Tropical forest ecosystems are facing unprecedented levels of degradation, severely compromising habitat suitability for wildlife. Despite the fundamental role biodiversity plays in forest regeneration, identifying and prioritizing degraded forests for restoration or conservation, based on their wildlife value, remains a significant challenge. Efforts to characterize habitat selection are also weakened by simple classifications of human-modified tropical forests as intact vs. degraded, which ignore the influence that three-dimensional (3D) forest structure may have on species distributions. Here, we develop a framework to identify conservation and restoration opportunities across logged forests in Borneo. We couple high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and camera trap data to characterize the response of a tropical mammal community to changes in 3D forest structure across a degradation gradient. Mammals were most responsive to covariates that accounted explicitly for the vertical and horizontal characteristics of the forest and actively selected structurally complex environments comprising tall canopies, increased plant area index throughout the vertical column, and the availability of a greater diversity of niches. We show that mammals are sensitive to structural simplification through disturbance, emphasizing the importance of maintaining and enhancing structurally intact forests. By calculating occurrence thresholds of species in response to forest structural change, we identify areas of degraded forest that would provide maximum benefit for multiple high-conservation value species if restored. The study demonstrates the advantages of using LiDAR to map forest structure, rather than relying on overly simplistic classifications of human-modified tropical forests, for prioritizing regions for restoration.

热带森林生态系统正面临前所未有的退化程度，严重影响了野生动物栖息地的适宜性。尽管生物多样性在森林再生中发挥着重要作用，但根据其野生动物价值识别和优先考虑退化森林以进行恢复或保护，仍然是一项重大挑战。将人类改造的热带森林简单分类为完整与退化，也削弱了表征栖息地选择的努力，这忽略了三维 (3D) 森林结构可能对物种分布产生的影响。在这里，我们开发了一个框架来确定婆罗洲砍伐森林的保护和恢复机会。我们结合高分辨率机载光探测和测距 (LiDAR) 和相机陷阱数据来描述热带哺乳动物群落对退化梯度中 3D 森林结构变化的响应。哺乳动物对明确说明森林的垂直和水平特征的协变量反应最灵敏，并积极选择结构复杂的环境，包括高大的树冠、整个垂直柱的植物面积指数增加，以及更多样化的生态位的可用性。我们表明哺乳动物对通过干扰进行结构简化很敏感，强调了维持和增强结构完整森林的重要性。通过计算物种响应森林结构变化的发生阈值，我们确定了退化森林区域，如果恢复，这些区域将为多种具有高保护价值的物种提供最大利益。该研究展示了使用 LiDAR 绘制森林结构图的优势，而不是依赖于对人工改造的热带森林进行过于简单的分类，以优先考虑恢复区域。