SynthesisCommunications biology2026
Species mixing promotes plant biomass accumulation and nutrient cycling in forest plantations.
Synthesis in Communications biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Comparative Functional Traits of Bamboo Monospecific Stands and Bamboo-Casuarina Mixed Stands in Coastal Sandy Land Under Different Silvicultural Regimes.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mixed-species plantations have been increasingly promoted as a strategy to enhance ecosystem functioning and related ecosystem processes; however, their global impacts on biomass production and nutrient cycling remain uncertain. Here we present a comprehensive meta-analysis based on a random-effects model of 8,450 paired observations from 328 studies spanning diverse climatic zones, stand structures, and silvicultural systems. We demonstrate that species mixing significantly enhances plant biomass and nutrient content compared to monocultures, with positive responses observed across trees, shrubs, litterfall, and both above- and belowground compartments. Mixed-species plantations also increase soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus availability, microbial biomass, and leaf nutrient content while maintaining stable soil stoichiometric ratios, collectively reflecting more efficient stand-level nutrient cycling. Importantly, the magnitude of these effects was shaped by climatic and structural contexts, with stronger positive outcomes under warmer and wetter climates, increasing with species richness, and showing unimodal responses to elevation, stand age, and stand density. By synthesizing multi-scale evidence from diverse ecosystems, we reveal that species mixing promotes biomass accumulation, improves nutrient retention, and strengthens biodiversity-nutrient cycling linkages. This study highlights the potential of mixed-species plantations to enhance ecological function, advance forest restoration, and guide plantation management across diverse environmental conditions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.