Publication
Faster recovery of soil biodiversity in native species mixture than in Eucalyptus monoculture after 60 years afforestation in tropical degraded coastal terraces
Publisher:
Wiley
Date:
10-07-2021
DOI:
10.1111/GCB.15774
Abstract: Afforestation is an effective method to restore degraded land. Afforestation methods vary in their effects on ecosystem multifunctionality, but their effects on soil bio ersity have been largely overlooked. Here, we mapped the bio ersity and functioning of multiple soil organism groups resulting from erse afforestation methods in tropical coastal terraces. Sixty years after afforestation from bare land (BL), plant species richness and the abundance of plant litter (398 ± 85 g m −2 ) and plant biomass (179 ± 3.7 t ha −1 ) in native tree species mixtures (MF) were restored to the level of native forests (NF 287 ± 21 g m −2 and 243.0 ± 33 t ha −1 , respectively), while Eucalyptus monoculture (EP) only successfully restored the litter mass (388 ± 43 g m −2 ) to the level of NF. Soil fertility in EP and MF was increased but remained lower than in NF. For ex le, soil nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in MF (1.2 ± 0.2 g kg −1 and 408 ± 49 mg kg −1 , respectively p 0.05) were lower than in NF (1.8 ± 0.2 g kg −1 and 523 ± 24 mg kg −1 , respectively p 0.05). Soil bio ersity, abundance (except for nematodes), and community composition in MF were similar or greater than those in NF. In contrast, restoration with EP only enhanced the ersity of microbes and mites to the level of NF, but not for other soil biota. Together, afforestation with native species mixtures can end up restoring vegetation and most aspects of the taxonomic and functional bio ersity in soil whereas monoculture using fast‐growing non‐native species cannot. Native species mixtures show a greater potential to reach completely similar levels of soil bio ersity in local natural forests if they are received some more decades of afforestation. Multifunctionality of soil biotic community should be considered to accelerate such processes in future restoration practices.