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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance
AU - Espirito-Santo, Fernando D. B.
AU - Gloor, Manuel
AU - Keller, Michael
AU - Malhi, Yadvinder
AU - Saatchi, Sassan
AU - Nelson, Bruce
AU - Oliveira Junior, Raimundo C.
AU - Pereira, Cleuton
AU - Lloyd, Jon
AU - Frolking, Steve
AU - Palace, Michael
AU - Shimabukuro, Yosio E.
AU - Duarte, Valdete
AU - Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo
AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela
AU - Baker, Tim R.
AU - Feldpausch, Ted R.
AU - Brienen, Roel J. W.
AU - Asner, Gregory P.
AU - Boyd, Doreen S.
AU - Phillips, Oliver L.
PY - 2014/3/18
Y1 - 2014/3/18
N2 - Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of disturbance events in natural forests from 0.01 ha to 2,651 ha size throughout Amazonia using a novel combination of forest inventory, airborne lidar and satellite remote sensing data. We find that small-scale mortality events are responsible for aboveground biomass losses of similar to 1.7 Pg Cy-1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of similar to 0.2 Pg Cy-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of similar to 0.004 Pg Cy-1. Simulation of growth and mortality indicates that even when all carbon losses from intermediate and large-scale disturbances are considered, these are outweighed by the net biomass accumulation by tree growth, supporting the inference of an Amazon carbon sink.
AB - Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of disturbance events in natural forests from 0.01 ha to 2,651 ha size throughout Amazonia using a novel combination of forest inventory, airborne lidar and satellite remote sensing data. We find that small-scale mortality events are responsible for aboveground biomass losses of similar to 1.7 Pg Cy-1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of similar to 0.2 Pg Cy-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of similar to 0.004 Pg Cy-1. Simulation of growth and mortality indicates that even when all carbon losses from intermediate and large-scale disturbances are considered, these are outweighed by the net biomass accumulation by tree growth, supporting the inference of an Amazon carbon sink.
KW - ABOVEGROUND LIVE BIOMASS
KW - TROPICAL FORESTS
KW - BRAZILIAN AMAZON
KW - RAIN-FOREST
KW - LARGE BLOWDOWNS
KW - PLOTS
KW - DYNAMICS
KW - BASIN
KW - STATE
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms4434
DO - 10.1038/ncomms4434
M3 - Journal article
VL - 5
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
M1 - 3434
ER -