carbon storage

Biodiversity loss could reduce primary productivity and carbon storage provided by forests. Thus, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships (BEF) are an important topic in ecology and have been broadly studied during the last decades. However, the underpinning mechanisms of biodiversity effects on multiple forest functions are not completely understood. Two non-exclusive mechanisms of the effects of diversity have been proposed: the complementarity effect (i.e. functionally diverse forests could enhance resource use efficiency and nutrient retention through niche partitioning and...

Biodiversity fosters the functioning and stability of forest ecosystems and, consequently, the provision of crucial ecosystem services that support human well-being and quality of life. In particular, it has been suggested that tree species diversity buffers ecosystems against the impacts of disturbances, a relationship known as the “insurance hypothesis”. Natural disturbances have increased across Europe in recent decades and climate change is expected to amplify the frequency and severity of disturbance events. ...