Fast Fact Library

Forests with five different species of tropical trees can store 36% more carbon in trunks and branches than forests with just one species, as measured by a 16-year study of an experimental forest in Panama.

Schnabel, Florian,  Joannès Guillemot,  Kathryn E. Barry,  Melanie Brunn,  Simone Cesarz,  Nico Eisenhauer,  Tobias Gebauer,  Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramirez,  I. Tanya Handa,  Chris Madsen,  Lady Mancilla,  Jose Monteza,  Tim Moore,  Yvonne Oelmann,  Michael Scherer-Lorenzen,  Luitgard Schwendenmann,  Audrey Wagner,  Christian Wirth,  and Catherine Potvin. “Tree Diversity Increases Carbon Stocks and Fluxes Above—But Not Belowground in a Tropical Forest Experiment.” Global Change Biology 31 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70089.

Even small, densely urban sites have potential to support insect biodiversity. A 2,100-sf roadside green space in Melbourne experienced a sevenfold increase in the number of insect species in the three years...

Mata, Luis, Amy K. Hahs, Estibaliz Palma, Anna Backstrom, Nikolas Johnston, Tyler King, Ashley R. Olson, Christina Renowden, Tessa R. Smith, Blythe Vogel, and Samantha Ward. “Large Positive Ecological Changes of Small Urban Greening Actions.”  Ecological Solutions and Evidence 4, no. 3 (August 2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12259

Meadows offer higher levels of soil microbial biodiversity as compared to lawns, according to a study of bacteria and fungi in small-scale meadows that showed higher levels of mycorrhizal fungi and soil chemistry...

Tessler, Michael, Felix J. David, Seth W. Cunningham, and Emily M. Herstoff. Rewilding in Miniature: Suburban Meadows Can Improve Soil Microbial Biodiversity and Soil Health. Microbial Ecology 85, 1077–1086 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-023-02171-4

Quality pollinator habitat can be created beneath solar arrays. In an Oregon experiment, researchers found that pollinator abundance, diversity, and richness as well as pollinator-flower visitation rates were...

Graham, Maggie, Serkan Ates, Andony P. Melathopoulos, Andrew R. Molkdenke, Sandra J. DeBano, Lincoln R. Best, and Chad W. Higgins. “Partial shading by solar panels delays bloom, increases floral abundance during the late-season for pollinators in a dryland, agrivoltaic ecosystem”. Scientific Reports 11, 7452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86756-4.

Increased bird biodiversity and greater habitat diversity in urban green spaces were associated with increased human happiness according to a study of visitors to 945 green spaces in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Cameron, Ross W. F., Paul Brindley, Meghann Mears, Kirsten McEwan, Fiona Ferguson, David Sheffield, Anna Jorgensen, Julie Riley, Jon Goodrick, Liz Ballard, and Miles Richardson. “Where the wild things are! Do urban green spaces with greater avian biodiversity promote more positive emotions in humans?” Urban Ecosystems, 23 (2020): 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-00929-z

Wildlife crossings not only protect wildlife, they also promote human safety. A study of a Colorado State Highway showed an 86% reduction in the number of animal carcasses found along the highway and a 70% decrease...

Julia Kintsch et al., “State Highway 9 Wildlife Crossings Monitoring – Year 2 Progress Report,” Colorado Department of Transportation (March 2018): i-ii. 

A study tested whether increasing volume of understory vegetation and native vegetation affected effects on bat, bird, and insect populations in urban Melbourne. When increasing understory volume from 10% to 30%...

Threlfall, Caragh G., Luis Mata, Jessica A. Mackie, Amy K. Hahs, Nigel E. Stork, Nicholas S. G. Williams, and Stephen J. Livesley. Increasing biodiversity in urban green spaces through simple vegetation interventions. Journal of Applied Ecology, 54 (2017): 1874-1883. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12876.

A global meta-analysis of 221 landscapes found that forest restoration enhanced biodiversity by 15-84% and vegetation structure by 36-77% as compared to degraded ecosystems. While restoration did not fully recover...

Crouzeilles, Renato, Michael Curran, Mariana S. Ferreira, David B. Lindenmayer, Carlos E. V. Grelle, and José M. Rey Benayas. A global meta-analysis on the ecological drivers of forest restoration success. Nature Communications 7, 11666 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11666

Increasing the number of native mature trees preserved in new urban housing developments is an effective way to increase bird diversity, according to this study in Queensland, Australia. Streets that retained mature...

Barth, Benjamin James, Sean Ian FitzGibbon, and Robbie Stuart Wilson. (2015). New urban developments that retain more remnant trees have greater bird diversity. Landscape and Urban Planning, 136, 122-129.