Widespread slow growth of acquisitive tree species

作者：Laurent Augusto, R Borelle, Antra Boča, Lucie Bon, Christophe Orazio, Ander Arias‐González, Mark R. Bakker, Nahia Gartzia‐Bengoetxea, Harald Auge, Frédéric Bernier, Alejandro Cantero, Jeannine Cavender‐Bares, António Correia, An De Schrijver, Julio Javier Díez, Nico Eisenhauer, Mariangela N. Fotelli, Gildas Gâteblé, Douglas L. Godbold, M Gomes-Caetano-Ferreira, Michael J. Gundale, Hervé Jactel, Julia Koricheva, Mattias C. Larsson, Vito Armando Laudicina, Arnaud Legout, Jorge Martín‐García, W. L. Mason, Céline Meredieu, Simone Mereu, Rebecca Montgomery, Brigitte Musch, Bart Muys, Éric Paillassa, Alain Paquette, John D. Parker, William C. Parker, Quentin Ponette, C.K. Reynolds, M. J. Rozados-Lorenzo, Ricardo Ruíz‐Peinado, Xabier Santesteban Insausti, Michael Scherer‐Lorenzen, Francisco Javier Silva Pando, Aino Smolander, Gavriil Spyroglou, E B Teixeira-Barcelos, Elena Vanguelova, Kris Verheyen, Lars Vesterdal, Marie Charru · 发表于：Nature · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41586-025-08692-x · 被引用次数：45 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Forest ecology and management、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Trees are an important carbon sink as they accumulate biomass through photosynthesis1. Identifying tree species that grow fast is therefore commonly considered to be essential for effective climate change mitigation through forest planting. Although species characteristics are key information for plantation design and forest management, field studies often fail to detect clear relationships between species functional traits and tree growth2. Here, by consolidating four independent datasets and classifying the acquisitive and conservative species based on their functional trait values, we show that acquisitive tree species, which are supposedly fast-growing species, generally grow slowly in field conditions. This discrepancy between the current paradigm and field observations is explained by the interactions with environmental conditions that influence growth. Acquisitive species require moist mild climates and fertile soils, conditions that are generally not met in the field. By contrast, conservative species, which are supposedly slow-growing species, show generally higher realized growth due to their ability to tolerate unfavourable environmental conditions. In general, conservative tree species grow more steadily than acquisitive tree species in non-tropical forests. We recommend planting acquisitive tree species in areas where they can realize their fast-growing potential. In other regions, where environmental stress is higher, conservative tree species have a larger pote...