European forest trees show high levels of biodiversity within one tree species

EU researchers have found that a single tree species may perform many different ecosystem activities, meaning that biodiversity is both between and within species.

Discovering how forest tree ecosystems function is crucial to both predicting how they might respond to climate change and to drawing up forest management plans. It is also key to the EU Forest Action Plan’s objective to maintain and enhance biodiversity, carbon absorption, and the health and resilience of forest ecosystems.

One EU-funded project, DIVERFOR, has focussed on European forests which, when compared to forest regions in other areas of the world, are considered to have a relatively low range of different species.

See more: cordis.europa.eu