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https://phys.org/news/2023-11-forests-multiple-tree-species-effective.html>
'To slow the effects of climate change, conserve biodiversity, and meet the
sustainable development goals, replanting trees is vital. Restored forests
store carbon within the forest's soil, shrubs, and trees. Mixed forests are
especially effective at carbon storage, as different species with complementary
traits can increase overall carbon storage.
Compared to single-species forests, mixed forests are also more resilient to
pests, diseases, and climatic disturbances, which increases their long-term
carbon storage potential. The delivery of other ecosystem services is also
greater in mixed species forests, and they support higher levels of
biodiversity.
Although the benefits of diverse forest systems are well known, many countries'
restoration commitments are focused on establishing monoculture plantations.
Given this practice, an international team of scientists has compared carbon
stocks in mixed planted forests to carbon stocks in commercial and
best-performing monocultures, as well as the average of monocultures.
Their work is published in
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
"Diverse planted forests store more carbon than monocultures—upwards of 70%,"
said Dr. Emily Warner, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and biodiversity
science at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford, and first author of
the study. "We also found the greatest increase in carbon storage relative to
monocultures in four-species mixtures."'
Via 7B'JaJaDa.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
