Abstract:
1. How to simultaneously combat biodiversity loss and maintain ecosystem functioning
while improving human welfare remains an open question. Optimization
approaches have proven helpful in revealing the trade-offs
between multiple
functions and goals provided by land-cover
configurations. The R package optim-
Landuse provides tools for easy and systematic applications of the robust multiobjective
land-cover
composition optimization approach of Knoke et al. (2016).
2. The package includes tools to determine the land-cover
composition that best
balances the multiple functions a landscape can provide, and tools for understanding
and visualizing the reasoning behind these compromises. A tutorial
based on a published dataset guides users through the application and highlights
possible use-cases.
3. Illustrating the consequences of alternative ecosystem functions on the theoretically
optimal landscape composition provides easily interpretable information
for landscape modelling and decision-making.
4. The package opens the approach of Knoke et al. (2016) to the community of
landscape modellers and planners and provides opportunities for straightforward
systematic or batch applications.
