“…Despites its fragmentation, it is one of the most biodiverse biomes in the world (Mittermeier et al, 1998) that harbors biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al, 2000). It has a history of intense and damaging transformation since the 15th century due to different economic cycles (timber extraction, sugarcane and coffee plantations until the end of the 19th century), followed by urbanization and industrialization processes, and more recently, the expansion of extensive livestock (Dean, 1996;Young, 2006;Campos, 2011;Cabral, 2014;Maioli et al, 2020). Due to its environmental and socioeconomic importance and high degree of fragmentation, restoration is a priority for the Atlantic forest (Ribeiro et al, 2009;Scarano and Ceotto, 2015), especially in private lands, where land use decisions play a key role in achieving national (e.g., PLANAVEG, BRASIL, 2017) and international conservation and restoration goals (e.g., Crouzeilles et al, 2019;Strassburg et al, 2019;Bonn Challenge, 2020).…”