‘Helps us understand the connections’

Massachusetts Institute of Technology research scientist Evan Fricke has spent nearly 15 years studying how wildlife shapes the health of our forests, and his latest findings are eye-opening.

Through studying seed-dispersing animals, Fricke and other MIT researchers discovered their ability to unlock the full potential of tropical forests to absorb heat-trapping carbon that is contributing to our world’s rising temperatures.

Research shows that when birds, monkeys, and other seed carriers eat fruit and deposit the seeds elsewhere (through their droppings), they play an important role in forest regeneration. Without them, forests recover more slowly, tree diversity drops, and carbon absorption is reduced.

The research team combined data from thousands of studies, mapping where seed-dispersers live, how many seeds they spread, and how human pressures affect their movements. The results revealed how animal activity directly influences carbon storage in regrowing tropical forests.

In the study published in PNAS, Fricke’s team found that tropical forests with healthy seed-disperser populations can store up to four times more carbon than similar forests where these animals are in decline.

Tropical forests act as the planet’s largest land-based carbon sink, absorbing about a third of human-generated carbon pollution. But these forests are losing their animal allies. Human activities are disrupting animal movements, including those that spread seeds. This means the forests don’t store as much carbon as they normally would.

Loss of biodiversity doesn’t just hurt the environment. It also impacts communities that rely on forests for clean water, food, and their livelihoods. Protecting wildlife, Fricke argues, directly affects human resilience and well-being.

Looking ahead, Fricke and colleagues are encouraging conservation strategies such as creating wildlife corridors, restoring habitats, and reintroducing lost species. In areas where animals can’t recover quickly, targeted tree planting could help bridge the gap.

“Forests provide a huge climate subsidy by sequestering about a third of all human carbon emissions,” study co-author César Terrer said.

He continued, “Tropical forests are by far the most important carbon sink globally, but in the last few decades, their ability to sequester carbon has been declining. We will next explore how much of that decline is due to an increase in extreme droughts or fires versus declines in animal seed dispersal.”

“It’s been clear that climate change threatens biodiversity, and now this study shows how biodiversity losses can exacerbate climate change,” Fricke said.

“Understanding that two-way street helps us understand the connections between these challenges, and how we can address them,” Fricke added. “These are challenges we need to tackle in tandem … there are win-wins possible when supporting biodiversity and fighting climate change at the same time.”

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