<
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/diverse-forests-and-forest-rewilding-offer-resilience-against-climate-change/>
"When it comes to reforestation, planting a diversity of tree species could
have a plethora of positive effects on forest health and resilience, climate
mitigation and biodiversity. That’s based on research from the world’s largest
tree-planting experiment, in China, and one of the world’s longest-running
tropical forest planting experiments, in Panama.
Florian Schnabel, lecturer and chair of silviculture at Freiburg University in
Germany, and his team recently published two papers illustrating how planting
diverse forests can buffer them against climate extremes and enhance carbon
storage.
“The results of our research in Panama and in China really call for preserving
and also planting diverse forests as a strategy under climate change,” he says.
Researchers with the BEF-China project planted multiple forests, ranging from
just one tree species up to 24, then measured microclimate temperatures over
six years.
They found that the more diverse the forest, the greater the “temperature
buffering” effect during hot and cold peaks. The most diverse plantings, those
with 24 species, reduced temperatures during peak midday summer heat by 4.4°
Celsius (7.92° Fahrenheit) when compared to the project’s monoculture. That
finding could have important consequences for biodiversity and forest
functions, such as soil respiration, says Schnabel. “What was quite striking to
me was how strong this [temperature buffering] effect actually was.”
While the paper’s findings are not groundbreaking, says Karen Holl, a professor
of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the study
effectively demonstrates the benefits of diverse tree species.
“People are making arguments for why we should plant more species of trees
rather than monocultures, and this [new study’s results] just adds to the list
of reasons that we should do that,” says Holl, who was not involved in the
research."
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
