Habitat suitability models for species selection in ecological restoration: an application to legume shrubs selection for roadside revegetation

Abstract

Shrub planting is a common practice in ecological restoration and is commonly used for roadside management for controlling soli erosion, for reducing headlight glare and for absorbing the energy of errant vehicles. As in any planting activity, an adequate species selection is required to avoid high mortality rates in ecological restorations. Habitat suitability models predict species presence likelihood as a function of environmental variables and may support species selection pointing the species more suitable for the habitat to be restored. Habitat distribution models for legume shrub species in Spain were fitted and validated using presence/absence data from the Spanish Forest Map. A logistic regression strategy was used to predict species presence based on climatic and lithologic variables. Model outputs were used to develop a shrub planting plan for the roadsides of a set of highways in Spain