GIS-Based Soil and Land Suitability Assessment of Resting Areas for Biodiversity and Sustainable Use in Protected Areas

Protected areas (PAs) are increasingly challenged by the need to reconcile biodiversity conservation with sustainable human use, particularly in landscapes containing underutilized or resting area (RA). This study evaluated the potential of resting forest and agricultural lands to enhance biodiversity and support sustainable land use within protected areas of Cesme, Türkiye. A Geographic Information System (GIS)-based multi-criteria evaluation approach was employed, integrating land cover data, soil group maps, topographic parameters, and protected area classifications to generate Plant Suitability Maps (PSMs). Eight thematic layers were developed, incorporating soil depth, slope, erosion risk, and land capability classes to identify suitable plant species and land-use options. The results indicate that the strategic use of resting agricultural lands could contribute up to 35.5% to ecological enhancement, while resting forest lands could contribute an additional 18%. The proposed plant assemblages include medicinal and aromatic species, erosion-control plants, and economically valuable perennial species that support ecosystem services such as pollination, beekeeping, and agro-tourism. Overall, the findings demonstrate that integrating RA management into conservation planning can simultaneously strengthen biodiversity, improve ecosystem services, and generate socio-economic benefits for local communities. The proposed GIS-based framework offered a transferable and scalable methodology for sustainable land management in Mediterranean landscapes and other protected regions worldwide. Also, in this research, the aim was to determine plant species using GIS-based suitability analyses of multi-spatial datato guide vegetation decisions in multi-criteria PA.