Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests

Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane; Phillips, Oliver L.; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Fauset, Sophie; Sullivan, Martin J. P.; Baker, Timothy R.; Chao, Kuo Jung; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Gloor, Emanuel; Higuchi, Niro; Houwing-Duistermaat, Jeanne; Lloyd, Jon; Liu, Haiyan; Malhi, Yadvinder; Marimon, Beatriz; Marimon Junior, Ben Hur; Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel; Poorter, Lourens; Silveira, Marcos; Torre, Emilio Vilanova; D?vila, Esteban Alvarez; del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon; Almeida, Everton; Loayza, Patricia Alvarez; Andrade, Ana; Arag?o, Luiz E. O. C.; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Arets, Eric; Arroyo, Luzmila; Aymard C., Gerardo A.; Baisie, Michel; Baraloto, Christopher; Camargo, Pl?nio Barbosa; Barroso, Jorcely; Blanc, Lilian; Bonal, Damien; Bongers, Frans; Boot, Ren?; Brown, Foster; Burban, Benoit; Camargo, Jos? Lu?s; Castro, Wendeson; Moscoso, Victor Chama; Chave, Jerome; Comiskey, James; Valverde, Fernando Cornejo; da Costa, Antonio Lola; Cardozo, Nallaret Davila; Di Fiore, Anthony; Dourdain, Aur?lie; Erwin, Ter...

Abstract

The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted—modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth–survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.

Citation

Esquivel-Muelbert, A., Phillips, O. L., Brienen, R. J. W., Fauset, S., Sullivan, M. J. P., Baker, T. R., …Galbraith, D. (2020). Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 5515. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18996-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 9, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Nov 9, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 14, 2020
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 5515
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18996-3
• Keywords: General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5040063
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18996-3