands highlight the urgent need to integrate biodiversity conservation into planning for urban growth. A challenging question for applied ecologists to answer is: What pattern of urban growth meets future housing demand whilst minimizing impacts on biodiversity? We quantified the consequences for mammals of meeting future housing demand under different patterns of compact and dispersed urban growth in an urbanizing forested landscape in south‐eastern Australia. Using empirical data, we predicted impacts on mammals of urban growth scenarios that varied in housing density (compact versus dispersed) and location of development for four target numbers of new dwellings. We predicted that compact developments (i.e. high‐density housing) reduced up to 6% of the area of occupancy or abundance of five of the six mammal species examined. In contrast, dispersed developments (i.e. low‐density housing) led to increased mammal abundance overall, although results varied between species: as dwellings increased, the abundance or occurrence of two species increased (up to ∼100%), one species showed no change, and three species declined (up to ∼39%). Two ground‐dwelling mammal species (Antechinus stuartii and Rattus fuscipes) and a tree‐dwelling species (Petaurus australis) were predicted to decline considerably under dispersed rather than compact development. The strongest negative effect of dispersed development was for Petaurus australis (a species more abundant in forested interiors) which exhibited up to a 39% reduction in abundance due to forest loss and an extended negative edge effect from urban settlements into adjacent forests. Synthesis and applications. Our findings demonstrate that, when aiming to meet demand for housing, any form of compact development (i.e. high‐density housing) has fewer detrimental impacts on forest‐dwelling mammals than dispersed development (i.e. low‐density housing). This is because compact development concentrates the negative effects of housing into a small area whilst at the same time preserving large expanses of forests and the fauna they sustain. Landscape planning and urban growth policies must consider the trade‐off between the intensity of the threat and area of sprawl when aiming to reduce urbanization impacts.

Inside Cover Image, Volume 3, Issue 3

The inside cover image, by Larry Gorenflo and Dennis Warner, is based on the Opinion Integrating Biodiversity Conservation and Water Development: In Search of Long‐term Solutions, DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1142. image

Integrating biodiversity conservation and water development: in search of long‐term solutions

Fresh water, a resource necessary for most life on Earth, currently experiences impacts that reduce both water quality and quantity. These impacts compromise human wellbeing and threaten the existence of many nonhuman species, the latter including freshwater biodiversity as well as other species requiring water to survive. In response, development and conservation professionals strive to ensure that adequate fresh water is available for people and other organisms. Here we examine the need to coordinate efforts in these two areas of intervention to ensure long‐term success for both. We begin by discussing how places needing water development and biodiversity conservation tend to be located in the same parts of the world, suggesting that projects in each subject area may well co‐occur. We then summarize briefly the current challenges facing water development and freshwater‐related biodiversity conservation, as well as the main approaches to address those challenges. The study examines potential strategies to provide improved access to water for both people and nature through integrated water resources management and less formal approaches to avoiding unintended impacts of one activity on the other. Example projects reveal several benefits of linking development and biodiversity conservation efforts to maintain water resources. The study closes by arguing for the need to coordinate water development and biodiversity conservation activities in a manner that seeks practical synchronized solutions for particular project settings. WIREs Water 2016, 3:301–311. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1142This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Engineering Water > Planning Water

Interchangeable sets of complementary habitat variables allow for flexible, site-adapted wildlife habitat management in forest ecosystems

Integrating biodiversity conservation into forest management is a major goal in sustainable forestry. Hence, target values for forest structural and compositional stand characteristics are required to ensure wildlife habitats of sufficient extent and quality. Yet, the possibility to meet these targets depends on the patch conditions, notably their initial state and future trajectory. Shaped by succession, site conditions and management regime, not all forest stands can be readily converted into a particular state, which calls for flexible management prescriptions. Using the example of two forest grouse species, capercaillie and hazel grouse, we sought complementary variable combinations – with quantitative thresholds for any given crucial habitat feature – which would likewise offer suitable habitat. Habitat variables were mapped in sampling plots within occupied and non-occupied 1km2 grid cells distributed across three Swiss mountain regions. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were combined with conditional inference trees (CIT) to identify species-relevant variable combinations and variable thresholds. Important features for both species were the proportion of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and the number of basal-branched trees, as well as a low proportion of beech (Fagus sylvatica) in the canopy layer. Hazel grouse additionally favoured rowans (Sorbus aucuparia) as feeding trees and a high percentage of herbs in the ground layer, while the presence of inner forest edges was additionally important for capercaillie. Thresholds were not clear-cut: different values applied for a particular variable depending on other, functionally similar habitat variables present at the site. By delivering information about relevance, interactions and the required amount of crucial variables, we provide alternative options for flexible species habitat management which allows accounting for the prevailing stand conditions.

From biophysical to social-ecological trade-offs: integrating biodiversity conservation and agricultural production in the Argentine Dry Chaco

Agricultural intensification in rural areas of developing countries compromises the provision of ecosystem services. Social conflict arises among landholders with different preferences for ecosystem services and land-use practices in agricultural frontiers of the Argentine Dry Chaco. We explored policy and management options by assessing the actual and potential outcomes of alternative land-use systems and scenarios. We first constructed the efficiency frontier for avian habitat and agricultural productivity to analyze the combinations of ecosystem services that can be achieved under different land-use intensities. A nonlinear, concave efficiency frontier indicated opportunities to achieve large gains for production with small losses for conservation, for instance, by transitioning from lowto intermediate-intensity systems. Second, we projected production and conservation outcomes, which can be achieved through the implementation of five alternative policy options. The land sharing with conservation scenario, 70% of the landscape covered by intermediate-intensity systems and 30% by undisturbed forests, yielded the higher combination of avian habitat and agricultural productivity. Third, we constructed indifference curves of three landholder groups, i.e., preproductivist, multifunctional, and productivist, by assessing their intentions (proxies for preferences) to conserve and convert remnant forests in their landholdings. Multifunctional landholders showed balanced preferences for conserving and converting forests in their landholdings, and maintaining intermediate-intensity systems. A general willingness to conserve forests coexisted in preproductivist landholders with the intention to clear some portions of the landholding and intensify landuse, indicating the potential of an endogenously motivated transition toward a multifunctional regime. Such transition may increase their productivity by 35-65% without compromising avian habitat. Productivist landholders showed a strong inclination toward converting forests for pasture cultivation, despite the observation that they can increase their conservation outcomes by 30-50% without significantly reducing productivity by transitioning toward a multifunctional regime. Promoting this transition will require exogenous incentives and regulations tailored to the behavior of this landholder group.

Conserving Biodiversity: Practical Guidance about Climate Change Adaptation Approaches in Support of Land-use Planning

ABSTRACT: As species' geographic ranges and ecosystem functions are altered in response to climate change, there is a need to integrate biodiversity conservation approaches that promote natural adaptation into land use planning. Successful conservation will need to embrace multiple climate adaptation approaches, but to date they have not been conveyed in an integrated way to help support immediate conservation planning and action in the face of inherent spatial uncertainty about future conditions. Instead, these multiple approaches are often conveyed as competing or contradictory alternatives, when in fact, they are complementary. We present a framework that synthesizes six promising spatially explicit adaptation approaches for conserving biodiversity. We provide guidance on implementing these adaptation approaches and include case studies that highlight how biodiversity conservation can be used in planning. We conclude with general guidance on choosing appropriate climate adaptation approaches to amend f...

Can retention forestry help conserve biodiversity? A meta-analysis.

Industrial forestry typically leads to a simplified forest structure and altered species composition. Retention of trees at harvest was introduced about 25 years ago to mitigate negative impacts on biodiversity, mainly from clearcutting, and is now widely practiced in boreal and temperate regions. Despite numerous studies on response of flora and fauna to retention, no comprehensive review has summarized its effects on biodiversity in comparison to clearcuts as well as un-harvested forests. Using a systematic review protocol, we completed a meta-analysis of 78 studies including 944 comparisons of biodiversity between retention cuts and either clearcuts or un-harvested forests, with the main objective of assessing whether retention forestry helps, at least in the short term, to moderate the negative effects of clearcutting on flora and fauna. Retention cuts supported higher richness and a greater abundance of forest species than clearcuts as well as higher richness and abundance of open-habitat species than un-harvested forests. For all species taken together (i.e. forest species, open-habitat species, generalist species and unclassified species), richness was higher in retention cuts than in clearcuts. Retention cuts had negative impacts on some species compared to un-harvested forest, indicating that certain forest-interior species may not survive in retention cuts. Similarly, retention cuts were less suitable for some open-habitat species compared with clearcuts. Positive effects of retention cuts on richness of forest species increased with proportion of retained trees and time since harvest, but there were not enough data to analyse possible threshold effects, that is, levels at which effects on biodiversity diminish. Spatial arrangement of the trees (aggregated vs. dispersed) had no effect on either forest species or open-habitat species, although limited data may have hindered our capacity to identify responses. Results for different comparisons were largely consistent among taxonomic groups for forest and open-habitat species, respectively. Synthesis and applications. Our meta-analysis provides support for wider use of retention forestry since it moderates negative harvesting impacts on biodiversity. Hence, it is a promising approach for integrating biodiversity conservation and production forestry, although identifying optimal solutions between these two goals may need further attention. Nevertheless, retention forestry will not substitute for conservation actions targeting certain highly specialized species associated with forest-interior or open-habitat conditions. Our meta-analysis provides support for wider use of retention forestry since it moderates negative harvesting impacts on biodiversity. Hence, it is a promising approach for integrating biodiversity conservation and production forestry, although identifying optimal solutions between these two goals may need further attention. Nevertheless, retention forestry will not substitute for conservation actions targeting certain highly specialized species associated with forest-interior or open-habitat conditions.