Increasing dominance of large lianas in Amazonian forests
Oliver L. Phillips,Rodolfo Vásquez Martínez,Luzmila Arroyo,Timothy R. Baker,Timothy J. Killeen,Timothy J. Killeen,Simon L. Lewis,Simon L. Lewis,Yadvinder Malhi,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,David A. Neill,Percy Núñez Vargas,Miguel Alexiades,Carlos Cerón,A. Di Fiore,Terry L. Erwin,A. Jardim,W. Palacios,M. Saldias,Barbara Vinceti +19 more
TLDR
It is shown that non-fragmented Amazon forests are experiencing a concerted increase in the density, basal area and mean size of woody climbing plants (lianas), which implies that the tropical terrestrial carbon sink may shut down sooner than current models suggest.Abstract:
Ecological orthodoxy suggests that old-growth forests should be close to dynamic equilibrium, but this view has been challenged by recent findings that neotropical forests are accumulating carbon and biomass, possibly in response to the increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. However, it is unclear whether the recent increase in tree biomass has been accompanied by a shift in community composition. Such changes could reduce or enhance the carbon storage potential of old-growth forests in the long term. Here we show that non-fragmented Amazon forests are experiencing a concerted increase in the density, basal area and mean size of woody climbing plants (lianas). Over the last two decades of the twentieth century the dominance of large lianas relative to trees has increased by 1.7-4.6% a year. Lianas enhance tree mortality and suppress tree growth, so their rapid increase implies that the tropical terrestrial carbon sink may shut down sooner than current models suggest. Predictions of future tropical carbon fluxes will need to account for the changing composition and dynamics of supposedly undisturbed forests.read more
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CO2 balance of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests derived from a global database
Sebastiaan Luyssaert,Sebastiaan Luyssaert,I. Inglima,Martin Jung,Andrew D. Richardson,Markus Reichstein,Dario Papale,S. L. Piao,Ernst Detlef Schulze,Lisa Wingate,Giorgio Matteucci,Luiz E. O. C. Aragão,Marc Aubinet,Christian Beer,Christian Bernhofer,Kevin Black,Damien Bonal,Jean-Marc Bonnefond,Jeffrey Q. Chambers,Philippe Ciais,Bruce D. Cook,Kenneth J. Davis,A. J. Dolman,Birgit Gielen,Michael L. Goulden,John Grace,A. Granier,Achim Grelle,Timothy J. Griffis,Thomas Grünwald,Gabriele Guidolotti,Paul J. Hanson,Richard Harding,David Y. Hollinger,Lucy R. Hutyra,Pasi Kolari,Bart Kruijt,Werner L. Kutsch,Fredrik Lagergren,T. Laurila,Beverly E. Law,G. Le Maire,Anders Lindroth,Denis Loustau,Yadvinder Malhi,J. Mateus,Mirco Migliavacca,Laurent Misson,Leonardo Montagnani,John Moncrieff,Eddy Moors,J. W. Munger,Eero Nikinmaa,Scott V. Ollinger,Gabriel Pita,Corinna Rebmann,Olivier Roupsard,Nobuko Saigusa,María José Sanz,Guenther Seufert,Carlos A. Sierra,Marie-Louise Smith,Jianwu Tang,Riccardo Valentini,Timo Vesala,Ivan A. Janssens +65 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comprehensive global database for forest ecosystems, which includes carbon budget variables (fluxes and stocks), ecosystem traits (e.g., leaf area index, age), as well as ancillary site information such as management regime, climate, and soil characteristics.
Journal ArticleDOI
Carbon limitation in trees
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore current levels of nonstructural carbon in trees in natural forests in order to estimate the potential for a carbon-driven stimulation of growth, and conclude that, irrespective of the reason for its periodic cessation, growth does not seem to be limited by carbon supply.
Journal ArticleDOI
Error propagation and scaling for tropical forest biomass estimates.
TL;DR: It is found that the most important source of error is currently related to the choice of the allometric model, and more work should be devoted to improving the predictive power of allometric models for biomass.
Journal ArticleDOI
Exploring the likelihood and mechanism of a climate-change-induced dieback of the Amazon rainforest.
Yadvinder Malhi,Luiz E. O. C. Aragão,David W. Galbraith,Chris Huntingford,Rosie A. Fisher,Przemyslaw Zelazowski,Stephen Sitch,Carol McSweeney,Patrick Meir +8 more
TL;DR: A new framework for evaluating the rainfall regime of tropical forests is employed and from this precipitation-based boundaries for current forest viability are deduced, suggesting that dry-season water stress is likely to increase in E. Amazonia over the 21st century, but the region tends toward a climate more appropriate to seasonal forest than to savanna.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tropical Forests in a Changing Environment
TL;DR: In this paper, the structure and dynamics of old-growth forests appear to be rapidly changing, suggesting that there is a pantropical response to global anthropogenic forcing, although the evidence comes almost exclusively from censuses of tree plots and is controversial.
References
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Book ChapterDOI
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Journal ArticleDOI
The ecology of lianas and their role in forests
TL;DR: The importance of lianas to many aspects of forest dynamics will grow and the rate of tropical forest disturbance increases, they are likely to increase in relative abundance throughout the tropics.
Journal ArticleDOI
Changes in the carbon balance of tropical forests: evidence from long-term plots
Oliver L. Phillips,Yadvinder Malhi,Niro Higuchi,William F. Laurance,Percy Nuñez,R. Vásquez,Susan G. Laurance,Leandro Valle Ferreira,Margaret Stern,Sandra Brown,John Grace +10 more
TL;DR: Long-term monitoring of plots in mature humid tropical forests concentrated in South America revealed that biomass gain by tree growth exceeded losses from tree death in 38 of 50 Neotropical sites, suggesting that Neotropic forests may be a significant carbon sink.