How quickly do tropical forests recover? Faster than expected, but slower than it seems (news.mongabay.com)

submitted 1 month ago by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36439196

Tropical forests can regrow within decades, with species abundance and diversity recovering quickly, but full ecological recovery—especially the return of original species composition—takes much longer.

Many mobile species such as birds, bats, and bees persist or return early, helping drive regeneration by dispersing seeds and pollinating plants, while slower-moving or long-lived species lag behind.

Forests may regain high numbers of species relatively fast, but the specific mix of old-growth species takes decades or longer to reassemble, meaning a regrown forest is not the same as the one that was lost.

Recovery depends on time, prior land use, and proximity to intact habitat, suggesting that protecting and allowing secondary forests to regenerate can be a practical and cost-effective path for restoring biodiversity.

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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2026

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Biodiversity

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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