Peer-Reviewed Publication
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

• Twenty-year experiment finds that active replanting beats natural recovery for restoring logged tropical forests.
• The higher the diversity of replanted tree species, the more quickly canopy area and biomass recovered.
• Results emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity in pristine forests and restoring it in recovering logged forest.

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 results have been published today in the journal Science Advances.

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Greater diversity gives greater resilience

According to the researchers, a likely reason behind the result is that different tree species occupy different positions, or ‘niches’, within an ecosystem. This includes both the physical and environmental conditions that the species is adapted to, and how it interacts with other organisms. As a result, diverse mixtures complement each other to increase overall functioning and stability of the ecosystem. For instance, some tropical tree species are more tolerant of drought because they produce a greater amount of protective chemicals, giving the forest resilience to periodic times of low rainfall.

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To investigate this, the researchers collaborated with local partners to set up the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment on 500 hectares of logged forest in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. This was divided into 125 experimental plots that were either left to recover naturally or planted with mixtures of either 1, 4, or 16 tree species that are frequently targeted for logging. The 16 species included several endangered species and the worlds’ tallest species of tropical tree (Shorea faguetiana) which can reach over 100 m in height. The first trees were planted in 2002, with nearly 100,000 planted in total over the following years.

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