Castor

What we discovered...

Our findings are important for maximising the benefits of riparian woodland creation in different contexts for nature and people.

• Trees along river corridors provide critical flood prevention. Increasing bankside woodland is up to three times more effective at reducing peak flow during storms than creating new woodland in random locations or expanding existing nearby woodlands.
• Expanding riparian woodland improves the physical connections between woodland patches (structural connectivity), which supports fragmented ecosystems and provides critical woodland habitat.
• Creating more woodland patches in grassland areas, regardless of size, can lead to greater species richness than targeting larger patches, offering tangible benefits for biodiversity.
• In landscapes dominated by crop use, the pattern of woodlands is relatively unimportant for nature recovery compared to the lack of diversity in land cover. Therefore, the priority should be to diversify arable landscapes as much as possible by incorporating hedgerows, wood pasture and scrubland.
• In urban areas, larger, better-connected woodland areas are optimal for wildlife because they provide enough space and easier routes for animals to move between them. This buffers species against the negative effects encountered at the edge of woodlands.