An international team studying the growth of 223 tree species across 160 experimental forests worldwide has found that conservative tree species—efficiently conserving resources such as nutrients, water, and energy—tend to grow faster under natural forest conditions. The study, involving Prof. Douglas Godbold from LDF MENDELU, has been published in Nature and provides valuable insights for forest managers.
Forests play a vital role in storing carbon in soil and tree biomass, making them one of the two most important carbon sinks alongside the oceans. An international research team conducted a study to identify the key traits of tree species that enhance their growth and maximise carbon storage in their biomass.
“French research institute INRAE and Bordeaux Sciences Agro coordinated an international consortium to study the growth of 223 tree species planted in 160 experimental forests worldwide. These included Western Europe, the United States, Brazil, Ethiopia, Cameroon and South-East Asia. These were species representative of all major forest biomes,” said co-author Prof. Douglas Godbold describing the basic idea behind the research.
Previous research has shown that under controlled, greenhouse conditions, tree species that can efficiently obtain the necessary light, water and nutrients tend to grow rapidly. This is the case, for example, with maples and poplars: “These acquisitive tree species, for example, have a large specific leaf area or root length. This helps them maximise resource use and improve their ability to convert these resources into biomass with maximum photosynthetic capacity or high leaf nitrogen concentration. In contrast, species that are more efficient at conserving internal resources than acquiring external resources, which we refer to as conservative species, are predicted to grow more slowly. For example, these include downy oak and holm oak,” Godbold explained.
Scientists have now shown that in real-life conditions of boreal and temperate forests, conservative species generally grow faster than acquisitive species: ‘This finding can be explained by the fact that these forests are generally located in areas with unfavourable growing conditions, such as low soil fertility, cold or dry climate, which gives conservative species an advantage because they are better able to withstand stress and manage limited resources. In tropical rainforests, where the climate is potentially more favourable for plant growth, the two tree species show no differences on average,” the scientist added.
In addition to general trends at the scale of the major biomes, the researchers explained the critical role of local conditions: “In some situations, growth conditions are favourable enough for acquisitive species to grow faster than conservative species. However, the key is for the species to adapt to the local environment. This means that in favourable climatic conditions and fertile soils, acquisitive species such as maples and poplars will grow faster and thus sequester more carbon than conservative species such as holm oak, sycamore and many pine species. Conversely, under adverse climatic conditions and poor soils, conservative species will have the greatest potential to accumulate carbon in biomass. The study thus gives forest managers another tool that can help mitigate the impact of climate change,” concluded Douglas Godbold.
Article in Nature. Currently online since 20th March. Printed in the journal 10th April.
Photo: Douglas Lawrence Godbold
Contacts for more information: Prof. Douglas Lawrence Godbold, PhD., +420 545 134 528,douglas.godbold@mendelu.cz Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management LDF MENDELU; Prof. Laurent Augusto, INRA Centre Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Bordeaux, laurent.augusto@inrae.fr; Asst. Prof. Marie Charru, Bordeaux Sciences marie.charru@agro-bordeaux.fr