1. Variation in stem mortality rates determines patterns of above-ground biomass in Amazonian forests: implications for dynamic global vegetation models
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Thomas E. Lovejoy, Hans ter Steege, Casimiro Mendoza, Paul R. Moorcroft, Patrick Meir, Iêda Leão do Amaral, Leandro Valle Ferreira, José Luís Camargo, Atila Alves de Oliveira, Niro Higuchi, Raquel Thomas, David W. Galbraith, Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez, Bart Kruijt, Ted R. Feldpausch, Armando Torres-Lezama, David A. Neill, Timothy J. Killeen, Eric Arets, Rafael de Paiva Salomão, Marielos Peña-Claros, Susan G. Laurance, Marcos Silveira, Philippe Ciais, Manuel Gloor, Matthieu Guimberteau, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo, Damien Bonal, Agustín Rudas, Euridice Honorio, Anja Rammig, Juan Carlos Licona, Geertje M. F. van der Heijden, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Antonio Carlos Lola da Costa, Gerardo Aymard, Oliver L. Phillips, Emilio Vilanova, Bia Marimon, Carlos A. Quesada, Lourens Poorter, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, John Terborgh, Anthony Di Fiore, Hannes De Deurwaerder, Jérôme Chave, Jocely Barroso, Guido Pardo, Vincent A. Vos, Marisol Toledo, Christopher Baraloto, Juliana Stropp, Álvaro Cogollo, Roel J. W. Brienen, Darley C.L. Matos, Michelle O. Johnson, Yadvinder Malhi, Ke Zhang, Kirsten Thonicke, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, Ana Andrade, Anand Roopsind, Abel Monteagudo, Luzmila Arroyo, Adriana Prieto, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Timothy R. Baker, Hans Verbeeck, Gilvan Sampaio, Esteban Álvarez-Dávila, William F. Laurance, René G. A. Boot, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Sophie Fauset, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Celso von Randow, Rodolfo Vasquez, School of Geography [Leeds], University of Leeds, Computational & Applied Vegetation Ecology (CAVElab), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les Sols (METIS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität Munchen - Université Technique de Munich [Munich, Allemagne] (TUM), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Missouri Botanical Garden, Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), School of Geosciences [Edinburgh], University of Edinburgh, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division [Los Alamos], Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), ICOS-ATC (ICOS-ATC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Alterra [Wageningen] (ESS-CC), Centre for Water and Climate [Wageningen], Research School of Biology, Australian National University (ANU), Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology [Cambridge] (OEB), Harvard University [Cambridge], Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), Fundación Con-Vida, Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Universidad Autonoma Gabriel René Moreno, Programa Cienclas Agro & Mar, UNELLEZ Guanare, Herbario Universitario PORT, Department of Biological Sciences [Miami], Florida International University [Miami] (FIU), Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC), Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières [devient SILVA en 2018] (EEF), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Lorraine (UL), Tropenbos International (TBI), Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Jardín Botánico de Medellín, Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program [Madre de Dios], Centro de Geociencias, Federal University of Para - Universidade Federal do Para [Belem - Brésil], Dpt of Anthropology [Austin], University of Texas at Austin [Austin], Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi [Belém, Brésil] (MPEG), Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), World Wide Fund (WWF), Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS), James Cook University (JCU), Instituto Boliviano de Investigacion Forestal (IBIF), Environmental Science and Policy Department and the Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University [Fairfax], Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford [Oxford], Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (UNEMAT), Escuela de Ciencias Forestales (ESFOR), Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Nacional Intercultural de la Amazonía, Universidad Autonoma del Beni, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen] (WUR), Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University [Durham], Doctorado Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia [Bogotà] (UNAL), Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo Forestal, Universidad de los Andes [Bogota] (UNIANDES), Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, Museu Universitário, Institute of Biological Sciences, Medical and Health, Universidade Paranaense, Naturalis Biodiversity Center [Leiden], School of Geography [Nottingham], University of Nottingham, UK (UON), Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado, regional Norte Amazónico, 282664, AMAZALERT Raising the alert about critical feedbacks between climate and long-term land use change in the Amazon, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, ERC, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency, Consortium and Standard Grant 'AMAZONICA' NE/F005806/1, Consortium and Standard Grant 'TROBIT' NE/D005590/1, Consortium and Standard Grant 'Niche Evolution of South American Trees' NE/I028122/1, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico of Brazil (CNPq), project Programa de Pesquisas Ecologicas de Longa Duracao PELD-403725/2012-7, Helmholtz Alliance 'Remote Sensing and Earth System Dynamics', EU FP7 project 'ROBIN' 283093, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs KB-14-003-030, US DOE (BER) NGEE-Tropics project, ERC Advanced Grant, Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award, ARC FT110100457, NERC NE/J011002/1, Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, European Project: 283080,EC:FP7:ENV,FP7-ENV-2011,GEOCARBON(2011), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University (UGENT), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Harvard University, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Federal University of Para - Universidade Federal do Pará - UFPA [Belém, Brazil] (UFPA), University of Oxford, Ghent University [Belgium] (UGENT), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Saclay-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Missouri Botanical Garden (USA), Florida International University (FIU), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Wageningen University and Research Centre [Wageningen] (WUR), and Universidad de los Andes [Bogota]
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,ENVIRONMENT SIMULATOR JULES ,TREE MORTALITY ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Bos- en Landschapsecologie ,Forests ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Tropic Climate ,Aboveground Biomass ,Trees ,Ecosystem model ,Forest and Landscape Ecology ,Primary Research Article ,Biomass ,General Environmental Science ,Global and Planetary Change ,Biomass (ecology) ,CLIMATE-CHANGE ,Ecology ,Vegetation ,Net Primary Production ,Dynamic global vegetation model ,PE&RC ,Vegetatie, Bos- en Landschapsecologie ,Tree ,tropical forest ,productivity ,DROUGHT SENSITIVITY ,dynamic global vegetation model ,Stem ,010603 evolutionary biology ,Carbon Cycle ,forest plots ,TROPICAL RAIN-FORESTS ,Amazonia ,allometry ,Environmental Chemistry ,Tropical Forest ,[SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology ,Bosecologie en Bosbeheer ,Forest ,Mortality ,Vegetatie ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Allometry ,Tropical Climate ,WIMEK ,Forest Ecosystem ,EARTH SYSTEM ,carbon ,Theoretical Model ,Primary production ,15. Life on land ,South America ,Models, Theoretical ,Primary Research Articles ,CARBON BALANCE ,Forest Ecology and Forest Management ,WOOD PRODUCTIVITY ,Climate Resilience ,13. Climate action ,Klimaatbestendigheid ,Growth, Development And Aging ,Earth and Environmental Sciences ,WATER-BALANCE ,Spatial ecology ,Environmental science ,cavelab ,Spatial variability ,Vegetation, Forest and Landscape Ecology ,ECOSYSTEM MODEL - Abstract
Understanding the processes that determine above-ground biomass (AGB) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting the sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and for designing and evaluating dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). AGB is determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary productivity (NPP)] and the rate at which carbon is lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whether two direct metrics of tree mortality (the absolute rate of woody biomass loss and the rate of stem mortality) and/or woody NPP, control variation in AGB among 167 plots in intact forest across Amazonia. We then compare these relationships and the observed variation in AGB and woody NPP with the predictions of four DGVMs. The observations show that stem mortality rates, rather than absolute rates of woody biomass loss, are the most important predictor of AGB, which is consistent with the importance of stand size structure for determining spatial variation in AGB. The relationship between stem mortality rates and AGB varies among different regions of Amazonia, indicating that variation in wood density and height/diameter relationships also influences AGB. In contrast to previous findings, we find that woody NPP is not correlated with stem mortality rates and is weakly positively correlated with AGB. Across the four models, basin-wide average AGB is similar to the mean of the observations. However, the models consistently overestimate woody NPP and poorly represent the spatial patterns of both AGB and woody NPP estimated using plot data. In marked contrast to the observations, DGVMs typically show strong positive relationships between woody NPP and AGB. Resolving these differences will require incorporating forest size structure, mechanistic models of stem mortality and variation in functional composition in DGVMs. © 2016 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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