Journal Article

Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Baraloto, Christopher, Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães, Lovett, Jon C, Department of Biology [Copenhagen] ; Faculty of Science [Copenhagen] ; University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Tan, Sylvester, Laurance, Susan G. W, Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (UMR ECOFOG) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech-Université de Guyane (UG)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Sch Environm Nat Resources & Geog ; Bangor University, Baker, Timothy R, Primack, Richard B, Talbot, Joey, Kitayama, Kanehiro, Biol Sci ; Liverpool John Moore University (ljmu), Sch Earth Sci & Environm Sustainabil ; Northern Arizona University [Flagstaff], Plant Systemat & Ecol Lab ; Université de Yaoundé I (UY1), Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi [Belém, Brésil] (MPEG), Kho, Lip Khoon, Z

2017

Overview

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.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group,CCSD,Nature Publishing Group UK
• Subject: 631/158/2454 / 704/158/2450 / Africa / Americas / Asia / Biodiversity / Biologie végétale (sciences végétales, sylviculture, mycologie...) / Biomass / Bosecologie en Bosbeheer / Carbon - analysis / Carbon sequestration / Carbon storage / Climate change mitigation / Climate policy / Conservation / Environmental sciences & ecology / Forest Ecology and Forest Management / Forest Science / Forests / Humanities and Social Sciences / Leerstoelgroep Bosecologie en bosbeheer / Life Sciences / multidisciplinary / PE&RC / Phytobiology (plant sciences, forestry, mycology...) / Plant diversity / Plants - chemistry / Plants - classification / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Sciences de l’environnement & écologie / Sciences du vivant / Skogsvetenskap / Species identification / Tropical Climate / Tropical environments / Tropical forest biome / Tropical forests
• ISBN: 0003919333000