When Do More Species Maximize More Ecosystem Services?

What this paper found

Research published in Trends in Plant Science highlights that no single species contributes to all ecosystem functions. Maximising multiple ecosystem services simultaneously requires greater species diversity than optimising any single function, because different species drive different processes. For forest carbon projects, this means that biodiverse restoration designs are more likely to deliver the full range of co-benefits that nature finance increasingly demands.

How this informs belian.earth’s work

Restoration carbon projects often optimise for a single function. This paper, on which Chris was senior author, makes the case that biodiverse plantings deliver wider co-benefits, which matters for the nature finance and biodiversity-credit frameworks belian.earth increasingly works alongside.

Citation

Frequently asked questions