Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Environmental change and the carbon balance of ...

Research

Associated organisational units

Links

Text available via DOI:

Keywords

View graph of relations

Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia. / Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Poulter, Benjamin; Barlow, Jos B. et al.
In: Biological Reviews, Vol. 89, No. 4, 11.2014, p. 913-931.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Aragão, LEOC, Poulter, B, Barlow, JB, Anderson, LO, Malhi, Y, Saatchi, S, Phillips, OL & Gloor, E 2014, 'Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia', Biological Reviews, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 913-931. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12088

APA

Aragão, L. E. O. C., Poulter, B., Barlow, J. B., Anderson, L. O., Malhi, Y., Saatchi, S., Phillips, O. L., & Gloor, E. (2014). Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia. Biological Reviews, 89(4), 913-931. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12088

Vancouver

Aragão LEOC, Poulter B, Barlow JB, Anderson LO, Malhi Y, Saatchi S et al. Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia. Biological Reviews. 2014 Nov;89(4):913-931. Epub 2014 Feb 20. doi: 10.1111/brv.12088

Author

Aragão, Luiz E. O. C. ; Poulter, Benjamin ; Barlow, Jos B. et al. / Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests : environmental change in Amazonia. In: Biological Reviews. 2014 ; Vol. 89, No. 4. pp. 913-931.

Bibtex

@article{a67ce9b66bee49d7b1afaeed54ca8158,
title = "Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests: environmental change in Amazonia",
abstract = "Extreme climatic events and land-use change are known to influence strongly the current carbon cycle of Amazonia, and have the potential to cause significant global climate impacts. This review intends to evaluate the effects of both climate and anthropogenic perturbations on the carbon balance of the Brazilian Amazon and to understand how they interact with each other. By analysing the outputs of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 4 (AR4) model ensemble, we demonstrate that Amazonian temperatures and water stress are both likely to increase over the 21st Century. Curbing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 62% in 2010 relative to the 1990s mean decreased the Brazilian Amazon's deforestation contribution to global land use carbon emissions from 17% in the 1990s and early 2000s to 9% by 2010. Carbon sources in Amazonia are likely to be dominated by climatic impacts allied with forest fires (48.3% relative contribution) during extreme droughts. The current net carbon sink (net biome productivity, NBP) of +0.16 (ranging from +0.11 to +0.21) Pg C year−1 in the Brazilian Amazon, equivalent to 13.3% of global carbon emissions from land-use change for 2008, can be negated or reversed during drought years [NBP = −0.06 (−0.31 to +0.01) Pg C year−1]. Therefore, reducing forest fires, in addition to reducing deforestation, would be an important measure for minimizing future emissions. Conversely, doubling the current area of secondary forests and avoiding additional removal of primary forests would help the Amazonian gross forest sink to offset approximately 42% of global land-use change emissions. We conclude that a few strategic environmental policy measures are likely to strengthen the Amazonian net carbon sink with global implications. Moreover, these actions could increase the resilience of the net carbon sink to future increases in drought frequency.",
keywords = "carbon emissions, recovery , drought , fire, climate, secondary forests , deforestation",
author = "Arag{\~a}o, {Luiz E. O. C.} and Benjamin Poulter and Barlow, {Jos B.} and Anderson, {Liana O.} and Yadvinder Malhi and Sassan Saatchi and Phillips, {Oliver L.} and Emanuel Gloor",
year = "2014",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1111/brv.12088",
language = "English",
volume = "89",
pages = "913--931",
journal = "Biological Reviews",
issn = "1464-7931",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "4",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental change and the carbon balance of Amazonian forests

T2 - environmental change in Amazonia

AU - Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.

AU - Poulter, Benjamin

AU - Barlow, Jos B.

AU - Anderson, Liana O.

AU - Malhi, Yadvinder

AU - Saatchi, Sassan

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Gloor, Emanuel

PY - 2014/11

Y1 - 2014/11

N2 - Extreme climatic events and land-use change are known to influence strongly the current carbon cycle of Amazonia, and have the potential to cause significant global climate impacts. This review intends to evaluate the effects of both climate and anthropogenic perturbations on the carbon balance of the Brazilian Amazon and to understand how they interact with each other. By analysing the outputs of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 4 (AR4) model ensemble, we demonstrate that Amazonian temperatures and water stress are both likely to increase over the 21st Century. Curbing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 62% in 2010 relative to the 1990s mean decreased the Brazilian Amazon's deforestation contribution to global land use carbon emissions from 17% in the 1990s and early 2000s to 9% by 2010. Carbon sources in Amazonia are likely to be dominated by climatic impacts allied with forest fires (48.3% relative contribution) during extreme droughts. The current net carbon sink (net biome productivity, NBP) of +0.16 (ranging from +0.11 to +0.21) Pg C year−1 in the Brazilian Amazon, equivalent to 13.3% of global carbon emissions from land-use change for 2008, can be negated or reversed during drought years [NBP = −0.06 (−0.31 to +0.01) Pg C year−1]. Therefore, reducing forest fires, in addition to reducing deforestation, would be an important measure for minimizing future emissions. Conversely, doubling the current area of secondary forests and avoiding additional removal of primary forests would help the Amazonian gross forest sink to offset approximately 42% of global land-use change emissions. We conclude that a few strategic environmental policy measures are likely to strengthen the Amazonian net carbon sink with global implications. Moreover, these actions could increase the resilience of the net carbon sink to future increases in drought frequency.

AB - Extreme climatic events and land-use change are known to influence strongly the current carbon cycle of Amazonia, and have the potential to cause significant global climate impacts. This review intends to evaluate the effects of both climate and anthropogenic perturbations on the carbon balance of the Brazilian Amazon and to understand how they interact with each other. By analysing the outputs of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report 4 (AR4) model ensemble, we demonstrate that Amazonian temperatures and water stress are both likely to increase over the 21st Century. Curbing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon by 62% in 2010 relative to the 1990s mean decreased the Brazilian Amazon's deforestation contribution to global land use carbon emissions from 17% in the 1990s and early 2000s to 9% by 2010. Carbon sources in Amazonia are likely to be dominated by climatic impacts allied with forest fires (48.3% relative contribution) during extreme droughts. The current net carbon sink (net biome productivity, NBP) of +0.16 (ranging from +0.11 to +0.21) Pg C year−1 in the Brazilian Amazon, equivalent to 13.3% of global carbon emissions from land-use change for 2008, can be negated or reversed during drought years [NBP = −0.06 (−0.31 to +0.01) Pg C year−1]. Therefore, reducing forest fires, in addition to reducing deforestation, would be an important measure for minimizing future emissions. Conversely, doubling the current area of secondary forests and avoiding additional removal of primary forests would help the Amazonian gross forest sink to offset approximately 42% of global land-use change emissions. We conclude that a few strategic environmental policy measures are likely to strengthen the Amazonian net carbon sink with global implications. Moreover, these actions could increase the resilience of the net carbon sink to future increases in drought frequency.

KW - carbon emissions

KW - recovery

KW - drought

KW - fire

KW - climate

KW - secondary forests

KW - deforestation

U2 - 10.1111/brv.12088

DO - 10.1111/brv.12088

M3 - Journal article

VL - 89

SP - 913

EP - 931

JO - Biological Reviews

JF - Biological Reviews

SN - 1464-7931

IS - 4

ER -