Ancient trees: irreplaceable conservation resource for ecosystem restoration

Gianluca Piovesan; Charles H Cannon; Jiajia Liu; Sergi Munné-Bosch

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2022.09.003

Ancient trees: irreplaceable conservation resource for ecosystem restoration

Trends Ecol Evol. 2022 Dec;37(12):1025-1028. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.09.003. Epub 2022 Oct 19.

Authors

Gianluca Piovesan¹, Charles H Cannon², Jiajia Liu³, Sergi Munné-Bosch⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences (DEB), Università Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
² Center for Tree Science, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, USA. Electronic address: ccannon@mortonarb.org.
³ MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
⁴ Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Research Institute in Biodiversity (IrBio), Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

PMID: 36272865
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.09.003

Abstract

Ancient trees contribute multifaceted ecosystem benefits to old-growth forests, rewilding, and human cultural landscapes. As such, we call for international efforts to preserve these hubs of diversity and resilience. A global coalition utilizing advanced technologies and community scientists to discover, protect, and propagate ancient trees is needed before they disappear.

Keywords: ancient tree; biodiversity; community science; ecosystem restoration; old-growth; rewilding.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem*
Forests
Humans
Trees*