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IMAGE: A restored savanna with only a few longleaf pine trees supports much greater biodiversity than the unrestored woodland in the background that is packed tightly with trees.
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Credit: Nash Turley
An expansive project led by Michigan State University's Lars Brudvig is examining the benefits, and limits, of environmental restoration on developed land after humans are done with it.
Experts estimate there are up to 17 million square miles of land worldwide that have been altered by humans -- through cultivation say -- and then abandoned. That's more than four times the size of the continental United States.