This is

is Scientific American 60 Second Science.

I'm Christopher Intagiyata.

You've probably heard the financial advice

that a diversified portfolio is better in turbulent times? Well that same wisdom may hold true for our

stocks of trees because ecologists say forests with a diversity of trees are better

at weathering drought. The reason... There's a huge difference and a huge

diversity of the water transport strategies and trees. William Andareg is an

ecologist at the University of Utah. It's everything from maybe having deeper routes

or shallower routes to having these pipes

that are incredibly well armored to withstand drought

or incredibly weak in the face of drought.

Andereg and his team studied droughts in 40 forests around the world, and the forests with diverse

tree populations with a mix of water management strategies, did better

than forests made up of just one or a few species.

Could be a couple reasons for that.

One is that there are other forces that are acting on the ecosystem at the same time,

other stressors like insect attack or other things they're competing for,

competing for light or for nutrients.

And this is why a more diverse forest

is going to be more functional.

It'll be more resilient to drought,

...