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

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

doi:10.1038/ncomms4434

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

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

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

153 Scopus citations

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 ~1.7 Pg C y ^-1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of ~0.2 Pg C y^-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of ~0.004 Pg C y^-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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	3434
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4434
State	Published - Mar 18 2014
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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10.1038/ncomms4434

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Espírito-Santo, F. D. B., Gloor, M., Keller, M., Malhi, Y., Saatchi, S., Nelson, B., Junior, R. C. O., Pereira, C., Lloyd, J., Frolking, S., Palace, M., Shimabukuro, Y. E., Duarte, V., Mendoza, A. M., López-González, G., Baker, T. R., Feldpausch, T. R., Brienen, R. J. W., Asner, G. P., ... Phillips, O. L. (2014). Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance. Nature communications, 5, [3434]. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4434

Espírito-Santo, FDB, Gloor, M, Keller, M, Malhi, Y, Saatchi, S, Nelson, B, Junior, RCO, Pereira, C, Lloyd, J, Frolking, S, Palace, M, Shimabukuro, YE, Duarte, V, Mendoza, AM, López-González, G, Baker, TR, Feldpausch, TR, Brienen, RJW, Asner, GP, Boyd, DS & Phillips, OL 2014, 'Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance', Nature communications, vol. 5, 3434. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4434

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title = "Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance",

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 ~1.7 Pg C y -1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of ~0.2 Pg C y-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of ~0.004 Pg C y-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.",

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

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by the NASA Earth System Science Fellowship (NESSF) Grant no. NNX07AN84N (F.D.B.E.-S. and M.K.), the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program contribution to the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon (LBA), CalTech Postdoctoral Fellowship at JPL (F.D.B.E.-S.), NERC consortia projects, AMAZONICA (NE/F005806/1, TROBIT) for support of RAINFOR and M.G., R.J.W.B., O.L.P., T.R.F., G.L-G., J.L. and Y.M., and two grants from the European Research Council (T-FORCES, O.L.P.; GEOCARBON, M.G., O.L.P. and Y.M.L.). We thank the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology for its support of the LBA program and the National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) for implementation of this program. Development of the RAINFOR network including measurement of biomass dynamics has been supported by 34 different grants, especially the Moore Foundation. We thank the authorities in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela, and colleagues across the region for support. We are grateful to Dr Jeff Chambers who brought several of us together in an excellent meeting in 2006 at Tulane University where the idea for quantifying the disturbance spectrum was born. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory is made possible by Moore Foundation, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Avatar Alliance Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G. Leonard Baker Jr, and William R. Hearst III.",

year = "2014",

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day = "18",

doi = "10.1038/ncomms4434",

language = "English (US)",

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T1 - Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance

AU - Espírito-Santo, Fernando D.B.

AU - Gloor, Manuel

AU - Keller, Michael

AU - Malhi, Yadvinder

AU - Saatchi, Sassan

AU - Nelson, Bruce

AU - Junior, Raimundo C.Oliveira

AU - Pereira, Cleuton

AU - Lloyd, Jon

AU - Frolking, Steve

AU - Palace, Michael

AU - Shimabukuro, Yosio E.

AU - Duarte, Valdete

AU - Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo

AU - López-González, Gabriela

AU - Baker, Tim R.

AU - Feldpausch, Ted R.

AU - Brienen, Roel J.W.

AU - Asner, Gregory P.

AU - Boyd, Doreen S.

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the NASA Earth System Science Fellowship (NESSF) Grant no. NNX07AN84N (F.D.B.E.-S. and M.K.), the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program contribution to the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon (LBA), CalTech Postdoctoral Fellowship at JPL (F.D.B.E.-S.), NERC consortia projects, AMAZONICA (NE/F005806/1, TROBIT) for support of RAINFOR and M.G., R.J.W.B., O.L.P., T.R.F., G.L-G., J.L. and Y.M., and two grants from the European Research Council (T-FORCES, O.L.P.; GEOCARBON, M.G., O.L.P. and Y.M.L.). We thank the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology for its support of the LBA program and the National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA) for implementation of this program. Development of the RAINFOR network including measurement of biomass dynamics has been supported by 34 different grants, especially the Moore Foundation. We thank the authorities in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Venezuela, and colleagues across the region for support. We are grateful to Dr Jeff Chambers who brought several of us together in an excellent meeting in 2006 at Tulane University where the idea for quantifying the disturbance spectrum was born. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory is made possible by Moore Foundation, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Avatar Alliance Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G. Leonard Baker Jr, and William R. Hearst III.

PY - 2014/3/18

Y1 - 2014/3/18

N2 - 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 ~1.7 Pg C y -1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of ~0.2 Pg C y-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of ~0.004 Pg C y-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.

AB - 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 ~1.7 Pg C y -1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of ~0.2 Pg C y-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of ~0.004 Pg C y-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.

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DO - 10.1038/ncomms4434

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JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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ER -

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

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