Tree Diversity Increases Carbon Stocks and Fluxes Above—But Not Belowground in a Tropical Forest Experiment

作者：Florian Schnabel, Joannès Guillemot, Kathryn E. Barry, Melanie Brunn, Simone Cesarz, Nico Eisenhauer, Tobias Gebauer, Nathaly R. Guerrero‐Ramírez, I. Tanya Handa, Chris Madsen, Lady Mancilla, José Monteza, Tim R. Moore, Yvonne Oelmann, Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen, Luitgard Schwendenmann, Audrey Wagner, Christian Wirth, Catherine Potvin · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.70089 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Forest ecology and management、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

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 e...