Tree Diversity Increases Carbon Stocks and Fluxes Above—But Not Belowground in a Tropical Forest Experiment
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT International commitments advocate large‐scale forest restoration as a nature‐based solution to climate change mitigation through carbon (C) sequestration. Mounting evidence suggests that mixed compared to monospecific planted forests may sequester more C, exhibit lower susceptibility to climate extremes and offer a broader range of ecosystem services. However, experimental studies comprehensively examining the control of tree diversity on multiple C stocks and fluxes above‐ and belowground are lacking. To address this gap, we leverage data from the Sardinilla experiment in Panama, the oldest tropical tree diversity experiment, which features a gradient of one‐, two‐, three‐ and five‐species mixtures of native tree species. Over 16 years, we measured multiple above‐ and belowground C stocks and fluxes, ranging from tree aboveground C, over leaf litter C production, to soil organic carbon (SOC). We show that tree diversity significantly increased aboveground C stocks and fluxes, with a 57% higher gain in aboveground tree C in five‐species mixtures compared to monocultures (35.7 ± 1.8 vs. 22.8 ± 3.4 Mg C ha −1 ) 16 years after planting. In contrast, we observed a net reduction in SOC (on average −11.2 ± 1.1 Mg C ha −1 across diversity levels) and no significant difference in SOC 3 stocks (the predominantly tree‐derived, i.e., C 3 plant‐derived SOC fraction) between five‐species mixtures and monocultures (13.0 ± 0.9 vs. 15.1 ± 1.3 Mg C ha −1 ). Positive tree diversity effects persisted despite repeated climate extremes and strengthened over time for aboveground tree growth. Structural equation models showed that higher tree growth in mixtures enhanced leaf litter and coarse woody debris C fluxes to the soil, resulting in a tightly linked C cycle aboveground. However, we did not observe significant links between above‐ and belowground C stocks and fluxes. Our study elucidates the mechanisms through which higher tree diversity bolsters the climate mitigation potential of tropical forest restoration. Restoration schemes should prioritize mixed over monospecific planted forests.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".