Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Sullivan, Martin J.P., Talbot, Joey, Lewis, Simon L., Phillips, Oliver L., Qie, Lan, Begne, Serge K., Chave, Jerôme, Cuni-Sanchez, Aida, Habau, Wannes, López-González, Gabriela, Miles, Lera, Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel, Sonké, Bonaventure, Sunderland, Terry, ter Steege, Hans, White, Lee J.T., Affum-Baffoe, Kofi, Aiba, Shin-ichro, Cristo de Almeida, Everton, Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar, Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia, Álvarez Davilá, Esteban, Andrade, Ana, Aragão, Luiz E.O.C., Ashton, Peter, Aymard C., Gerardo A., Baker, Timothy R., Balinga, Michael, Banin, Lindsay F., Baraloto, Christopher, Bastin, Jean-Francois, Berry, Nicholas, Bogaert, Jan, Bonal, Damien, Bongers, Frans, Brienen, Roel, Camargo, José Luís C., Cerón, Carlos, Moscoso, Victor Chama, Chezeaux, Eric, Clark, Connie, Pacheco, Álvaro Cogollo, Comiskey, James A., Cornejo Valverde, Fernando, Honorio Coronado, Eurídice N., Dargie, Greta, Davies, Stuart J., de Canniere, Charles, Djuikouo K., Marie Noel, Doucet, Jean-Louis, Erwin, Terry L., Espejo, Javier Silva, Ewango, Corneille E.N., Fauset, Sophie, Feldspausch, Ted R., Herrera, Refael, Gilpin, Martin, Gloor, Emanuel, Hall, Jefferson S., Harris, David J., Hart, Terese B., Kartawinata, Kuswata, Khoon Kho, Lip, Kitayama, Kanehiro, Laurance, Susan G.W., Laurance, William F., Leal, Miguel E., Lovejoy, Thomas, Lovett, Jon C., Mpanya Lukasu, Faustin, Makana, Jean-Remy, Malhi, Yadvinder, Maracahipes, Leandro, Marimon, Beatriz S., Marimon Junior, Ben Hur, Marshall, Andrew R., Morandi, Paulo S., Muckendi , John Tshibamba, Mukinzi, Jaques, Nilus, Reuben, Núñez Vargas, Percy, Pallqui Camacho, Nadir C., Pardo, Guido, Peña-Claros, Marielos, Pétronelli, Pascal, Pickavance, Georgia C., Poulsen, Axel Dalberg, Poulsen, John R., Primack, Richard B., Priyadi, Hari, Quesada, Carlos A., Reitsma, Jan, Réjou-Méchain, Maxime, Restrepo, Zorayda, Rutishauser, Ervan, Abu Salim, Kamariah, Salamão, Rafael P., Samsoedin, Ismayadi, Sheil, Douglas, Sierra , Rodrigo, Silveira, Marcos, Slik, J.W. Ferry, Steel, Lisa, Taedoumg, Hermann, Tan, Sylvester, Terborgh, John W., Thomas, Sean C., Toledo, Marisol, Umunay, Peter M., Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis, Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães, Vos, Vincent A., Wang, Ophelia, Willcock, Simon, and Zemagho, Lise (2017) Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome. Scientific Reports, 7. 39102. pp. 1-12.

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Abstract

Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.

Item ID: 46897
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2045-2322
Keywords: biomass, carbon storage, floristic composition, plant diversity, tropical forests, wood density
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Funders: European Research Council (ERC), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF), David and Lucile Packard Foundation, European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (EUSFP), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Royal Society (RS), Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR), National Parks Agency, Gabon (ANPN), United Nations Environment Program - World Conservation Monitoring Centre, (UNEP- WCMC), Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG), National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil (CNPq), Leverhulme Trust (LT)
Projects and Grants: ERC Grant "Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System", EUSFP 283080 'GEOCARBON', EUSFP 282664 'AMAZALERT', NERC Urgency Grant, NERC Consortium Grant AMAZONICA NE/F005806/1, NERC Consortium Grant TROBIT NE/D005590/1, NERC Consortium Grant BIO-RED NE/N012542/1, NERC New Investigators Grant, RS University Research Fellowship, NERC Research Fellowship Grant NE/I021160/1, RS Wolfson Research Merit Award, NERC Studentship, RGS-IBG Henrietta Hutton Grant, CNPq project Cerrado/Amazonia Transition PELD/403725/2012-7, CNPq project Phytogeography of amozonia/Cerrado Transition CNPq/PPBio/457602/2012-0, LT Phillip Leverhulme Prize, LT Valuing the Arc Project
Research Data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5521/FORESTPLOTS.NET/2016_3.
Date Deposited: 20 Jan 2017 01:19
FoR Codes: 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 100%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960899 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of Environments not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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