Agricultural intensification has fragmented forests across multiple continents, leaving wildlife populations increasingly isolated within remnant habitat patches. In the context of global efforts to protect biodiversity and maintain landscape connectivity, there is growing interest in how working lands can contribute to ecological networks.
Tree plantations, especially fast-growing species like poplars, are expanding in many agricultural regions for timber and bioenergy production. Understanding whether these plantations can function as connectors rather than barriers is critical for designing landscapes that balance production and conservation.
Pineda-Zapata, S., Morán-Ordoñez, A., Mola-Yudego, B. and Duflot, R. 2026. Strategic placement of plantations enhances forest connectivity for birds in agricultural landscapes. Landscape Ecology 41: 54. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-026-02316-z
A new study explores whether poplar plantations can enhance functional connectivity for forest birds, and under what conditions they act as effective stepping stones across agricultural matrices. Using case studies in Spain and France, the authors modeled connectivity for three forest bird species with different dispersal abilities. They compared landscapes with and without poplar plantations to evaluate how these features influence movement between forest patches.
The results show that poplar plantations can meaningfully enhance connectivity, particularly when they function as stepping stones between larger forest patches. Although plantations made up less than one percent of the land area, their contribution to connectivity depended strongly on where they were placed and how they related to existing forests.
Their benefits were most pronounced for species with moderate to high dispersal capacity, which can take advantage of intermediate habitat patches to move across fragmented landscapes. In contrast, species with very limited dispersal gained little from plantations unless those patches were closely spaced. This highlights an important limitation: plantations do not universally improve connectivity, and their effectiveness depends on matching spatial configuration to species movement ecology.
Crucially, the study finds that spatial arrangement matters more than total plantation area. In the Spanish landscape, where plantations were often aligned along rivers and between existing forests, they contributed disproportionately to connectivity relative to their size. In this case, plantations acted as efficient stepping stones that bridged key gaps in the network. In the French landscape, however, plantations were more isolated and contributed less to connectivity, functioning primarily as additional habitat rather than connectors.
Despite their relatively low habitat quality compared to natural forests, small plantation patches can still play an outsized role in connectivity when strategically located. Even modest increases in plantation area led to notable gains in network connectivity in some scenarios, demonstrating that small, well-placed features can have landscape-scale effects. However, individual plantations rarely ranked as critical nodes on their own, reinforcing the idea that their value lies in complementing existing habitat networks rather than replacing them.
For land managers and policymakers, these findings emphasize that poplar and similar plantations can support connectivity in agricultural settings if they are carefully sited. Prioritizing placement along corridors such as rivers, between isolated forest patches, or within key gaps can maximize their role as stepping stones.
More broadly, integrating plantations with other semi-natural features like hedgerows and riparian buffers can create more permeable and connected agricultural landscapes. As conservation planning increasingly focuses on multifunctional land use, strategically designed plantations offer a practical tool for enhancing connectivity while maintaining production.
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