Wageningen University and Research
Natural forest regeneration represents a promising solution for ecological restoration of tropical forests. In this study, we analyzed the impact of surrounding forest landscape on the seed rain of woody plants in naturally regenerating secondary tropical forests. We collected seeds using seed traps in early successional plots across wet and dry tropical forests in southern Mexico. To characterize the surrounding forest landscape, we used Landsat satellite time series and the AVOCADO algorithm to map forest cover characteristics. Our results suggest that older successional forests in the surrounding landscape are essential for enhancing seed richness. Furthermore, well-connected forests may be more important in wet tropical forests dominated by biotically dispersed seeds, whereas more open landscapes may play a greater role in dry tropical forests dominated by abiotically dispersed seeds. Therefore, considering the successional stage of the surrounding forest landscape and adopting region-specific conservation plans are pivotal when aiming to naturally regenerate degraded landscapes.
