New study reveals that forests with greater diversity of species are better at mitigating heat spikes in summer and cold spikes in winter.
Published recently in the Ecology Letters, a study led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) shows that forests with lower tree diversity are the ones most affected by temperature extremes, with all the consequences for the life that inhabits them.
Although previous studies had already highlighted the role of trees in attenuating thermal extremes in forests, the authors stress that it had not yet been understood whether species diversity could be a factor of influence, as demonstrated in this study.
Based on measurements taken in the subtropical region of China, where the largest experiment in planted tree diversity is located, with several hundred thousand individuals, the team found that forests with higher species richness (that is, greater variety of species) were able to reduce temperatures well below the forest canopy during heat peaks much more than forests with fewer species.
Conversely, during cold peaks, the temperature beneath the forest canopy was higher than in forests with fewer species.
The researchers believe that a greater variety of tree species helps prevent the air mass below the canopy from contacting the air mass above it.
Rémy Beugnon, one of the article’s authors, says in a press release that this “thermal buffering” effect allows the creation and maintenance of microclimates that provide “more favorable conditions for ecosystems and protect the services they provide.”
In this way, “it is likely that forests will grow and regenerate more effectively, while soils function better, supporting greater biodiversity, improving nutrient cycles and increasing carbon storage,” the scientist explains.
The authors conclude the paper by stating that “our results underline the benefits of diverse planted forests for large-scale forest restoration initiatives,” adding that applying this same diversity to urban forests helps to mitigate “thermal stress in a warming world.”
