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Global evidence for a positive relationship between tree species richness and ecosystem photosynthesis

Nature Plants volume 11, pages 1429–1440 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Forest biodiversity plays a critical role in sustaining ecosystem functioning and buffering the effects of increased extreme weather events on forests. A global assessment of the relationship between biodiversity and photosynthesis in natural forest ecosystems, however, remains elusive. We used a large dataset of the richness of tree species from a large number of globally distributed forest plots combined with satellite retrievals of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, a novel proxy for photosynthesis, to evaluate the relationship between forest biodiversity and photosynthesis and its biological mechanisms at the global scale. We found that species richness and photosynthesis were often positively correlated at the global scale, with stronger relationships in tropical forests but weaker associations in high-latitude regions. This positive relationship was mainly driven by a larger role of species richness in increasing maximal photosynthesis than in prolonging the growing season. We also found that higher light capture by increasing the complexity of community structure was the basis of this increase in forest photosynthesis. Forests with high species richness also showed higher foliar nitrogen concentrations and the maximum rate of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase carboxylation, which are two crucial traits determining photosynthetic capacity. Our observation-based findings of ecosystem carbon uptake responses to changes in biodiversity suggest that the loss of biodiversity may jeopardize ecosystem carbon uptake and the terrestrial carbon sink, and will provide important constraints to Earth-system models.

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Fig. 1: Schematics illustrating how species richness enhances ecosystem photosynthesis.
Fig. 2: Relationships between species richness and photosynthesis in global forests.
Fig. 3: Influences of multiple predictors on ecosystem photosynthesis.
Fig. 4: Global distribution of the predicted relationship between species richness and photosynthesis.
Fig. 5: Associations of species richness with phenological metrics.
Fig. 6: Relationships of species richness with the capture and use of light in ecosystems.

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Data availability

The species-richness dataset is available via GitHub at https://github.com/petrkeil/global_tree_S. All MODIS datasets used in this study are available via the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/product_search/. The ERA5-Land monthly climatic datasets are available via the Copernicus Climate Change Service at https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp. The Hansen tree-cover datasets are available via Google Earth Engine at https://glad.earthengine.app/view/global-forest-change. The MERIT DEM dataset is available at http://hydro.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~yamadai/MERIT_DEM/index.html. The biomass dataset is available via Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center at https://daac.ornl.gov/VEGETATION/guides/Global_Maps_C_Density_2010.html. All the above satellite-based data can also be obtained on Google Earth Engine. The TROPOMI SIF datasets are available via CaltechDATA at https://data.caltech.edu/records/8hm1f-w5492. The soil datasets are available via ISRIC Data Hub at https://data.isric.org/geonetwork/srv/chi/catalog.search#/home. The map of the SSCI is available via Göttingen Research Online at https://doi.org/10.25625/9NPEQA. The GEDI datasets are available via Earth Engine Data Catalog at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/LARSE_GEDI_GEDI02_A_002_MONTHLY. The global maps of foliar N concentration are available via GitHub at https://github.com/abhirupdatta/global_maps_of_plant_traits. The global map of the maximum rate of RuBisCO carboxylation is available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5090497. The model-based global tree species diversity map is available via Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17232491.v2. The GFBI dataset is accessible via Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative at https://www.gfbinitiative.org/. The forest age data are available via Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry at https://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/geodb/projects/FileDetails.php.

Code availability

The codes that support the main findings in this study are available via Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22191919.v3.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (42125105), the Spanish Government TED2021-132627B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European NextGenerationEU/PRTR, the Fundación Ramón Areces grant CIVP20A6621 and the Catalan government project SGR2021-01333. M.F.-M. was supported by the European Research Council project ERC-StG-2022-101076740 STOIKOS and a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC2021-031511-I) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the NextGenerationEU program of the European Union, the Spanish plan of recovery, transformation and resilience and the Spanish Agency of Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute for Earth System Sciences, Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Ruochen Cao, Yongguang Zhang, Zhaoying Zhang, Gengke Lai & Weimin Ju

  2. Jiangsu International Joint Carbon Neutrality Laboratory, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Ruochen Cao, Yongguang Zhang, Zhaoying Zhang, Gengke Lai, Weimin Ju & Josep Peñuelas

  3. CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, Spain

    Marcos Fernández-Martínez & Josep Peñuelas

  4. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Marcos Fernández-Martínez & Josep Peñuelas

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  1. Ruochen Cao
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  2. Yongguang Zhang
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  3. Marcos Fernández-Martínez
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  4. Zhaoying Zhang
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  7. Josep Peñuelas
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Contributions

Y.Z. designed the research. R.C. performed the analysis. R.C. and Y.Z. drafted the paper. J.P., Z.Z., and M.F.-M. contributed to the interpretation of the results and to the writing of the paper. W.J. and G.L. contributed to the writing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Yongguang Zhang or Josep Peñuelas.

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Cao, R., Zhang, Y., Fernández-Martínez, M. et al. Global evidence for a positive relationship between tree species richness and ecosystem photosynthesis. Nat. Plants 11, 1429–1440 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02046-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02046-1

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