RT Journal Article
T1 How does the enhancement of carbon sequestration by non-native forests affect other ecosystem services?
A1 Castro Díez, Pilar
A1 Lázaro Lobo, Adrián
A1 Fernandez, Romina D.
A1 Alonso, Álvaro
A1 Cruces, Paula
A1 Cruz Alonso, Verónica
A1 Ervin, Gary N.
A1 Gallardo, Antonio
A1 Granda, Elena
A1 Gómez Gras, Daniel
A1 Marchante, Hélia
A1 Moreno Fernández, Daniel
A1 Saldaña López, Asunción
A1 Silva, Joaquim S.
AB Non-native trees (NNT) have been globally expanded to provide a variety of ecosystem services. Among these, the ability of forests dominated by NNT to remove atmospheric CO2 and mitigate global warming has garnered significant societal recognition in recent times. Non-native forests are often considered more efficient carbon sinks than native forests because of the typically fast-growing nature of NNT. Yet, NNT may have negative effects on other ecosystem services or biodiversity. We reviewed the literature searching for case studies simultaneously assessing effects of NNT forests on climate regulation – by means of carbon sequestration – and other ecosystem services or biodiversity. The carbon sink efficiency of forests was split into carbon flux and carbon stock in both aboveground and belowground compartments, considering that these components may respond in different directions to the introduction of NNT. While the body of research on individual ecosystem services or biodiversity is substantial, the number of studies addressing multiple services concurrently remains limited. Even so, we found a positive link between the effects of NNT forests on climate regulation, on soil fertility, and with weaker evidence, on erosion control. By contrast, effects of NNT forests on climate regulation showed a trade-off with water conservation in the ecosystem. This suggests that expanding NNT forests to promote the carbon sink function in water-limited areas is not an appropriate strategy to face global warming, as it could lead to decline the water supply for other functions.
PB Springer
SN 0169-4286
YR 2025
FD 2025-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132841
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132841
LA eng
NO Castro-Díez, P., Lázaro-Lobo, A., Fernandez, R.D. et al. How does the enhancement of carbon sequestration by non-native forests affect other ecosystem services?. New Forests 56, 66 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-025-10138-1
NO Funding:This research was supported by the Alcalá University [grant references UAH-GP2022-3, PIUAH24/CC-024], by the Community of Madrid [CM/DEMG/2024-019] and by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, the Spanish Research State Agency, the European Regional Development Fund [grant reference RED2022-134338-T].
NO European Commission
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Universidad de Alcalá
DS Docta Complutense
RD 16 abr 2026