Vegetation grows back Hope for cleared rainforest areas
There is hope for cleared rainforest areas. Once agriculture has ceased, the vegetation will grow back and most of the animals will also return.
13.04.2026, 05:26
13.04.2026, 07:42
SDA
And this is happening faster than previously assumed, as an international research team led by Timo Metz and Nico Blüthgen from the Technical University of Darmstadt writes in the scientific journal "Nature".
For the large-scale project, the 41-strong team observed various areas of rainforest in the Chocó in north-western Ecuador and studied 16 groups of organisms, including animals, plants and bacteria - several thousand species in total. The protected areas differed in terms of their previous use and the length of time since they were no longer used for agriculture.
Within 30 years, biodiversity recovered to over 90 percent of its original level, the authors of the study calculate. In addition, three quarters of the typical animal and plant species would return. "The many rapidly returning animal species are not only the beneficiaries of forest regeneration, but are also its most important actors," study leader Blüthgen is quoted as saying in a press release from his university. "Bats, monkeys and other mammals as well as birds bring the tree seeds back to the cleared areas, dung beetles dig the seeds into the ground, hundreds of other animal species ensure pollination."
However, the return was only possible because there were still some untouched forests in the region. From these reservoirs, the animal and plant species were able to spread back into the previously farmed and now fallow land. Moreover, colonization took different lengths of time depending on the type of organism. It was also important how the land had previously been farmed - for example, whether it had been used as a cocoa plantation or as pasture.
Rainforest still highly endangered
Tropical rainforests are home to a large proportion of the world's animal and plant species. However, according to the study, less than half of the original rainforests are still intact. Land use and climate change are endangering the forests. And deforestation continues to progress faster than protective measures, the research team complains.
According to the study, four to six million hectares are lost worldwide every year - i.e. 40,000 to 60,000 square kilometers. On average, this is roughly equivalent to the area of Costa Rica (a good 51,000 square kilometers). "These annual losses are therefore almost as high as the area of all long-term renaturation measures combined," says ecologist Blüthgen.
