2006). The results of this BYL719 cost synthesis do not suggest that replacing secondary forests is beneficial for biodiversity, but that in some cases plantations (particularly those using native species) can provide more or comparable benefits to similar aged naturally regenerating forests. Across a range of taxa, plantations often support intermediate levels of biodiversity, which are lower than natural ecosystems but higher than other “working” or human-modified landscapes (Senbeta et al. 2002; Brockerhoff et al. 2008; Goldman et al. 2008). The exotic or degraded pasture category of land use in this synthesis represents

deforested, primarily exotic and degraded pastures that likely had economic value at some point, primarily through grazing; in these cases, plantations (of some

species) may offer an alternative viable “working landscape” that also has economic value (Brockerhoff et al. 2008; Goldman et al. 2008). In addition Selleck PD332991 to potential economic revenue, plantations have been shown to aid restoration in degraded areas where native regeneration may otherwise be inhibited, by improving soil conditions through increased organic matter and litter production (Senbeta et al. 2002), by shading out competitive grasses and other light-demanding find more species (Parrotta 1995; Koonkhunthod et al. 2007), and by creating a microclimate more favorable for seed dispersal and colonization, particularly for animal-dispersed species (Parrotta 1995; Hartley 2002; Carnus et al. 2006; Goldman et al. 2008). How effective plantations are in restoring biodiversity is expected to be influenced by past land use, distance to native seed source, persistence of root stocks and seed bank, and presence of seed dispersing wildlife, as well as plantation species, Adenosine age, and management (Yirdaw 2001; Cusack and Montagnini 2004; Goldman et al. 2008). Our results regarding the restoration value of plantations on pasture lands were variable and differences were not significant, but the trend towards higher species richness with native

plantations and lower species richness with exotic plantations suggests that native plantations may be a better choice for restoration of degraded or exotic grasslands. Species richness was higher in 10 out of 14 native plantations compared to paired pastures. Furthermore, one of the cases where species richness was higher in pastures compared to native plantations was attributed to a greater number of exotic species (rather than native species) in pastures (Goldman et al. 2008). The other three cases came from a study noting that “there were probably substantial edge effects from the surrounding plantations upon the relatively small control areas” (Powers et al. 1997, p. 45), suggesting that species richness of paired pastures may have been overestimated.