Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future

The tree mix matters. Near Chesapeake Bay, scientists have been experimenting with mini-forests for over a decade. The surprising results show how biodiversity pays off.

By: John Parker, Smithsonian Institution and Justin Nowakowski, Smithsonian Institution, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: April 20, 2026

Words: 1,314

Last Updated: 3 months, 1 week ago

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By John Parker, Smithsonian Institution and Justin Nowakowski, Smithsonian Institution

Around the world, people plan to plant more than 1 trillion trees this decade in an ambitious effort to slow climate change and reduce biodiversity loss. But if the past is prologue, many of those planted trees won’t survive. And if they do, they could end up as biological deserts that lack the richness and resilience of healthy forests.

It doesn’t have to …

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