Removing climbers more than doubles tree growth and biomass in degraded tropical forests.

ABSTRACT: Huge areas of tropical forests are degraded, reducing their biodiversity, carbon, and timber value. The recovery of these degraded forests can be significantly inhibited by climbing plants such as lianas. Removal of super-abundant climbers thus represents a restoration action with huge potential for application across the tropics. While experimental studies largely report positive impacts of climber removal on tree growth and biomass accumulation, the efficacy of climber removal varies widely, with high uncertainty as to where and how to apply the technique. Using meta-analytic techniques, we synthesize results from 26 studies to quantify the efficacy of climber removal for promoting tree growth and biomass accumulation. We find that climber removal increases tree growth by 156% and biomas

SUBMITTER: Finlayson C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8948070 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature