Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly

Bennett, Amy C.; Rodrigues de Sousa, Thaiane; Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane; Morandi, Paulo S.; Coelho de Souza, Fernanda; Castro, Wendeson; Duque, Luisa Fernanda; Flores Llampazo, Gerardo; Manoel dos Santos, Rubens; Ramos, Eliana; Vilanova Torre, Emilio; Alvarez-Davila, Esteban; Baker, Timothy R.; Costa, Flávia R. C.; Lewis, Simon L.; Marimon, Beatriz S.; Schietti, Juliana; Burban, Benoît; Berenguer, Erika; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Restrepo Correa, Zorayda; Lopez, Wilmar; Delgado Santana, Flávia; Viscarra, Laura Jessica; Elias, Fernando; Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo; Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur; Galbraith, David; Sullivan, Martin J. P.; Emilio, Thaise; Prestes, Nayane C. C. S.; Barlow, Jos; Alencar Fagundes, Nathalle Cristine; Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar; Alvarez Loayza, Patricia; Alves, Luciana F.; Aparecida Vieira, Simone; Andrade Maia, Vinícius; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Arets, Eric J. M. M.; Arroyo, Luzmila; Bánki, Olaf; Baraloto, Christopher; Barbosa Camargo, Plínio; Barroso, Jorcely; Bento da Silva, Wilder; Bonal, Damien; Borges Miranda Santos, Alisson; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Brown, Foster; Castilho, Carolina V.; Cerruto Ribeiro, Sabina; Chama Moscoso, Victor; Chavez, Ezequiel; Comiskey, James A.; Cornejo Valverde, Fernando; Dávila Cardozo, Nállarett; de Aguiar-Campos, Natália; de Oliveira Melo, Lia; del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon; Derroire, Géraldine; Disney, Mathias; do Socorro, Maria; Dourdain, Aurélie; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Ferreira, Joice; Forni Martins, Valeria; Gardner, Toby; Gloor, Emanuel; Gutierrez Sibauty, Gloria; Guillen, René; Hase, Eduardo; Hérault, Bruno; Honorio Coronado, Eurídice N.; Huaraca Huasco, Walter; Janovec, John P.; Jimenez-Rojas, Eliana; Joly, Carlos; Kalamandeen, Michelle; Killeen, Timothy J.; Lais Farrapo, Camila; Levesley, Aurora; Lizon Romano, Leon; Lopez Gonzalez, Gabriela; Maës dos Santos, Flavio Antonio; Magnusson, William E.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Matias de Almeida Reis, Simone; Melgaço, Karina; Melo Cruz, Omar A.; Mendoza Polo, Irina; Montañez, Tatiana; Morel, Jean Daniel; Núñez Vargas, M Percy; Oliveira de Araújo, Raimunda; Pallqui Camacho, Nadir C.; Parada Gutierrez, Alexander; Pennington, Toby; Pickavance, Georgia C.; Pipoly, John; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Quesada, Carlos; Ramirez Arevalo, Freddy; Ramírez‐Angulo, Hirma; Flora Ramos, Rafael; Richardson, James E.; Rodrigo de Souza, Cléber; Roopsind, Anand; Schwartz, Gustavo; Silva, Richarlly C.; Silva Espejo, Javier; Silveira, Marcos; Singh, James; Soto Shareva, Yhan; Steininger, Marc; Stropp, Juliana; Talbot, Joey; ter Steege, Hans; Terborgh, John; Thomas, Raquel; Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis; van der Heijden, Geertje; van der Hout, Peter; Zagt, Roderick; Phillips, Oliver L.

doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01776-4

Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly

Bennett, Amy C.; Rodrigues de Sousa, Thaiane; Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane; Morandi, Paulo S.; Coelho de Souza, Fernanda; Castro, Wendeson; Duque, Luisa Fernanda; Flores Llampazo, Gerardo; Manoel dos Santos, Rubens; Ramos, Eliana; Vilanova Torre, Emilio; Alvarez-Davila, Esteban; Baker, Timothy R.; Costa, Flávia R. C.; Lewis, Simon L.; Marimon, Beatriz S.; Schietti, Juliana; Burban, Benoît; Berenguer, Erika; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Restrepo Correa, Zorayda; Lopez, Wilmar; Delgado Santana, Flávia; Viscarra, Laura Jessica; Elias, Fernando; Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo; Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur; Galbraith, David; Sullivan, Martin J. P.; Emilio, Thaise; Prestes, Nayane C. C. S.; Barlow, Jos; Alencar Fagundes, Nathalle Cristine; Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar; Alvarez Loayza, Patricia; Alves, Luciana F.; Aparecida Vieira, Simone; Andrade Maia, Vinícius; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Arets, Eric J. M. M.; Arroyo, Luzmila; Bánki, Olaf; Baraloto, Christopher; Barbosa Camargo, Plíni...

Authors

Amy C. Bennett

Thaiane Rodrigues de Sousa

Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza

Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert

Paulo S. Morandi

Fernanda Coelho de Souza

Wendeson Castro

Luisa Fernanda Duque

Gerardo Flores Llampazo

Rubens Manoel dos Santos

Eliana Ramos

Emilio Vilanova Torre

Esteban Alvarez-Davila

Timothy R. Baker

Flávia R. C. Costa

Simon L. Lewis

Beatriz S. Marimon

Juliana Schietti

Benoît Burban

Erika Berenguer

Alejandro Araujo-Murakami

Zorayda Restrepo Correa

Wilmar Lopez

Flávia Delgado Santana

Laura Jessica Viscarra

Fernando Elias

Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez

Ben Hur Marimon-Junior

David Galbraith

Martin J. P. Sullivan

Thaise Emilio

Nayane C. C. S. Prestes

Jos Barlow

Nathalle Cristine Alencar Fagundes

Edmar Almeida de Oliveira

Patricia Alvarez Loayza

Luciana F. Alves

Simone Aparecida Vieira

Vinícius Andrade Maia

Luiz E. O. C. Aragão

Eric J. M. M. Arets

Luzmila Arroyo

Olaf Bánki

Christopher Baraloto

Plínio Barbosa Camargo

Jorcely Barroso

Wilder Bento da Silva

Damien Bonal

Alisson Borges Miranda Santos

Roel J. W. Brienen

Foster Brown

Carolina V. Castilho

Sabina Cerruto Ribeiro

Victor Chama Moscoso

Ezequiel Chavez

James A. Comiskey

Fernando Cornejo Valverde

Nállarett Dávila Cardozo

Natália de Aguiar-Campos

Lia de Oliveira Melo

Jhon del Aguila Pasquel

Géraldine Derroire

Mathias Disney

Maria do Socorro

Aurélie Dourdain

Ted R. Feldpausch

Joice Ferreira

Valeria Forni Martins

Toby Gardner

Emanuel Gloor

Gloria Gutierrez Sibauty

René Guillen

Eduardo Hase

Bruno Hérault

Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado

Walter Huaraca Huasco

John P. Janovec

Eliana Jimenez-Rojas

Carlos Joly

Michelle Kalamandeen

Timothy J. Killeen

Camila Lais Farrapo

Aurora Levesley

Leon Lizon Romano

Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez

Flavio Antonio Maës dos Santos

William E. Magnusson

Yadvinder Malhi

Simone Matias de Almeida Reis

Karina Melgaço

Omar A. Melo Cruz

Irina Mendoza Polo

Tatiana Montañez

Jean Daniel Morel

M Percy Núñez Vargas

Raimunda Oliveira de Araújo

Nadir C. Pallqui Camacho

Alexander Parada Gutierrez

Toby Pennington

Georgia C. Pickavance

John Pipoly

Nigel C. A. Pitman

Carlos Quesada

Freddy Ramirez Arevalo

Hirma Ramírez‐Angulo

Rafael Flora Ramos

James E. Richardson

Cléber Rodrigo de Souza

Anand Roopsind

Gustavo Schwartz

Richarlly C. Silva

Javier Silva Espejo

Marcos Silveira

James Singh

Yhan Soto Shareva

Marc Steininger

Juliana Stropp

Joey Talbot

Hans ter Steege

John Terborgh

Raquel Thomas

Luis Valenzuela Gamarra

GEERTJE VAN DER HEIJDEN Geertje.VanDerheijden@nottingham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Peter van der Hout

Roderick Zagt

Oliver L. Phillips

Contributors

GEERTJE VAN DER HEIJDEN Geertje.VanDerheijden@nottingham.ac.uk
Researcher

Abstract

The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it is unclear which forests are the most vulnerable to extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may be protected by prior adaptation, or more vulnerable because they operate closer to physiological limits. Here we report that forests in drier South American climates experienced the greatest impacts of the 2015–2016 El Niño, indicating greater vulnerability to extreme temperatures and drought. The long-term, ground-measured tree-by-tree responses of 123 forest plots across tropical South America show that the biomass carbon sink ceased during the event with carbon balance becoming indistinguishable from zero (−0.02 ± 0.37 Mg C ha−1 per year). However, intact tropical South American forests overall were no more sensitive to the extreme 2015–2016 El Niño than to previous less intense events, remaining a key defence against climate change as long as they are protected.

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 21, 2023
Online Publication Date	Sep 4, 2023
Publication Date	2023-09
Deposit Date	Sep 8, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Sep 12, 2023
Journal	Nature Climate Change
Print ISSN	1758-678X
Electronic ISSN	1758-6798
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	13
Issue	9
Pages	967-974
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01776-4
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/25074987
Publisher URL	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01776-4