Satellite observations of one of the world’s biggest ecological experiments on the island of Borneo have revealed that replanting logged forests with diverse mixtures of seedlings can significantly accelerate their recovery.
The study “Positive effects of tree diversity on tropical forest restoration in a field-scale experiment” is published in Science Advances.
The experiment was set up by the University of Oxford’s Professor Andy Hector and colleagues over 20 years ago as part of the SE Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP). This assessed the recovery of 125 different plots in an area of logged tropical forest that were sown with different combinations of tree species.
The results revealed that plots replanted with a mixture of 16 native tree species showed faster recovery of canopy area and total tree biomass, compared to plots replanted with four or just one species. However, even plots that had been replanted with one tree species were recovering more quickly than those left to restore naturally.
Lead Scientist of the study, Professor Andy Hector (Department of Biology, University of Oxford) said, “Our new study demonstrates that replanting logged tropical forests with diverse mixtures of native tree species achieves multiple wins, accelerating the restoration of tree cover, biodiversity, and important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration.”
2023-09-15 23:00:03
Post from phys.org