Biomass systems have been increasingly adopted across Europe as sources of renewable energy and bio-based products. Particularly, fast-growing plantations have expanded rapidly in response to the need to reduce carbon emissions, mitigate climate change and strengthen energy independence. Beyond their productive role, biomass systems can provide multiple environmental services to the landscapes where they are embedded. However, these benefits are highly context dependent. Additionally, spatial data on biomass systems remains scattered and decentralized, limiting the capacity to study their effects.
To address this gap, this thesis compiles spatial data on biomass systems across Europe, characterizing their surrounding land use context, and exploring spatial configurations through which these systems can enhance landscape properties and ecosystem services. Using available data on biomass system locations alongside land use datasets, we assessed land use diversity, modelled ecological connectivity, and applied multi-objective spatial planning to optimize management actions across trade-offs between profitability and ecosystem service provision.
Our results show that poplar and willow plantations hold the highest potential to diversify agricultural landscapes, owing to their relatively small stand sizes and predominant location within intensive agricultural matrices. In contrast, eucalypt plantations pose a risk of landscape homogenization, driven by their large stand sizes and occurrence within predominantly forested surroundings. At the river basin level, poplar plantations can work as steppingstones connecting large forest patches, but their effectiveness depends on their spatial configuration and the dispersal ability of the studied species. Spatial optimization of poplar plantation management revealed their potential role in sustaining ecosystem services under stringent conservation scenarios. Coupled with riparian forests, they can achieve both economic viability and desirable ecological outcomes in working landscapes.
Overall, this thesis makes a novel contribution to the understanding of biomass systems in Europe, providing a spatial framework to support land managers, policymakers, and researchers in designing landscapes that balance productivity with sustainability.