A forest with high tree-species diversity is better at buffering heat peaks in summer and cold peaks in winter than a forest with fewer tree species.
A forest with high tree-species diversity is better at buffering heat peaks in summer and cold peaks in winter than a forest with fewer tree species. This is the result of a study led by researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University, and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The study was carried out in a large-scale planted forest experiment in China, and has been published in the journal Ecology Letters. It provides yet another argument for diversifying tree species in forests, especially under ongoing climate change.
Temperatures are increasing at many locations worldwide, largely due to increasing greenhouse gases. These climatic shifts include changes in temperature extremes: While cold peaks in winter are already decreasing in number (i.e., they are becoming warmer), heat peaks are increasing. Trees have long been known to buffer temperature extremes, reducing heat peaks within forests during hot summer and reducing cold peaks during wintertime. However, it was unknown whether the number of tree species, “tree species richness”, could increase the potential of forests to buffer heat and cold peaks. “Former research has shown that the buffered temperatures below the tree canopy are important for forest biodiversity as they slow down the climate change-driven shift towards species that prefer warm temperatures,” says co-first author Dr Florian Schnabel from the University of Freiburg, who oversaw this research while working at iDiv and Leipzig University and continued this work in Freiburg. “At the same time, the effect of tree diversity, a key facet of forest biodiversity, on forest temperature buffering remains largely unknown.”
Read More: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Below the forest canopy, it is cooler during heat waves and warmer during cold waves than in the surrounding area. This temperature buffering is all the stronger the more tree species grow in the forest. The photo shows an experimental plot in the BEF-China project (Photo Credit: Florian Schnabel)
