Journal Article

Long-term carbon sink in Borneo’s forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects

Serudin, Rafizah Mat, Ong, Robert, Pendry, Colin A., Berry, Nicholas, Banin, Lindsay F., Malhi, Yadvinder, Tan, Sylvester, Yassir, Ishak, Lewis, Simon L., Maycock, Colin, Rutishauser, Ervan, Saragih, Bernaulus, Hédl, Radim, Pickavance, Georgia C., Brearley, Francis Q., Kitayama, Kanehiro, Abu Salim, Kamariah, Fredriksson, Gabriella, Ideris, Nur Khalish Hafizhah, Slik, J. W. Ferry, Dančák, Martin, Phillips, Oliver L., Kho, Lip Khoon, Hubau, Wannes, Kidd, Petra Susan, Svátek, Martin, Poulsen, Axel Dalberg, Aiba, Shin-Ichiro, Sukri, Rahayu Sukmaria, Hamer, Keith C., Nilus, Reuben, van Nieuwstadt, Mark, Davies, Stuart J., Samsoedin, Ismayadi, Burslem, David F. R. P., Sullivan, Martin J. P., Metali, Faizah, Vernimmen, Ronald R. E., Sunderland, Terry, Tjoa, Aiyen, Mirmanto, Edi, Nagy, Laszlo, Krisnawati, Haruni, Abdullah Lim, Layla Syaznie, Saparudin, Muhammad Shahruney, Ashton, Peter, Fitriadi, Muhammad, Qie, Lan, Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela, Primack, Richard B., Sist, Plinio, Lhota, Stanislav

2017

Overview

Less than half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere. While carbon balance models imply large carbon uptake in tropical forests, direct on-the-ground observations are still lacking in Southeast Asia. Here, using long-term plot monitoring records of up to half a century, we find that intact forests in Borneo gained 0.43 Mg C ha −1 per year (95% CI 0.14–0.72, mean period 1988–2010) in above-ground live biomass carbon. These results closely match those from African and Amazonian plot networks, suggesting that the world’s remaining intact tropical forests are now en masse out-of-equilibrium. Although both pan-tropical and long-term, the sink in remaining intact forests appears vulnerable to climate and land use changes. Across Borneo the 1997–1998 El Niño drought temporarily halted the carbon sink by increasing tree mortality, while fragmentation persistently offset the sink and turned many edge-affected forests into a carbon source to the atmosphere. The existence of a pan-tropical forest carbon sink remains uncertain due to the lack of data from Asia. Here, using direct on-the-ground observations, the authors confirm remaining intact forests in Borneo have provided a long-term carbon sink, but carbon net gains are vulnerable to drought and edge effects.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 631/158/2165 / 704/106/694/2739 / 704/158/2454 / Anthropogenic factors / Atmosphere / Atmospheric models / Carbon / Carbon dioxide / Carbon dioxide emissions / Carbon sinks / Carbon sources / Drought / El Nino / Forests / Humanities and Social Sciences / Land use / multidisciplinary / open climate campaign / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Tropical forests