Forests play a vital role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Worldwide, roughly 10 million hectares of forest are lost to deforestation each year. Forest restorations—efforts to regrow forests—offset around half of that. But how do we make sure that these efforts are as efficient as possible? One answer is in planting a wide variety of tree species.
A new study from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) has found that forests planted with multiple tree species are more efficient than those with just one.