A team of researchers have found that trees grown in an environment surrounded by different species produce more wood than those surrounded by trees of the same species.
At a 50-hectare experimental site in subtropical China, researchers have observed more than 400,000 diverse breeds of trees and shrubs over a decade.
They found trees grown in an environment surrounded by different species produce more wood than those surrounded by trees of the same species.
Explaining these findings, the scientists cited reduced competition for resources and improved microclimatic conditions such as positive interactions with different types of soil fungi that may not be found in environments where only a single species of tree is found.
“Particularly impressive is the finding that the interrelations of a tree with its immediate neighbours induce higher productivity of the entire tree community (i.e. the forest stand), and that such local neighbourhood interactions explain more than 50% of the total forest stand productivity,” says forest ecologist Dr Andreas Fichtner.
The findings could have positive implications for afforestation initiatives, and for increasing forestry yield.
Source: Science Daily
