Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance

Esp�rito-Santo, Fernando D.B.; Gloor, Manuel; Keller, Michael; Malhi, Yadvinder; Saatchi, Sassan; Nelson, Bruce; Oliveira, Raimundo C., Junior; Pereira, Cleuton; Lloyd, Jon; Frolking, Steve; Palace, Michael; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.; Duarte, Valdete; Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel; L�pez-Gonz�lez, Gabriela; Baker, Tim R.; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Brienen, Roel J.W.; Asner, Gregory P.; Boyd, Doreen S.; Phillips, Oliver L.

Abstract

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 ~1.28 Pg Cy-1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of ~0.01 Pg Cy-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of ~0.003 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.

Citation

Espírito-Santo, F. D., Gloor, M., Keller, M., Malhi, Y., Saatchi, S., Nelson, B., …Phillips, O. L. (2014). Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance. Nature Communications, 5, Article e3434. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4434

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 18, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2015
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Article Number: e3434
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4434
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/724735
• Publisher URL: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140318/ncomms4434/full/ncomms4434.html