ArticleEcosystems (New York, N.Y.)2026
Drivers and Mechanisms of Ecosystem Multifunctionality in Secondary Tropical Forests.
Article in Ecosystems (New York, N.Y.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Start, speed, and direction of secondary forest succession.Science advances · 2026Article
- Multidimensional Recovery of Young Secondary Forests in Human-Modified Tropical Landscapes.Global change biology · 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
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Tropical forests provide vital ecosystem functions and services, yet global change is intensifying disturbance regimes and expanding the extent of young secondary forests. The question is to what extent these young forests recover ecosystem multifunctionality and under which conditions recovery proceeds faster. Here, we analyze the drivers and mechanisms that shape a comprehensive set of 16 ecosystem functions related to carbon, water, and nutrient cycling. We established plots in 36 young secondary forest stands (2.3-3.6 years since agricultural abandonment) in dry and wet regions in Ghana. In each plot, we measured eight forest attributes related to structure, diversity, and functional composition, six soil physical and chemical properties, and quantified 16 ecosystem functions to test how environmental conditions and forest attributes shape ecosystem functioning using structural equation modeling. Climatic wetness and soil conditions most strongly influenced ecosystem functions (9 functions each), followed by structure (8), diversity (5), and functional composition (4). The relative importance of these drivers and mechanisms varied across cycles: The carbon cycle was most influenced by forest attributes, whereas the water and nutrient cycles were primarily shaped by environmental conditions, with forest structure additionally shaping nutrient cycling. Hence, in early successional ecosystems, ecosystem multifunctionality is more strongly shaped by environmental conditions and vegetation quantity than by biodiversity, and different conditions are needed for the recovery of different cycles. When previous land use intensity has been low, forest recovery can proceed fast, and natural regeneration offers a scalable, low-cost opportunity for restoring multifunctionality, especially in wet tropical forests. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10021-026-01047-1.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.