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Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests
- Source :
- Nature 530 (2016) 7589, Nature, 530(7589), 211-214. Nature Publishing Group, Nature, 530(7589), 211-214, Poorter, L, Ongers, F B, Aide, T M, Zambrano, A M A, Balvanera, P, Becknell, J M, Boukili, V, Brancalion, P H S, Broadbent, E N, Chazdon, R L, Craven, D, de Almeida-Cortez, J S, Cabral, G A L, de Jong, B H J, Denslow, J S, Dent, D H, DeWalt, S J, Dupuy, J M, Duran, S M, Espirito-Santo, M M, Fandino, M C, Cesar, R G, Hall, J S, Hernandez-Stefanoni, J L, Jakovac, C C, Junqueira, A B, Kennard, D, Letcher, S G, Licona, J-C, Lohbeck, M, Marin-Spiotta, E, Martinez-Ramos, M, Massoca, P, Meave, J A, Mesquita, R, Mora, F, Munoz, R, Muscarella, R, Nunes, Y R F, Ochoa-Gaona, S, de Oliveira, A A, Orihuela-Belmonte, E, Pena-Claros, M, Perez-Garcia, E A, Piotto, D, Powers, J S, Rodriguez-Velazquez, J, Romero-Perez, I E, Ruiz, J, Saldarriaga, J G, Sanchez-Azofeifa, A, Schwartz, N B, Steininger, M K, Swenson, N G, Toledo, M, Uriarte, M, van Breugel, M, van der Wal, H, Veloso, M D M, Vester, H F M, Vicentini, A, Vieira, I C G, Bentos, T V, Williamson, G B & Rozendaal, D M A 2016, ' Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests ', Nature, vol. 530, no. 7589, pp. 211-214 . https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16512
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Land-use change occurs nowhere more rapidly than in the tropics, where the imbalance between deforestation and forest regrowth has large consequences for the global carbon cycle(1). However, considerable uncertainty remains about the rate of biomass recovery in secondary forests, and how these rates are influenced by climate, landscape, and prior land use(2-4). Here we analyse aboveground biomass recovery during secondary succession in 45 forest sites and about 1,500 forest plots covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. The studied secondary forests are highly productive and resilient. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years was on average 122 megagrams per hectare (Mg ha(-1)), corresponding to a net carbon uptake of 3.05 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), 11 times the uptake rate of old-growth forests. Aboveground biomass stocks took a median time of 66 years to recover to 90% of old-growth values. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years varied 11.3-fold ( from 20 to 225 Mg ha(-1)) across sites, and this recovery increased with water availability (higher local rainfall and lower climatic water deficit). We present a biomass recovery map of Latin America, which illustrates geographical and climatic variation in carbon sequestration potential during forest regrowth. The map will support policies to minimize forest loss in areas where biomass resilience is naturally low (such as seasonally dry forest regions) and promote forest regeneration and restoration in humid tropical lowland areas with high biomass resilience.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Carbon Sequestration
Time Factors
Secondary succession
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Rain
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Forests
NORTHEASTERN COSTA-RICA
Carbon sequestration
TROPICAL DRY FOREST
AMAZONIAN FORESTS
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Carbon Cycle
Trees
Deforestation
Tropical climate
Forest ecology
SPECIES COMPOSITION
Life Science
Bosecologie en Bosbeheer
Biomass
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Tropical Climate
Biomass (ecology)
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
LAND-USE
Tropics
Humidity
Forestry
PE&RC
Carbon
Forest Ecology and Forest Management
STAND AGE
Latin America
RAIN-FORESTS
Technologie and Innovatie
Centre for Crop Systems Analysis
Knowledge Technology and Innovation
Kennis
Environmental science
CARBON STOCKS
Ecosystem ecology
Kennis, Technologie and Innovatie
ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14764687 and 00280836
- Volume :
- 530
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Nature
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6d7fe5cad70c59e84ef299d4204373dd