DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v1r34
title: Data from: Which landscape size best predicts the influence of forest cover on restoration success? – A global meta-analysis on the scale of effect

description: Landscape context is a strong predictor of species persistence, abundance
 and distribution, yet its influence on the success of ecological
 restoration remains unclear. Thus, a primary question arises: which
 landscape size best predicts the effects of forest cover on restoration
 success? To answer this question, we conducted a global meta-analysis for
 biodiversity (mammals, birds, invertebrates, herpetofauna and plants) and
 measures of vegetation structure (cover, density, height, biomass and
 litter). Response ratios were calculated for comparisons between reference
 (e.g. old-growth forest) and disturbed sites (degraded or restored). Using
 an information-theoretic approach, mean response ratio (restoration
 success) and response ratio variance (restoration predictability) within
 each study landscape were regressed against the percentage of overall
 (summed forest cover) and contiguous (summed pixels of ≥60% forest cover)
 forest within eight different buffer sizes of radius 5–200 km (at 1-km
 resolution). We included 247 studies encompassing 196 study landscapes and
 4360 quantitative comparisons. The best buffer (landscape) size varied for
 the following: (i) overall and contiguous forest cover, (ii) biodiversity
 and vegetation structure and (iii) mean response ratio and response ratio
 variance. Only plant biodiversity was influenced by overall forest cover
 (buffer size of 5, 10 and 200 km radii), while plants (10 and 200 km
 radii), mammals (5, 10 and 50–200 km radii), invertebrates (5 and 10 km
 radii), cover (5 km radii), height (5 km radii) and litter (100 km radii)
 were influenced by contiguous forest cover. Overall, mean response ratio
 and response ratio variance were positively and negatively nonlinearly
 related with both overall and contiguous forest cover, respectively. We
 reveal for the first time a clear pattern of increasing restoration
 success and decreasing uncertainty as contiguous forest cover increases.
 We also indicate preliminary recommended buffer sizes for investigating
 landscape restoration effects on biodiversity and vegetation structure.
 However, the coarse grain and variability in the data mean the optimal
 landscape size may not have been detected; thus, further research is
 needed. Synthesis and applications. When setting targets for ecological
 restoration, policymakers and restoration practitioners should account for
 the following: (i) the landscape context, particularly the amount of
 contiguous habitat up to 10 km around a disturbed site, and (ii) the
 uncertainty in restoration success, as it increases when contiguous forest
 cover falls below about 50%.
description: Biomass_Contiguous_forest_areasBiomass_Forest_areasBird_Contiguous_forest_areaBirds_Contiguous_forest_areas.txtBirds_Forest_areasCover_Contiguous_forest_areasCover_Forest_areasDensity_Contiguous_forest_areasDensity_Forest_areasHeight_Contiguous_forest_areasHeight_Forest_areasHerpeto_Contiguous_forest_areasHerpeto_Forest_areasInvertebrates_Contiguous_forest_areasInvertebrates_Forest_areasLitter_Contiguous_forest_areasLitter_Forest_areasMammals_Contiguous_forest_areasMammals_Forest_areasPlants_Contiguous_forest_areasPlants_Forest_areasScript_Contiguous forest areasScript_Forest areas