Low Wood Research Articles

The interplay of drought and hurricanes on tree recovery: insights from dynamic and weak functional responses.

Identifying the functional traits that enable recovery after extreme events is necessary for assessing forest persistence and functioning. However, the variability of traits mediating responses to disturbances presents a significant limitation, as these relationships may be contingent on the type of disturbance and change over time. This study investigates the effects of traits on tree growth-for short and longer terms-in response to two vastly different extreme climatic events (droughts and hurricanes) in a Puerto Rican forest. I found that trees display a dynamic functional response to extreme climatic events. Leaf traits associated with efficient photosynthesis mediated faster tree growth after hurricanes, while trees with low wood density and high water use efficiency displayed faster growth after drought. In the longer term, over both drought and hurricanes, tree size was the only significant predictor of growth, with faster growth for smaller trees. However, despite finding significant trait-growth relationships, the predictive power of traits was overall low. As the frequency of extreme events increases due to climate change, understanding the dynamic relationships between traits and tree growth is necessary for identifying strategies for recovery.

Preliminary Study of the Effect of Short Maceration with Cherry and Oak Wood Chips on the Volatile Composition of Different Craft Beers

In the last few years, the production and consumption of craft beers has increased notably. However, there is restricted knowledge about the potential impact of chips from different wood species on beer quality. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the effect of the addition of wood chips from cherry and oak species—after the fermentation was completed and during a brief maceration time—on the volatile composition of three different beer groups (Ale, Lager, and Porter) through a headspace solid-phase dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE) and GC-MS analysis. Fifty-six volatile compounds from different chemical families (esters, alcohols, terpenes, acids, aldehydes, ketones, and pyrazines) were detected, identified, and considered in this study. In general, the volatile composition of the beers macerated with wood chips was very similar to that of the control beers. However, the control beers showed higher volatile compound levels. The results suggest potential interactions between beer volatile compounds and the wood chips during maceration. The outcomes of this research could be of practical interest to brewers since they could improve the knowledge of the impact of short-time contact and low wood chip concentration on the volatile composition of different craft beers.

Wood anatomical spectrum of co-occurring species in early and late-successional tropical dry forest communities

Key messageAnalysis of wood anatomical traits revealed that drought tolerance predominates in early-successional communities, and vessel variability is relevant for species’ ecological success in seasonally dry tropical environments.Successional tropical dry forests harbor a diverse array of species subjected to a strong seasonal precipitation regime. Considering that wood encompasses diverse functional properties related to stem hydraulics and mechanical support, in this study, we asked which quantitative anatomical traits are exhibited by co-occurring species in early (EC)- and late (LC)-successional communities. We used generalized linear mixed-effects models to estimate and compare means and standard deviations of wood traits (vessel area, vessel density, vessel grouping, and fiber dimensions) between eight EC and between 13 LC co-occurring species. Wood traits were highly heterogeneous. High vessel redundancy, a property associated with water safety involved in the prevention of hydraulic failure, prevails among species coexisting in EC but is maintained through succession by the same species in LC. Highly variable fiber dimensions indicate that species coexisting in LC possess different characteristics associated with mechanical resistance. Low wood density species typical of LC, which are absent from EC, displayed wood anatomical features associated with drought-evasion mechanisms. This result implies that deforestation not only reduces taxonomic but also functional diversity. Future research should adopt a standard deviation analysis approach, as this will allow confirming the high variability in vessel diameter, even in diffuse porous species, as a key feature for the ecological success of plants facing succession-driven changes in seasonally dry environments.

Wood-density has no effect on stomatal control of leaf-level water use efficiency in an Amazonian forest.

Forest disturbances increase the proportion of fast-growing tree species compared to slow-growing ones. To understand their relative capacity for carbon uptake and their vulnerability to climate change, and to represent those differences in Earth system models, it is necessary to characterise the physiological differences in their leaf-level control of water use efficiency and carbon assimilation. We used wood density as a proxy for the fast-slow growth spectrum and tested the assumption that trees with a low wood density (LWD) have a lower water-use efficiency than trees with a high wood density (HWD). We selected 5 LWD tree species and 5 HWD tree species growing in the same location in an Amazonian tropical forest and measured in situ steady-state gas exchange on top-of-canopy leaves with parallel sampling and measurement of leaf mass area and leaf nitrogen content. We found that LWD species invested more nitrogen in photosynthetic capacity than HWD species, had higher photosynthetic rates and higher stomatal conductance. However, contrary to expectations, we showed that the stomatal control of the balance between transpiration and carbon assimilation was similar in LWD and HWD species and that they had the same dark respiration rates.

Wood density and leaf traits independently relate to growth rate of naturally regenerated tree species in Araucaria angustifolia plantations in the Atlantic Forest, Argentina

Tree plantations can facilitate the establishment of native trees, thus providing opportunities for the ecological restoration or rehabilitation of degraded forest lands. Stand variables can influence the establishment of native tree species, but few studies have been carried out to determine how sapling growth response to stand variables varies among functionally different species. We evaluated the effect of stand age, stand basal area, tree density, and time since last logging on stem diameter growth rates, as well as the dependence of such effect on whole plant, stem, and leaf functional traits. We measured the stem diameter increment on 280 individuals of 22 species in permanent plots for a period of 2 years in araucaria ( Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze) plantations in the Atlantic Forest, NE Argentina. Increasing all-species basal area and plantation age negatively affected the growth rates, and such effect tended to be higher in species with low wood density. Two functional axes independently explained growth rate differences between species in growth rate. Growth rates increase with decreasing wood density, increasing leaf phosphorus and potassium content, and decreasing specific leaf area. Among species that are similar in the traits associated with the first functional axis, plant growth increases with increasing leaf nitrogen content.

In-situ synthesis of copper phytate-hierarchically porous MOF-199 hybrid in wood towards multifunctional flame-retardant wood composite

The modern society pays growing attention on global environmental issues, public safety, and individual health, which highlights the necessity of exploring sustainable, energy-saving, flame-retardant, and anti-mildew materials for building applications. Herein, by in-situ preparing copper phytate-hierarchically porous MOF-199 hybrid (PCuM) in natural wood (W) via simple phytate induced defect engineering strategy, we reported a multifunctional low fire-hazard wood composite (PCuM-W). The phytate anion not only acted as a modulator to generate hierarchical porosity in MOF-199, but also offered high flame retardancy due to its six phosphorus groups. The copper phytate anchored on the cell wall exhibited charring and graphitizing effects and enhanced the flame retardancy and smoke suppression performance of wood. By pyrolysis, a hierarchically porous MOF-199-derived carbon formed and offered a considerably enhanced catalytic activity towards the conversion of CO. With a weight percent gain of only 13.5%, the fire growth index, total smoke production, and maximum CO production rate of PCuM-W were 74.2%, 85.4%, and 33.3% lower than that of W, respectively, showing outstanding fire-hazard-reducing efficiency that surpassed most of its counterparts. Furthermore, due to the hierarchical porosity and antimicrobial property of PCuM, PCuM-W showed excellent moisture-buffering ability and mildew resistance. This work brings guidelines for fabricating hierarchically porous MOFs to realize multifunctional materials via phytate induced defect engineering.

Exposure Risks and Potential Control Measures for a Fire Behavior Lab Training Structure: Part B—Chemical Gas Concentrations

Firefighters’ or instructors’ exposure to airborne chemicals during live-fire training may depend on fuels being burned, fuel orientation and participants’ location within the structure. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of different control measures on exposure risk to combustion byproducts during fire dynamics training where fuel packages are mounted at or near the ceiling. These measures included substitution of training fuels (low density wood fiberboard, oriented strand board (OSB), pallets, particle board, plywood) and adoption of engineering controls such as changing the location of the instructor and students using the structure. Experiments were conducted for two different training durations: the typical six ventilation cycle (six-cycle) and a shorter three ventilation cycle (three-cycle) with a subset of training fuels. In Part A of this series, we characterized the fire dynamics within the structure, including the ability of each fuel to provide an environment that achieves the training objectives. Here, in Part B, airborne chemical concentrations are reported at the location where fire instructors would typically be operating. We hypothesized that utilizing a training fuel package with solid wood pallets would result in lower concentrations of airborne contaminants at the rear instructor location than wood-based sheet products containing additional resins and/or waxes. In the six-cycle experiments (at the rear instructor location), OSB-fueled fires produced the highest median concentrations of benzene and 1,3 butadiene, plywood-fueled fires produced the highest total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations, particle board-fueled fires produced the highest methyl isocyanate concentrations, and pallet-fueled fires produced the highest hydrogen chloride concentrations. All fuels other than particle board produced similarly high levels of formaldehyde at the rear instructor location. The OSB fuel package created the most consistent fire dynamics over six-cycles, while fiberboard resulted in consistent fire dynamics only for the first three cycles. In the follow-on three-cycle experiment, PAH, benzene, and aldehyde concentrations were similar for the OSB and fiberboard-fueled fires. Air sampling did not identify any clear differences between training fires from burning solid wood pallets and those that incorporate wood-based sheet products for this commonly employed fuel arrangement with fuels mounted high in the compartment. However, it was found that exposure can be reduced by moving firefighters and instructors lower in the compartment and/or by moving the instructor in charge of ventilation from the rear of the structure (where highest concentrations were consistently measured) to an outside position.

Mapping surface defects in highly-filled wood fiber polymer composite extrusion from inline spectral analysis

Surface defects in highly-filled wood polymer composites (WPCs) are mapped in single-screw extrusion via inline optical spectral analysis for the first time. The effects of wood fiber content and drying on the dynamics of surface defects are spatio-temporally resolved via space–time inline optical imaging. Surface tearing appeared from the lowest shear rates investigated followed by a gradual decay in spectral intensity with increasing shear rates/slip velocities. This is accompanied by broadening of the surface tearing characteristic frequency while the average wavelength is estimated to remain constant within the experimental conditions. Increasing shear rates, drying and increasing wood fiber content showed mitigating effects on surface tearing. However, surface tearing in undried samples was still present even at the highest shear rates and high wall slip velocities. A regime where the extrudate surface is dominated by bubbles at high shear rates and low wood fiber contents in undried WPCs was identified.

Competition and site weakly explain tree growth variability in undisturbed Central African moist forests

Abstract Identifying and quantifying factors that influence tree growth are crucial issues to ensure sustainable forest management, particularly in moist tropical forests. Tree growth depends on several factors comprising ontogenic stage, competition by neighbours and environmental conditions. Several studies have focused on one or two of them, but very few have considered all three, especially in Central Africa. We investigated the effects of diameter and competition on tree growth, in four Central African sites characterized by their soil physicochemical properties, at both tree community and population levels. We calibrated growth models using diameter data collected on 29,741 trees between 2015 and 2018, on twelve 4 or 9‐ha plots spread over the four sites. These models included diameter, wood density, competition indices and site effect as explainable variables at the community level and excluded wood density at the population level. At the community level, the best models explained 11% of growth variability with a decreasing effect of species wood density, diameter, site and competition. Our results show that even if low, site effect can result from different soil nutrients depending on both tree size and species wood density. We observed higher tree growth on sites with (i) high exchangeable K, organic C, total N and total P for low wood density species; (ii) high available P and C:N for small trees, high exchangeable Ca and Mg for medium to large trees, all belonging to medium and hard wood density species. At the population level, the best models explained between 0 to 43% of growth variability, with significant competition effect (resp. site effect) for 21 (resp. 9) of the 43 species studied. Site ranking varied greatly between the 9 species concerned, probably reflecting different sensitivities to the scarcity of particular soil nutrients. Synthesis. Our study provides original results on the factors influencing tree growth in Central Africa, showing that the potential effect of soil nutrients depends on tree size and species wood density. Remaining highly unpredictable at the population level, this effect makes it essential to increase the number of dynamics monitoring systems in logging concessions.

Biomass Production and Quality of Twelve Fast-Growing Tree Taxa in Short Rotation under Mediterranean Climate

Sustainable production of lignocellulosic biomass for energy use can contribute to climate change mitigation. This work aims to compare the biomass production of twelve fast-growing woody taxa belonging to the Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Populus and Paulownia genera, the quality of their biomass for energy use and its valorizing through transformation into pellets, as well as the effect of the crop on the soil. Over the course of two rotations, plant growth and biomass production were assessed. The yield of aboveground dry biomass ranged from 9 to 61 Mg ha−1 year−1 (equivalent to 137–867 GJ ha−1 year−1). The highest yields were obtained for Eucalyptus clones (51–61 Mg ha−1 year−1). The N-fixing species Casuarina equisetifolia and two Populus × euramericana clones (‘Adige’ and ‘AF2’) also achieved high yields (28–33 Mg ha−1 year−1), though significantly smaller than those of the eucalypts. Due to its low wood density, Paulownia fortunei was not very productive in terms of biomass (18 Mg ha−1 year−1), despite its good growth in diameter and height. However, some management practices, such as not removing nutrient-rich and poor-quality biomass fractions for energy use (leaves and thin branches) from the harvested crop, as well as the use of N-fixing species and by taking into account all nutrient inputs and outputs, can ensure the sustainability of the cultivation systems and improve degraded soils.

Exposure Risks and Potential Control Measures for a Fire Behavior Lab Training Structure: Part A—Fire Dynamics and Thermal Risk

National Fire Protection Association standard 1403 provides the fire service with guidance for conducting effective live fire training with the goal of minimizing health and safety hazards. The document provides guidelines for materials to be included in the training fuel package, but the fire service has raised questions about the use of specific types of wood products for this purpose. In this study, the fire dynamics generated when utilizing five different Class A materials that have been historically employed as training fuels [low density wood fiberboard, oriented strand board (OSB), pallets, particle board, plywood] in a single compartment fire training structure (Fire Behavior Lab) were characterized. A specific focus was placed on understanding the thermal and visual environment created for firefighters located at typical locations for instructors (front and rear of structure) and students (middle of the structure). The pallet fuel package required the longest time to transition through the six ventilation cycles while the OSB fuel package was the quickest. Additionally, the most consistent fire dynamics were demonstrated with the OSB fuel followed by particle board and plywood, while fiberboard and pallets resulted in less repeatable flashover or rollover demonstration. The OSB fuel package resulted in the highest peak heat fluxes and pallets resulted in the lowest. The most severe exposures were measured at the front instructor location. To control thermal risks when conducting training in the Fire Behavior Lab structure, instructors and students should orient themselves as low as possible in the observation area and behind the interior baffle when possible. Considering the high radiant exposures for the front instructor location, providing a local shield and reducing the time in the training structure can also reduce risk for thermal injury or personal protective equipment damage. Overall, different fuels can impact thermal exposures to firefighters, but varying fuels also affects the consistency of the fire dynamics being presented to the firefighting students.

Excessive Nitrate Limits the Sustainability of Deep Compost Mulch in Organic Market Gardening

Market gardening is a widespread practice of bio-intensive vegetable production characterized by direct marketing, small-scale farming structures, high crop densities, and innovative cultivation approaches. Currently, deep compost mulch (DCM) is a popular trend among related growing techniques. The combination of no-till and a permanent mulch of compost aims to improve soil fertility, regulate soil temperature, retain soil moisture, and control weeds. To address the problem of perennial weeds in organic no-till, deep mulch layers of typically 150 mm are used. The amount of compost required and the associated N inputs are immense and carry the risk of environmentally harmful N surpluses that can be lost through nitrate leaching or denitrification. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of compost as mulch and to investigate N dynamics under DCM. For this purpose, a literature review was conducted, and soil inorganic nitrogen (Nmin-N) was measured under on-farm conditions up to a soil depth of 900 mm in a market garden with DCM in Germany for one year. Furthermore, based on the collected data, the different N pathways were calculated using the N-Expert and NDICEA models and simulated for two additional scenarios. Results from field measurements showed a strongly increased N-surplus not taken up by the crops and a shift of Nmin-N to deeper soil layers for municipal organic waste compost (MW), with an average accumulation of 466 kg Nmin-N ha−1 at 600–900 mm depth. N inputs from DCM can be significantly reduced by the use of green waste compost (GW) with low bulk density or wood waste compost (WW) with an additional high C/N ratio.

Functional traits and climate drive interspecific differences in disturbance-induced tree mortality.

With climate change, natural disturbances such as storm or fire are reshuffled, inducing pervasive shifts in forest dynamics. To predict how it will impact forest structure and composition, it is crucial to understand how tree species differ in their sensitivity to disturbances. In this study, we investigated how functional traits and species mean climate affect their sensitivity to disturbances while controlling for tree size and stand structure. With data on 130,594 trees located on 7617 plots that were disturbed by storm, fire, snow, biotic or other disturbances from the French, Spanish, and Finnish National Forest Inventory, we modeled annual mortality probability for 40 European tree species as a function of tree size, dominance status, disturbance type, and intensity. We tested the correlation of our estimated species probability of disturbance mortality with their traits and their mean climate niches. We found that different trait combinations controlled species sensitivity to disturbances. Storm-sensitive species had a high height-dbh ratio, low wood density and high maximum growth, while fire-sensitive species had low bark thickness and high P50. Species from warmer and drier climates, where fires are more frequent, were more resistant to fire. The ranking in disturbance sensitivity between species was overall consistent across disturbance types. Productive conifer species were the most disturbance sensitive, while Mediterranean oaks were the least disturbance sensitive. Our study identified key relations between species functional traits and disturbance sensitivity, that allows more reliable predictions of how changing climate and disturbance regimes will impact future forest structure and species composition at large spatial scales.

Towards low polymer content transparent composites via novel integration engineering

Abstract The high polymer and low wood content of current transparent wood has limitation in the mechanical strength and hence obstruct green sustainable transition of the building industry. In this study, a novel method for manufacturing transparent wood was reported by minimizing the usage of polyethylene glycol using partial impregnation followed by a densification approach. The delignified wood was firstly partially impregnated by polyethylene glycol, and subsequently compressed to eliminate pores for the compressed transparent wood, providing the strong hydrogen bonds and dense structures for transparent wood. The wood content of the novel compressed transparent wood was dramatically increased to 64%, compared with the uncompressed transparent wood of 25%. Additionally, the obtained compressed transparent wood demonstrated satisfactory optical transmittance, suitable thermal energy storage, and superior mechanical strengths owing to the formation of densely packed microstructures. This novel, sustainable, and low-cost transparent wood was easy to be manufactured while having increased mechanical and energy-saving characteristics compared to those available in the existing market.

Megaherbivores modify forest structure and increase carbon stocks through multiple pathways

Megaherbivores have pervasive ecological effects. In African rainforests, elephants can increase aboveground carbon, though the mechanisms are unclear. Here, we combine a large unpublished dataset of forest elephant feeding with published browsing preferences totaling nearly 200,000 records covering >800 plant species and with nutritional data for 145 species. Elephants increase carbon stocks by: 1) promoting high wood density trees via preferential browsing on leaves from low wood density species, which are more palatable and digestible; and 2) dispersing seeds of trees that are relatively large and have the highest average wood density among tree guilds based on dispersal mode. Loss of forest elephants could cause an increase in abundance of fast-growing low wood density trees and a 6% to 9% decline in aboveground carbon stocks due to regeneration failure of elephant-dispersed trees. These results demonstrate the importance of megaherbivores for maintaining diverse, high-carbon tropical forests. Successful elephant conservation will contribute to climate mitigation at a globally-relevant scale.

Wood in office spaces: The impact of different wooden furniture on aesthetic evaluation.

In modern urban life, individuals are spending an increasing amount of time in the office. However, working in an uncomfortable office space for extended periods can affect the physical and mental health of employees. On this basis, it is particularly important for employees to build a comfortable and healthy office environment that is conducive to their work. The present study aimed to explore the use of wood in office furniture to build a comfortable and healthy work environment. The use of wood in office spaces can effectively relieve the mental fatigue of employees. Focusing on wooden office furniture, this study explores its influence on the aesthetic evaluation of wooden office spaces by manipulating the wood color and coverage of the wooden furniture placed in office spaces. Experimenting with these changes will optimize the application of wood in office spaces, improve employees' mental health. The results show that wood color and coverage significantly impact the aesthetic evaluation of wooden office spaces. People exhibit higher aesthetic evaluations of light and medium wood-colored office spaces and prefer spaces with low wood coverage. The findings of this study provide a reference for the use of wooden furniture to optimize workplaces.

Estimation of the basic density of wood in three tropical species in Chiapas, Mexico

It has now been shown that the basic density of wood is related to tree growth and carbon storage capacity, it also providesinformation such as the resistance, durability and quality of the wood, with this, the efficient use of wood in tropical species isdetermined. The objective of this research was to estimate the basic density of wood in three tropical species (Tectona grandis L. f.,Gmelina arborea Roxb. and Cedrela odorata L.). To estimate the basic density of the species, the empirical method was used,which consists of extracting a core from the tree using a pressler drill, at a breast height (1.30 m), once the 20 cores per specieshave been obtained, the small samples are dehydrated in a drying oven until a constant temperature is obtained, through this thebasic density per species was obtained. Once the density data was obtained they were subjected to an analysis of variance and latera Tukey test was applied. The statistical analysis indicates that, if there are significant differences between the species, where thehighest basic density occurred in Tectona grandis L. f. with 0.59 g/cm³, followed by Gmelina arborea Roxb. 0.44 g/cm³ and finallyCedrela odorata L. with 0.37 g/cm³, these values according to the wood classification indicate that teak and melina have mediumwood and cedar has low wood

Effect of wood moisture content on the performance of wood burning cook stoves

ABSTRACT Rural Ethiopian communities rely mostly on biomass fuels for subsistence and productive purposes. With an increasing population and dwindling forest resources, wood fuel consumption has exceeded its supply. Besides, people do not know ways of maximising biomass efficiency. The study involves the burning efficiencies of woods with varied moisture contents. Eucalyptus wood of five different moisture contents was used in five identical wood-burning stoves purposefully constructed for this purpose. Tests were conducted over 5 days, thereby giving five replications. In the tests, food temperature, stove body temperature, and stove smoke outlet temperature measurements were conducted along with ambient air temperatures. Wood with 10% moisture content performs better during combustion with respect to low and high moisture content wood. High moisture content delayed the cooking onset and low moisture decreased the duration of effective cooking. The 50% moisture content or greater with respect to oven-dried wood failed to cook. Moisture content of around 30% delayed the time to reach cooking temperature by two and hence elongated the cooking time. There is also the extended smoke time as observed from the smoke outlet temperature.

Novel Yield Model of Pinus patula Schltdl. & Cham. Growth near the Ecological Limit in Northwestern Peruvian Andes

Forest plantations with exotic species in the northwestern Peruvian Andes have brought different ecosystem benefits. The wood productivity in this Páramo region is directly related to the great availability of water from abundant rainfall compared to other regions of the semi-arid Andes. To address the lack of information on forest inventories of plantations in the Páramo region, this study used annual growth rings (dendrochronology) to build new models of tree growth and wood productivity and compared 22-year-old Pinus patula plots with thinning and unthinning treatments. Our results show that late thinning, removing 63% of stem density in the 15th year, does not have significant effects on the diameter increase or stand-level productivity. For these plantations, we propose a management rotation of 21 years with a first thinning treatment (35%) at 5 years and a second thinning treatment (50%) at 12 years. Production at 21 years is expected to be between 194.6 m3 ha−1 and 504.6 m3 ha−1 for stands with low and high wood productivity, respectively. Tree-ring studies are potentially useful for monitoring forest plantations and provide an alternative method for forest managers who use allometric equations to predict silvicultural treatments and to propose management guides for plantations.

Towards effectively restoring agricultural landscapes in East African drylands: Linking plant functional traits with soil hydrology

Abstract Land degradation is a major threat to food security in Sub Saharan Africa. Low infiltration rates in degraded soils increase the risk of surface runoff and decrease soil and groundwater recharge, resulting in further loss of soil fertility, water scarcity and crop failure. Increasing woody vegetation typically enhances soil infiltrability but little is known about how species may have differential effects on the soil hydrological properties. The aim of this study is to understand how woody vegetation and its functional properties affect soil fertility and infiltrability. We measured field‐saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Kfs) and soil organic carbon (SOC) in 38 plots across agricultural landscapes in Muminji, Kenya. Woody vegetation and land use inventories took place and species functional traits were measured on the 63 most abundant species. We systematically tested the effects of vegetation quantity (aboveground woody biomass and vegetation cover) and quality (functional properties and diversity) on soil health (Kfs as a proxy for soil infiltrability and SOC for soil fertility). We found that both vegetation quantity and quality affected soil health. Aboveground woody biomass increased the Kfs and we found a nearly significant positive effect of vegetation cover on SOC. Woody plants with a low leaf thickness positively affected Kfs and a nearly significant negative effect of wood moisture content on SOC was found. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrates that the systematic assessment of vegetation can lead to evidence‐based recommendations to guide land restoration. We found that avoiding bare soil and promoting woody plants, while favouring species with thin leaves and avoiding species with a very low wood density and water storage strategy, is beneficial for soil health across agricultural landscapes in East African drylands.