By the team at UN Environment where this blog was originally published.
A ten-year study of a subtropical forest in China by a German-led international team of scientists shows that the variety of animals and fungus species has a decisive role in the health of forest ecosystems.
In our forests, trees are the most conspicuous and prominent life forms. The consequences of reduced tree species diversity are therefore comparatively easy to grasp. In contrast, the diversity of the thousands of sometimes tiny animal and microorganism species is often overlooked, despite the important ecological role they play.
Researchers, led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, studied the complex interdependencies between the various species of beetles, spiders, ants, woodlice and fungi in Gutianshan Nature Reserve, Zheijian Province, southeast China.
Learn more at UN Environment. Click here