Two billion ha have been identified globally for forest restoration. Our meta-analysis encompassing 221 study landscapes worldwide reveals forest restoration enhances biodiversity by 15–84% and vegetation structure by 36–77%, compared with degraded ecosystems. For the first time, we identify the main ecological drivers of forest restoration success (defined as a return to a reference condition, that is, old-growth forest) at both the local and landscape scale. These are as follows: the time elapsed since restoration began, disturbance type and landscape context. The time elapsed since restoration began strongly drives restoration success in secondary forests, but not in selectively logged forests (which are more ecologically similar to reference systems). Landscape restoration will be most successful when previous disturbance is less intensive and habitat is less fragmented in the landscape. Restoration does not result in full recovery of biodiversity and vegetation structure, but can complement old-growth forests if there is sufficient time for ecological succession.

It is thought that species abundance is correlated with environmental suitability and that environmental variables, scale, and type of model fitting can confound this relationship. We performed a meta-analysis to (i) test whether species abundance is positively correlated with environmental suitability derived from correlative ecological niche models (ENM), (ii) test whether studies encompassing large areas within a species range (>50%) exhibited higher AS correlations than studies encompassing small areas within a species range (<50%), (iii) assess which modelling method provided higher AS correlation, and (iv) compare strength of the AS relationship between studies using only climatic variables and those that used both climatic and other environmental variables to derive suitability. We used correlation coefficients to measure the relationship between abundance and environmental suitability derived from ENM. Each correlation coefficient was considered an effect size in a randomeffects multivariate meta-analysis. In all cases we found a significantly positive relationship between abundance and suitability. This relationship was consistent regardless of scale of study, ENM method, or set of variables used to derive suitability. There was no difference in strength of correlation between studies focusing on large or small areas within a species' range or among ENM methods. Studies using other variables in combination with climate exhibited higher AS correlations than studies using only climatic variables. We conclude that occurrence data can be a reasonable proxy for abundance, especially for vertebrates, and the use of local variables increases the strength of the AS relationship. Use of ENMs can significantly decrease survey costs and allow the study of large-scale abundance patterns using less information. Including only Accepted Ar ticle 'This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.' climatic variables in ENM may confound the relationship between abundance and suitability when compared to studies including variables taken locally.However, modelers and conservationists must be aware that high environmental suitability does not always indicate high abundance.

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High costs of tree planting are a barrier to meeting global forest restoration targets. Natural forest regeneration is more cost‐effective than tree planting, but its potential to foster restoration at scale is poorly understood. We predict, map, and quantify natural regeneration potential within 75.5 M ha of deforested lands in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Of 34.1 M ha (26.4%) of current forest cover, 2.7 M ha (8.0%) regenerated naturally from 1996 to 2015. We estimate that another 2.8 M ha could naturally regenerate by 2035, and a further 18.8 M ha could be restored using assisted regeneration methods, thereby reducing implementation costs by US$ 90.6 billion (77%) compared to tree planting. These restored forests could sequester 2.3 GtCO2 of carbon, reduce the mean number of expected species at risk of extinction by 63.4, and reduce fragmentation by 44% compared to current levels. Natural regeneration planning is key for achieving cost‐effective large‐scale restoration.

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Aim Species persistence often depends not only on habitat protection, but also on habitat restoration. The effectiveness of species conservation through habitat restoration can be enhanced by explicitly considering ‘habitat availability’, the combined effects of the total amount of habitat and its spatial configuration. We develop an approach for prioritizing land for restoration in a complex biome, considering habitat availability, land acquisition cost and biogeographical representation. Location Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Methods We evaluate alternative restoration prioritization strategies for two mammal species with widely different dispersal abilities and habitat patch requirements. Our strategies focused on minimizing cost while meeting targets for biogeographical subregion representation and habitat availability metrics. We evaluated solutions based on the expected post‐restoration improvement in habitat availability per unit cost. Results Restoration through land acquisition to improve habitat availability for both species and to ensure 20% forest cover within each of the Atlantic Forest biogeographical subregions would cost US$ 17.5–20.5 billion. The 12.6 and 11.4 million ha of restored forest resulted in an increase of 10.5% and 9.8% in habitat area and 5518% (55‐fold) and 4100% (41‐fold) in future habitat availability for Leopardus pardalis and Caluromys philander, respectively. We found a high degree of concordance (> 75%) among selected planning units for each species. Main conclusion Substantial improvements in habitat availability that benefit both species can be realized for minimal additional cost relative to solutions based solely on cost‐minimization and biogeographical subregion representation. We demonstrate that metrics based on metapopulation theory can be quantified in complex systems and used in a systematic restoration prioritization approach to improve habitat availability cost‐effectively. Concordance among priority areas for restoration for species with widely different dispersal abilities and habitat patch requirements supports the idea that many species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest might benefit from plans based on indicator species. This is particularly useful in data‐deficient systems like the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Regenerating forests occupy large areas in the tropics, mostly as a result of deforestation for livestock and agriculture, followed by land abandonment. Despite the importance of regenerating secondary forests for tropical biodiversity conservation, studies of temporal effects of matrix regeneration on species responses in fragmented landscapes are scarce. Here, we used an Amazonian whole-ecosystem fragmentation experiment to investigate how changes in matrix quality over time through secondary forest regeneration affect bat assemblages from a functional perspective. We found that forest regeneration in the matrix positively affected functional α diversity, as well as species-and community-level functional uniqueness, reflecting an increase of species that perform different ecological functions in secondary forest over time. According to functional trait composition, animalivorous species showed the clearest signs of recovery associated with matrix regeneration. Consequently, between-period differences in functional β-diversity were highest in secondary forest compared to fragments and continuous forest, determined mainly by trait gains. However, ~30 years of secondary forest regeneration were not sufficient for the functional recovery of bat assemblages to levels observed in continuous forest. Restoring degraded habitats while protecting primary forest will be an important strategy for safeguarding high functional diversity of bats and their vital contributions to ecosystem functioning in fragmented tropical landscapes.