21/05/2026
On rainforest regeneration:
"We show that the conservation of secondary forests rapidly and substantially restores biodiversity, as taxa recovered on average more than 90% of their abundance and diversity and approximately 75% of their compositional similarity to old-growth forests within only 30 years. The high resistance of mobile seed dispersers and pollinators, coupled with a high return rate of most taxa, contributes to tropical forests quickly regaining their diversity. We posit that high resistance and return rates of bees, bats and frugivorous birds play key roles at the onset of succession and these groups are drivers rather than passengers of tree recovery. However, full recovery of all taxa, also for composition, is predicted to take several decades. Because most secondary tropical forests worldwide are younger than 10 years and cleared in short intervals, they do not unfold their potential as conservation assets and biodiversity reservoirs. Extending turnaround times of forest management plans to several decades is essential to meet goals for biodiversity conservation. Recovery times for many animal groups were shorter in former cacao plantations compared with pasture, indicating that they should be prioritized for natural regeneration.
Overall, our results underline that cost-effective natural regeneration through abandonment of agricultural land is a powerful restoration strategy for tropical landscapes with smallholder agriculture to meet the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration goals."
Assessment of how 16 taxonomic groups in a lowland tropical forest resist and recover from anthropogenic disturbance shows the potential of protecting naturally regenerating secondary forests to reverse biodiversity losses.
