Positive effects of tree diversity on tropical forest restoration in a field-scale experiment.

ABSTRACT: Experiments under controlled conditions have established that ecosystem functioning is generally positively related to levels of biodiversity, but it is unclear how widespread these effects are in real-world settings and whether they can be harnessed for ecosystem restoration. We used remote-sensing data from the first decade of a long-term, field-scale tropical restoration experiment initiated in 2002 to test how the diversity of planted trees affected recovery of a 500-ha area of selectively logged forest measured using multiple sources of satellite data. Replanting using species-rich mixtures of tree seedlings with higher phylogenetic and functional diversity accelerated restoration of remotely sensed estimates of aboveground biomass, canopy cover, and leaf area index. Our results are c

SUBMITTER: Veryard R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10846868 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature