Forests with five different species of tropical trees can store 36% more carbon in trunks and branches than forests with just one species, as measured by a 16-year study of an experimental forest in Panama.
Schnabel, Florian, Joannès Guillemot, Kathryn E. Barry, Melanie Brunn, Simone Cesarz, Nico Eisenhauer, Tobias Gebauer, Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramirez, I. Tanya Handa, Chris Madsen, Lady Mancilla, Jose Monteza, Tim Moore, Yvonne Oelmann, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Luitgard Schwendenmann, Audrey Wagner, Christian Wirth, and Catherine Potvin. “Tree Diversity Increases Carbon Stocks and Fluxes Above—But Not Belowground in a Tropical Forest Experiment.” Global Change Biology 31 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70089.