1. Long-term carbon sink in Borneo's forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects
- Author
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Qie, L, Lewis, SL, Sullivan, MJP, Lopez-Gonzalez, G, Pickavance, GC, Sunderland, T, Ashton, P, Hubau, W, Abu Salim, K, Aiba, S-I, Banin, LF, Berry, N, Brearley, FQ, Burslem, DFRP, Dančák, M, Davies, SJ, Fredriksson, G, Hamer, KC, Hédl, R, Kho, LK, Kitayama, K, Krisnawati, H, Lhota, S, Malhi, Y, Maycock, C, Metali, F, Mirmanto, E, Nagy, L, Nilus, R, Ong, R, Pendry, CA, Poulsen, AD, Primack, RB, Rutishauser, E, Samsoedin, I, Saragih, B, Sist, P, Slik, JWF, Sukri, RS, Svátek, M, Tan, S, Tjoa, A, van Nieuwstadt, M, Vernimmen, RRE, Yassir, I, Kidd, PS, Fitriadi, M, Ideris, NKH, Serudin, RM, Abdullah Lim, LS, Saparudin, MS, and Phillips, OL
- Subjects
Science & Technology ,TREE MORTALITY ,IMPACT ,BIOMASS DYNAMICS ,TROPICAL FORESTS ,RAIN-FOREST ,Multidisciplinary Sciences ,TROPICAL RAIN-FORESTS ,RICHNESS ,Earth and Environmental Sciences ,BALANCE ,DRIVERS ,MD Multidisciplinary ,Science & Technology - Other Topics ,SPECIES COMPOSITION ,CO2 ,ATMOSPHERIC CO2 ,FRAGMENTATION ,SENSITIVITY ,Author Correction ,EL-NINO DROUGHT ,FRAGMENTS - Abstract
© 2017 The Author(s). Less than half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere. While carbon balance models imply large carbon uptake in tropical forests, direct on-the-ground observations are still lacking in Southeast Asia. Here, using long-term plot monitoring records of up to half a century, we find that intact forests in Borneo gained 0.43 Mg C ha -1 per year (95% CI 0.14-0.72, mean period 1988-2010) above-ground live biomass. These results closely match those from African and Amazonian plot networks, suggesting that the world's remaining intact tropical forests are now en masse out-of-equilibrium. Although both pan-tropical and long-term, the sink in remaining intact forests appears vulnerable to climate and land use changes. Across Borneo the 1997-1998 El Niño drought temporarily halted the carbon sink by increasing tree mortality, while fragmentation persistently offset the sink and turned many edge-affected forests into a carbon source to the atmosphere.
- Published
- 2017