A mega project

The researchers divided the 500 hectares of the experiment into 124 four-hectare plots like a checkerboard. In each field they planted around 1300 tree seedlings. Some plots contain monocultures of only one tree species. Some contain a 4-species mixture and some a diverse 16-species mixture.

Over the years, every such replanted plot will be compared with a set of unplanted ones. This allows the scientists to find out exactly, what the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem services is. They will see whether diverse plots retain more rainwater than monocultures or whether they can store more carbon. The answers this experiment can provide are innumerable  and only dependent on the amount of investment it receives

                        The sabah biodiversity experiment plot outline and placement