New publication: Tree diversity increases carbon sequestration
Forests with many tree species can store significantly more carbon than those with only one species: An international study led by the University of Freiburg, published in Global Change Biology, supports this finding using data from the world’s oldest tropical tree diversity experiment. Researchers found that forests planted with five tree species had substantially higher aboveground carbon stocks and greater fluxes between the carbon stores than monocultures. The results highlight the benefits of mixed-species forests for forest restoration initiatives that aim at mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration.
Tree harvest for the biomass- and carbon measurements on one
of the plots of the Sardinilla experiment. Photo: Florian Schnabel