Waring, B.G. orcid.org/0000-0002-8457-5164, Averill, C., Bidartondo, M. et al. (12 more authors) (2026) Microbiome manipulation and enhanced weathering influence tree growth in reforestation. Communications Sustainability, 1. 102. ISSN: 3059-4308
Abstract
Limiting future warming invokes the need to maximize the natural carbon sequestration capacity of forests. Here we report on a large-scale (11.5 hectare) field trial testing co-deployment of two strategies to increase forest carbon capture: enhanced rock weathering via addition of crushed silicate rock, and modification of the soil microbiome. Individual monitoring of 6400 trees over four years revealed that silicate rock amendment augmented aboveground carbon stocks by 27% in broadleaf stands only. Inoculating trees with soils from nearby mature forest tended to boost their growth, but effect sizes varied strongly among tree species and diminished through time. We conclude that co-deploying early-stage reforestation with enhanced rock weathering can increase forest carbon sequestration by up to 787 kilograms carbon per hectare in the first four years post-planting. Soil microbiome enrichment could potentially be harnessed for ecological restoration, although more investigation is required to verify the underlying ecological mechanisms.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Authors/Creators: |
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2026. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Ecosystem ecology; Restoration ecology |
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
| Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jul 2026 09:02 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jul 2026 09:02 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Identification Number: | 10.1038/s44458-026-00103-0 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:242916 |

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