Are new woodlands good for nature?

Planting trees is often seen as a win-win for nature and the climate, with new native woodlands created across Ireland to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change. While we know that mature woodlands support a range of specialist species, we know much less about young woodlands, and how biodiversity changes as they develop.

Biodiversity can be measured in many different ways – we can simply count the number of species or their abundance, or we may look at the identity and characteristics of the species present, or how they interact with their environment. The sampling methods we use can also affect the results we see. As part of a wider research study, we examined how different ways of measuring pollinating insects, specifically bees and hoverflies, can inform our understanding of biodiversity change in newly planted native woodlands.

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