Reconsidering the role of home gardens in tropical forest landscape restoration

May 9, 2026 Tom Reckmann 0 Comments

Figure: Western Rwanda Landscape. Photo by Ping Sun.

By Molly Parker, on Sun et al. (2026) Home‑garden connectivity rather than tree‑cover connectivity facilitates biodiversity in fragmented tropical forest landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-026-02352-9 (full citation at the bottom of this post). 
 

In tropical biodiverse landscapes, forest loss, fragmentation, and degradation are major drivers of biodiversity loss. Forest landscape restoration interventions, a popular strategy to address these issues, most often focus on tree planting and overlook other tree-rich systems such as home gardens (HG). This recent study in western Rwanda’s Afromontane rainforest landscape by Sun et al. (2026) aims to assess these two land use types and their respective roles in supporting landscape connectivity and biodiversity. 

The study area (Fig. 1), the Afromontane rainforest landscape of western Rwanda, has dominant land use types of tree plantations and HGs. This recent study by Sun et al. (2026) aimed to assess their (tree plantations’ and HGs’) respective roles in supporting landscape connectivity and biodiversity. Researchers collected data from 91 field sites to examine how connectivity of tree cover and HG connectivity related to the richness and diversity of woody plants and birds. 

Fig. 1. Study area in the Western Province of Rwanda, covering seven administrative districts from north to south: Rubavu, Nyabihu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Karongi, Nyamasheke and Rusizi. The blue dotted line marks the Congo-Nile watershed divide (Congo-Nile Crest), while protected national park areas are highlighted in green color.

The results (Fig. 2) showed that tree cover connectivity was negatively correlated with the richness and diversity of woody plants and birds, suggesting that increased connectivity through mostly exotic trees didn’ttranslate to habitat connectivity for biodiversity. However, HG connectivity was positively correlated with the richness and diversity of woody plants and birds. 

Fig. 2. Scatterplots showing the relationships between tree-cover connectivity and home-garden connectivity, with (A) woody plant richness; (B) Shannon diversity index of woody plants; (C) bird richness; (D) Shannon diversity index of birds represented by a color gradient ranging from blue (low richness) to red (high richness). Points represent different land matrix types: circles for home gardens and triangles for tree plantations.

 

This is an important finding as the more common restoration practices are on increasing tree cover. This research challenges the usual approach, suggesting that maybe restoration should begin focusing on connectivity of HGs since their connectivity seems to function as a network of ecological steppingstones supporting both plant and bird communities across the fragmented landscape.  

The authors recommend that conservation efforts continue and that restoration be scaled up to address degraded forests. Specifically, they recommend protecting remaining natural forests, promoting the regeneration of secondary forests dominated by indigenous tree taxa, and actively expanding biodiverse agroforestry systems like HGs. The findings make a compelling case that incorporating HGs into restoration planning could be essential for maximizing forest landscape restoration effectiveness. 

Citation: 

Sun, P., Baumann, M., Kaplin, B. A., Kuemmerle, T., & Fischer, J. (2026). Home-garden connectivity rather than tree-cover connectivity facilitates biodiversity in fragmented tropical forest landscapes. Landscape Ecology, 41(5), 78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-026-02352-9 

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