Row-seeding beats other methods for restoring Brazil's river forests and storing carbon, study finds

A 15-year study in Brazil's Amazonia-Cerrado transition zone compared five restoration methods across 75 riparian forest sites. Row-seeding stored 155.2 tonnes of aboveground biomass per hectare, roughly double the amount from broadcast or hole seeding. It also cost only $7.91 per tonne of CO2 sequestered, well below other direct seeding techniques and typical tree plantings in Brazil. The researchers found that soil carbon did not respond to restoration method, only to local soil conditions. That means aboveground biomass gains from row-seeding do not necessarily translate to soil carbon. Still, the cost per tonne of CO2 makes row-seeding a strong candidate for large-scale forest restoration projects aimed at carbon markets.