651. Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink.
- Author
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Brienen RJ, Phillips OL, Feldpausch TR, Gloor E, Baker TR, Lloyd J, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Monteagudo-Mendoza A, Malhi Y, Lewis SL, Vásquez Martinez R, Alexiades M, Álvarez Dávila E, Alvarez-Loayza P, Andrade A, Aragão LE, Araujo-Murakami A, Arets EJ, Arroyo L, Aymard C GA, Bánki OS, Baraloto C, Barroso J, Bonal D, Boot RG, Camargo JL, Castilho CV, Chama V, Chao KJ, Chave J, Comiskey JA, Cornejo Valverde F, da Costa L, de Oliveira EA, Di Fiore A, Erwin TL, Fauset S, Forsthofer M, Galbraith DR, Grahame ES, Groot N, Hérault B, Higuchi N, Honorio Coronado EN, Keeling H, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Laurance S, Licona J, Magnussen WE, Marimon BS, Marimon-Junior BH, Mendoza C, Neill DA, Nogueira EM, Núñez P, Pallqui Camacho NC, Parada A, Pardo-Molina G, Peacock J, Peña-Claros M, Pickavance GC, Pitman NC, Poorter L, Prieto A, Quesada CA, Ramírez F, Ramírez-Angulo H, Restrepo Z, Roopsind A, Rudas A, Salomão RP, Schwarz M, Silva N, Silva-Espejo JE, Silveira M, Stropp J, Talbot J, ter Steege H, Teran-Aguilar J, Terborgh J, Thomas-Caesar R, Toledo M, Torello-Raventos M, Umetsu RK, van der Heijden GM, van der Hout P, Guimarães Vieira IC, Vieira SA, Vilanova E, Vos VA, and Zagt RJ
- Subjects
- Atmosphere chemistry, Biomass, Brazil, Carbon analysis, Carbon metabolism, Carbon Dioxide metabolism, Plant Stems metabolism, Trees growth & development, Trees metabolism, Tropical Climate, Wood analysis, Carbon Dioxide analysis, Carbon Sequestration, Rainforest
- Abstract
Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.
- Published
- 2015
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