Long-term carbon loss in fragmented Neotropical forests
Autor(en): | Puetz, Sandro Groeneveld, Juergen Henle, Klaus Knogge, Christoph Martensen, Alexandre Camargo Metz, Markus Metzger, Jean Paul Ribeiro, Milton Cezar de Paula, Mateus Dantas Huth, Andreas |
Stichwörter: | AMAZON; ATLANTIC FOREST; BIOMASS; DENSITY; EMISSIONS; HABITAT FRAGMENTATION; IMPACTS; Multidisciplinary Sciences; REGIONS; Science & Technology - Other Topics; STOCKS; TROPICAL DEFORESTATION | Erscheinungsdatum: | 2014 | Herausgeber: | NATURE RESEARCH | Journal: | NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | Volumen: | 5 | Zusammenfassung: | Tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, as they store a large amount of carbon (C). Tropical forest deforestation has been identified as a major source of CO2 emissions, though biomass loss due to fragmentation-the creation of additional forest edges-has been largely overlooked as an additional CO2 source. Here, through the combination of remote sensing and knowledge on ecological processes, we present long-term carbon loss estimates due to fragmentation of Neotropical forests: within 10 years the Brazilian Atlantic Forest has lost 69 (+/- 14) Tg C, and the Amazon 599 (+/- 120) Tg C due to fragmentation alone. For all tropical forests, we estimate emissions up to 0.2 Pg Cy-1 or 9 to 24% of the annual global C loss due to deforestation. In conclusion, tropical forest fragmentation increases carbon loss and should be accounted for when attempting to understand the role of vegetation in the global carbon balance. |
ISSN: | 20411723 | DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms6037 |
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