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Johnson MO, Galbraith D, Gloor M, De Deurwaerder H, Guimberteau M, Rammig A, Thonicke K, Verbeeck H, von Randow C, Monteagudo A, Phillips OL, Brienen RJW, Feldpausch TR, Lopez Gonzalez G, Fauset S, Quesada CA, Christoffersen B, Ciais P, Sampaio G, Kruijt B, Meir P, Moorcroft P, Zhang K, Alvarez‐Davila E, Alves de Oliveira A, Amaral I, Andrade A, Aragao LEOC, Araujo‐Murakami A, Arets EJMM, Arroyo L, Aymard GA, Baraloto C, Barroso J, Bonal D, Boot R, Camargo J, Chave J, Cogollo A, Cornejo Valverde F, Lola da Costa AC, Di Fiore A, Ferreira L, Higuchi N, Honorio EN, Killeen TJ, Laurance SG, Laurance WF, Licona J, Lovejoy T, Malhi Y, Marimon B, Marimon BH, Matos DCL, Mendoza C, Neill DA, Pardo G, Peña‐Claros M, Pitman NCA, Poorter L, Prieto A, Ramirez‐Angulo H, Roopsind A, Rudas A, Salomao RP, Silveira M, Stropp J, ter Steege H, Terborgh J, Thomas R, Toledo M, Torres‐Lezama A, van der Heijden GMF, Vasquez R, Guimarães Vieira IC, Vilanova E, Vos VA, Baker TR. Variation in stem mortality rates determines patterns of above-ground biomass in Amazonian forests: implications for dynamic global vegetation models. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2016; 22:3996-4013. [PMID: 27082541 PMCID: PMC6849555 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2015] [Revised: 02/05/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2016] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the processes that determine above-ground biomass (AGB) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting the sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and for designing and evaluating dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). AGB is determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary productivity (NPP)] and the rate at which carbon is lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whether two direct metrics of tree mortality (the absolute rate of woody biomass loss and the rate of stem mortality) and/or woody NPP, control variation in AGB among 167 plots in intact forest across Amazonia. We then compare these relationships and the observed variation in AGB and woody NPP with the predictions of four DGVMs. The observations show that stem mortality rates, rather than absolute rates of woody biomass loss, are the most important predictor of AGB, which is consistent with the importance of stand size structure for determining spatial variation in AGB. The relationship between stem mortality rates and AGB varies among different regions of Amazonia, indicating that variation in wood density and height/diameter relationships also influences AGB. In contrast to previous findings, we find that woody NPP is not correlated with stem mortality rates and is weakly positively correlated with AGB. Across the four models, basin-wide average AGB is similar to the mean of the observations. However, the models consistently overestimate woody NPP and poorly represent the spatial patterns of both AGB and woody NPP estimated using plot data. In marked contrast to the observations, DGVMs typically show strong positive relationships between woody NPP and AGB. Resolving these differences will require incorporating forest size structure, mechanistic models of stem mortality and variation in functional composition in DGVMs.
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Johnson MO, Galbraith D, Gloor M, De Deurwaerder H, Guimberteau M, Rammig A, Thonicke K, Verbeeck H, von Randow C, Monteagudo A, Phillips OL, Brienen RJW, Feldpausch TR, Lopez Gonzalez G, Fauset S, Quesada CA, Christoffersen B, Ciais P, Sampaio G, Kruijt B, Meir P, Moorcroft P, Zhang K, Alvarez-Davila E, Alves de Oliveira A, Amaral I, Andrade A, Aragao LEOC, Araujo-Murakami A, Arets EJMM, Arroyo L, Aymard GA, Baraloto C, Barroso J, Bonal D, Boot R, Camargo J, Chave J, Cogollo A, Cornejo Valverde F, Lola da Costa AC, Di Fiore A, Ferreira L, Higuchi N, Honorio EN, Killeen TJ, Laurance SG, Laurance WF, Licona J, Lovejoy T, Malhi Y, Marimon B, Marimon BH, Matos DCL, Mendoza C, Neill DA, Pardo G, Peña-Claros M, Pitman NCA, Poorter L, Prieto A, Ramirez-Angulo H, Roopsind A, Rudas A, Salomao RP, Silveira M, Stropp J, Ter Steege H, Terborgh J, Thomas R, Toledo M, Torres-Lezama A, van der Heijden GMF, Vasquez R, Guimarães Vieira IC, Vilanova E, Vos VA, Baker TR. Variation in stem mortality rates determines patterns of above-ground biomass in Amazonian forests: implications for dynamic global vegetation models. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2016. [PMID: 27082541 DOI: 10.5521/forestplots.net/2016_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the processes that determine above-ground biomass (AGB) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting the sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and for designing and evaluating dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). AGB is determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary productivity (NPP)] and the rate at which carbon is lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whether two direct metrics of tree mortality (the absolute rate of woody biomass loss and the rate of stem mortality) and/or woody NPP, control variation in AGB among 167 plots in intact forest across Amazonia. We then compare these relationships and the observed variation in AGB and woody NPP with the predictions of four DGVMs. The observations show that stem mortality rates, rather than absolute rates of woody biomass loss, are the most important predictor of AGB, which is consistent with the importance of stand size structure for determining spatial variation in AGB. The relationship between stem mortality rates and AGB varies among different regions of Amazonia, indicating that variation in wood density and height/diameter relationships also influences AGB. In contrast to previous findings, we find that woody NPP is not correlated with stem mortality rates and is weakly positively correlated with AGB. Across the four models, basin-wide average AGB is similar to the mean of the observations. However, the models consistently overestimate woody NPP and poorly represent the spatial patterns of both AGB and woody NPP estimated using plot data. In marked contrast to the observations, DGVMs typically show strong positive relationships between woody NPP and AGB. Resolving these differences will require incorporating forest size structure, mechanistic models of stem mortality and variation in functional composition in DGVMs.
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ter Steege H, Vaessen RW, Cárdenas-López D, Sabatier D, Antonelli A, de Oliveira SM, Pitman NCA, Jørgensen PM, Salomão RP. The discovery of the Amazonian tree flora with an updated checklist of all known tree taxa. Sci Rep 2016; 6:29549. [PMID: 27406027 PMCID: PMC4942782 DOI: 10.1038/srep29549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2016] [Accepted: 06/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Amazonia is the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth, and the debate over how many tree species grow there remains contentious. Here we provide a checklist of all tree species collected to date, and describe spatial and temporal trends in data accumulation. We report 530,025 unique collections of trees in Amazonia, dating between 1707 and 2015, for a total of 11,676 species in 1225 genera and 140 families. These figures support recent estimates of 16,000 total Amazonian tree species based on ecological plot data from the Amazonian Tree Diversity Network. Botanical collection in Amazonia is characterized by three major peaks, centred around 1840, 1920, and 1980, which are associated with flora projects and the establishment of inventory plots. Most collections were made in the 20th century. The number of collections has increased exponentially, but shows a slowdown in the last two decades. We find that a species' range size is a better predictor of the number of times it has been collected than the species' estimated basin-wide population size. Finding, describing, and documenting the distribution of the remaining species will require coordinated efforts at under-collected sites.
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ter Steege H, Pitman NCA, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Peres CA, Guevara JE, Salomão RP, Castilho CV, Amaral IL, de Almeida Matos FD, de Souza Coelho L, Magnusson WE, Phillips OL, de Andrade Lima Filho D, de Jesus Veiga Carim M, Irume MV, Martins MP, Molino JF, Sabatier D, Wittmann F, López DC, da Silva Guimarães JR, Mendoza AM, Vargas PN, Manzatto AG, Reis NFC, Terborgh J, Casula KR, Montero JC, Feldpausch TR, Honorio Coronado EN, Montoya AJD, Zartman CE, Mostacedo B, Vasquez R, Assis RL, Medeiros MB, Simon MF, Andrade A, Camargo JL, Laurance SGW, Nascimento HEM, Marimon BS, Marimon BH, Costa F, Targhetta N, Vieira ICG, Brienen R, Castellanos H, Duivenvoorden JF, Mogollón HF, Piedade MTF, Aymard C. GA, Comiskey JA, Damasco G, Dávila N, García-Villacorta R, Diaz PRS, Vincentini A, Emilio T, Levis C, Schietti J, Souza P, Alonso A, Dallmeier F, Ferreira LV, Neill D, Araujo-Murakami A, Arroyo L, Carvalho FA, Souza FC, do Amaral DD, Gribel R, Luize BG, Pansonato MP, Venticinque E, Fine P, Toledo M, Baraloto C, Cerón C, Engel J, Henkel TW, Jimenez EM, Maas P, Mora MCP, Petronelli P, Revilla JDC, Silveira M, Stropp J, Thomas-Caesar R, Baker TR, Daly D, Paredes MR, da Silva NF, Fuentes A, Jørgensen PM, Schöngart J, Silman MR, Arboleda NC, Cintra BBL, Valverde FC, Di Fiore A, Phillips JF, van Andel TR, von Hildebrand P, Barbosa EM, de Matos Bonates LC, de Castro D, de Sousa Farias E, Gonzales T, Guillaumet JL, Hoffman B, Malhi Y, de Andrade Miranda IP, Prieto A, Rudas A, Ruschell AR, Silva N, Vela CIA, Vos VA, Zent EL, Zent S, Cano A, Nascimento MT, Oliveira AA, Ramirez-Angulo H, Ramos JF, Sierra R, Tirado M, Medina MNU, van der Heijden G, Torre EV, Vriesendorp C, Wang O, Young KR, Baider C, Balslev H, de Castro N, Farfan-Rios W, Ferreira C, Mendoza C, Mesones I, Torres-Lezama A, Giraldo LEU, Villarroel D, Zagt R, Alexiades MN, Garcia-Cabrera K, Hernandez L, Huamantupa-Chuquimaco I, Milliken W, Cuenca WP, Pansini S, Pauletto D, Arevalo FR, Sampaio AF, Valderrama Sandoval EH, Gamarra LV. Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2015; 1:e1500936. [PMID: 26702442 PMCID: PMC4681336 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2015] [Accepted: 10/07/2015] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict that most of the world's >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century.
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Honorio Coronado EN, Dexter KG, Pennington RT, Chave J, Lewis SL, Alexiades MN, Alvarez E, Alves de Oliveira A, Amaral IL, Araujo‐Murakami A, Arets EJMM, Aymard GA, Baraloto C, Bonal D, Brienen R, Cerón C, Cornejo Valverde F, Di Fiore A, Farfan‐Rios W, Feldpausch TR, Higuchi N, Huamantupa‐Chuquimaco I, Laurance SG, Laurance WF, López‐Gonzalez G, Marimon BS, Marimon‐Junior BH, Monteagudo Mendoza A, Neill D, Palacios Cuenca W, Peñuela Mora MC, Pitman NCA, Prieto A, Quesada CA, Ramirez Angulo H, Rudas A, Ruschel AR, Salinas Revilla N, Salomão RP, Segalin de Andrade A, Silman MR, Spironello W, Steege H, Terborgh J, Toledo M, Valenzuela Gamarra L, Vieira ICG, Vilanova Torre E, Vos V, Phillips OL. Phylogenetic diversity of Amazonian tree communities. DIVERS DISTRIB 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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Brienen RJW, 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 LEOC, Araujo-Murakami A, Arets EJMM, Arroyo L, Aymard C GA, Bánki OS, Baraloto C, Barroso J, Bonal D, Boot RGA, Camargo JLC, 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 NCA, 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 GMF, van der Hout P, Guimarães Vieira IC, Vieira SA, Vilanova E, Vos VA, Zagt RJ. Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink. Nature 2015; 519:344-8. [PMID: 25788097 DOI: 10.1038/nature14283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 339] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2014] [Accepted: 02/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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.
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ter Steege H, Pitman NCA, Sabatier D, Baraloto C, Salomão RP, Guevara JE, Phillips OL, Castilho CV, Magnusson WE, Molino JF, Monteagudo A, Núñez Vargas P, Montero JC, Feldpausch TR, Coronado ENH, Killeen TJ, Mostacedo B, Vasquez R, Assis RL, Terborgh J, Wittmann F, Andrade A, Laurance WF, Laurance SGW, Marimon BS, Marimon BH, Guimarães Vieira IC, Amaral IL, Brienen R, Castellanos H, Cárdenas López D, Duivenvoorden JF, Mogollón HF, Matos FDDA, Dávila N, García-Villacorta R, Stevenson Diaz PR, Costa F, Emilio T, Levis C, Schietti J, Souza P, Alonso A, Dallmeier F, Montoya AJD, Fernandez Piedade MT, Araujo-Murakami A, Arroyo L, Gribel R, Fine PVA, Peres CA, Toledo M, Aymard C GA, Baker TR, Cerón C, Engel J, Henkel TW, Maas P, Petronelli P, Stropp J, Zartman CE, Daly D, Neill D, Silveira M, Paredes MR, Chave J, Lima Filho DDA, Jørgensen PM, Fuentes A, Schöngart J, Cornejo Valverde F, Di Fiore A, Jimenez EM, Peñuela Mora MC, Phillips JF, Rivas G, van Andel TR, von Hildebrand P, Hoffman B, Zent EL, Malhi Y, Prieto A, Rudas A, Ruschell AR, Silva N, Vos V, Zent S, Oliveira AA, Schutz AC, Gonzales T, Trindade Nascimento M, Ramirez-Angulo H, Sierra R, Tirado M, Umaña Medina MN, van der Heijden G, Vela CIA, Vilanova Torre E, Vriesendorp C, Wang O, Young KR, Baider C, Balslev H, Ferreira C, Mesones I, Torres-Lezama A, Urrego Giraldo LE, Zagt R, Alexiades MN, Hernandez L, Huamantupa-Chuquimaco I, Milliken W, Palacios Cuenca W, Pauletto D, Valderrama Sandoval E, Valenzuela Gamarra L, Dexter KG, Feeley K, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Silman MR. Hyperdominance in the Amazonian tree flora. Science 2013; 342:1243092. [PMID: 24136971 DOI: 10.1126/science.1243092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 391] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 tree species, of which just 227 (1.4%) account for half of all trees. Most of these are habitat specialists and only dominant in one or two regions of the basin. We discuss some implications of the finding that a small group of species--less diverse than the North American tree flora--accounts for half of the world's most diverse tree community.
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Pitman NCA. Eurídice Honoris y Carlos Reynel. 2003. Vacíos en la colección de la flora de los Bosques Húmedos del Perú. REVISTA PERUANA DE BIOLOGÍA 2013. [DOI: 10.15381/rpb.v10i2.2509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
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Malhado ACM, Malhi Y, Whittaker RJ, Ladle RJ, ter Steege H, Fabré NN, Phillips O, Laurance WF, Aragão LEO.C, Pitman NCA, Ramírez-Angulo H, Malhado CHM. Drip-tips are Associated with Intensity of Precipitation in the Amazon Rain Forest. Biotropica 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2012.00868.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Pitman NCA, Cecilio MP, Pudicho MP, Graham JG, Núñez V. MP, Valenzuela M, Terborgh JW. Indigenous Perceptions of Tree Species Abundance Across an Upper Amazonian Landscape. J ETHNOBIOL 2011. [DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771-31.2.233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Bass MS, Finer M, Jenkins CN, Kreft H, Cisneros-Heredia DF, McCracken SF, Pitman NCA, English PH, Swing K, Villa G, Di Fiore A, Voigt CC, Kunz TH. Global conservation significance of Ecuador's Yasuní National Park. PLoS One 2010; 5:e8767. [PMID: 20098736 PMCID: PMC2808245 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 238] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2009] [Accepted: 11/17/2009] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The threats facing Ecuador's Yasuní National Park are emblematic of those confronting the greater western Amazon, one of the world's last high-biodiversity wilderness areas. Notably, the country's second largest untapped oil reserves--called "ITT"--lie beneath an intact, remote section of the park. The conservation significance of Yasuní may weigh heavily in upcoming state-level and international decisions, including whether to develop the oil or invest in alternatives. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted the first comprehensive synthesis of biodiversity data for Yasuní. Mapping amphibian, bird, mammal, and plant distributions, we found eastern Ecuador and northern Peru to be the only regions in South America where species richness centers for all four taxonomic groups overlap. This quadruple richness center has only one viable strict protected area (IUCN levels I-IV): Yasuní. The park covers just 14% of the quadruple richness center's area, whereas active or proposed oil concessions cover 79%. Using field inventory data, we compared Yasuní's local (alpha) and landscape (gamma) diversity to other sites, in the western Amazon and globally. These analyses further suggest that Yasuní is among the most biodiverse places on Earth, with apparent world richness records for amphibians, reptiles, bats, and trees. Yasuní also protects a considerable number of threatened species and regional endemics. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Yasuní has outstanding global conservation significance due to its extraordinary biodiversity and potential to sustain this biodiversity in the long term because of its 1) large size and wilderness character, 2) intact large-vertebrate assemblage, 3) IUCN level-II protection status in a region lacking other strict protected areas, and 4) likelihood of maintaining wet, rainforest conditions while anticipated climate change-induced drought intensifies in the eastern Amazon. However, further oil development in Yasuní jeopardizes its conservation values. These findings form the scientific basis for policy recommendations, including stopping any new oil activities and road construction in Yasuní and creating areas off-limits to large-scale development in adjacent northern Peru.
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Phillips OL, Aragão LEOC, Lewis SL, Fisher JB, Lloyd J, López-González G, Malhi Y, Monteagudo A, Peacock J, Quesada CA, van der Heijden G, Almeida S, Amaral I, Arroyo L, Aymard G, Baker TR, Bánki O, Blanc L, Bonal D, Brando P, Chave J, de Oliveira ACA, Cardozo ND, Czimczik CI, Feldpausch TR, Freitas MA, Gloor E, Higuchi N, Jiménez E, Lloyd G, Meir P, Mendoza C, Morel A, Neill DA, Nepstad D, Patiño S, Peñuela MC, Prieto A, Ramírez F, Schwarz M, Silva J, Silveira M, Thomas AS, Steege HT, Stropp J, Vásquez R, Zelazowski P, Alvarez Dávila E, Andelman S, Andrade A, Chao KJ, Erwin T, Di Fiore A, Honorio C E, Keeling H, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Peña Cruz A, Pitman NCA, Núñez Vargas P, Ramírez-Angulo H, Rudas A, Salamão R, Silva N, Terborgh J, Torres-Lezama A. Drought sensitivity of the Amazon rainforest. Science 2009; 323:1344-7. [PMID: 19265020 DOI: 10.1126/science.1164033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 542] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Amazon forests are a key but poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle. If, as anticipated, they dry this century, they might accelerate climate change through carbon losses and changed surface energy balances. We used records from multiple long-term monitoring plots across Amazonia to assess forest responses to the intense 2005 drought, a possible analog of future events. Affected forest lost biomass, reversing a large long-term carbon sink, with the greatest impacts observed where the dry season was unusually intense. Relative to pre-2005 conditions, forest subjected to a 100-millimeter increase in water deficit lost 5.3 megagrams of aboveground biomass of carbon per hectare. The drought had a total biomass carbon impact of 1.2 to 1.6 petagrams (1.2 x 10(15) to 1.6 x 10(15) grams). Amazon forests therefore appear vulnerable to increasing moisture stress, with the potential for large carbon losses to exert feedback on climate change.
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A. Pitman NC, Salas K, Del Carmen Loyola Azáldegui M, Vigo G, Lutz DA. Historia e impacto de la literatura científica del Departamento de Madre de Dios, Perú. REVISTA PERUANA DE BIOLOGÍA 2008. [DOI: 10.15381/rpb.v15i2.1696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
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Pitman NCA, Mogollón H, Dávila N, Ríos M, García-Villacorta R, Guevara J, Baker TR, Monteagudo A, Phillips OL, Vásquez-Martínez R, Ahuite M, Aulestia M, Cardenas D, Cerón CE, Loizeau PA, Neill DA, Núñez V. P, Palacios WA, Spichiger R, Valderrama E. Tree Community Change across 700 km of Lowland Amazonian Forest from the Andean Foothills to Brazil. Biotropica 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2008.00424.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Terborgh J, Nuñez-Iturri G, Pitman NCA, Valverde FHC, Alvarez P, Swamy V, Pringle EG, Paine CET. TREE RECRUITMENT IN AN EMPTY FOREST. Ecology 2008; 89:1757-68. [DOI: 10.1890/07-0479.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 334] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Wright IJ, Ackerly DD, Bongers F, Harms KE, Ibarra-Manriquez G, Martinez-Ramos M, Mazer SJ, Muller-Landau HC, Paz H, Pitman NCA, Poorter L, Silman MR, Vriesendorp CF, Webb CO, Westoby M, Wright SJ. Relationships among ecologically important dimensions of plant trait variation in seven neotropical forests. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2007; 99:1003-15. [PMID: 16595553 PMCID: PMC2802905 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcl066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2005] [Revised: 11/14/2005] [Accepted: 01/05/2006] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS When ecologically important plant traits are correlated they may be said to constitute an ecological 'strategy' dimension. Through identifying these dimensions and understanding their inter-relationships we gain insight into why particular trait combinations are favoured over others and into the implications of trait differences among species. Here we investigated relationships among several traits, and thus the strategy dimensions they represented, across 2134 woody species from seven Neotropical forests. METHODS Six traits were studied: specific leaf area (SLA), the average size of leaves, seed and fruit, typical maximum plant height, and wood density (WD). Trait relationships were quantified across species at each individual forest as well as across the dataset as a whole. 'Phylogenetic' analyses were used to test for correlations among evolutionary trait-divergences and to ascertain whether interspecific relationships were biased by strong taxonomic patterning in the traits. KEY RESULTS The interspecific and phylogenetic analyses yielded congruent results. Seed and fruit size were expected, and confirmed, to be tightly related. As expected, plant height was correlated with each of seed and fruit size, albeit weakly. Weak support was found for an expected positive relationship between leaf and fruit size. The prediction that SLA and WD would be negatively correlated was not supported. Otherwise the traits were predicted to be largely unrelated, being representatives of putatively independent strategy dimensions. This was indeed the case, although WD was consistently, negatively related to leaf size. CONCLUSIONS The dimensions represented by SLA, seed/fruit size and leaf size were essentially independent and thus conveyed largely independent information about plant strategies. To a lesser extent the same was true for plant height and WD. Our tentative explanation for negative WD-leaf size relationships, now also known from other habitats, is that the traits are indirectly linked via plant hydraulics.
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Pitman NCA, Azáldegui MDCL, Salas K, Vigo GT, Lutz DA. Written accounts of an Amazonian landscape over the last 450 years. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2007; 21:253-62. [PMID: 17298531 DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00576.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Books, articles, government documents, and other written accounts of tropical biology and conservation reach a tiny fraction of their potential audience. Some texts are inaccessible because of the language in which they are written. Others are only available to subscribers of developed-world journals, or distributed narrowly within tropical countries. To examine this dysfunction in the tropical literature--and what it means for conservation--we tried to compile everything ever written on the biology and conservation of the department of Madre de Dios, Peru, in southwestern Amazonia. Our search of libraries, databases, and existing bibliographies uncovered 2,202 texts totaling roughly 80,000 pages. Texts date from 1553 to 2004, but 93% were written after 1970. Since that year the publication rate has increased steadily from fewer than 10 texts/year to nearly 3 texts/week in 2004. Roughly half of the Madre de Dios bibliography is in Spanish-language texts written by Peruvian authors and mostly inaccessible outside Peru. Most of the remaining material is English-language texts written by foreign authors and largely inaccessible in Peru. Foreign authors tended to write about ecological studies with limited relevance to on-the-ground conservation challenges, whereas Peruvian authors were more likely to make specific management recommendations. The establishment of a Web-based digital library for Neotropical nature would help make the tropical literature a more efficient resource for science and conservation. Additional recommendations include investing in syntheses, translations, popular summaries, and peer-reviewed journals in tropical countries, providing incentives for management-relevant research in tropical protected areas, and reinforcing training of scientific reading and writing in tropical universities.
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ter Steege H, Pitman NCA, Phillips OL, Chave J, Sabatier D, Duque A, Molino JF, Prévost MF, Spichiger R, Castellanos H, von Hildebrand P, Vásquez R. Continental-scale patterns of canopy tree composition and function across Amazonia. Nature 2006; 443:444-7. [PMID: 17006512 DOI: 10.1038/nature05134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 226] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2006] [Accepted: 08/03/2006] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described. Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists. Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics. Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils (nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.
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Phillips OL, Baker TR, Arroyo L, Higuchi N, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Lewis SL, Lloyd J, Malhi Y, Monteagudo A, Neill DA, Vargas PN, Silva JNM, Terborgh J, Martínez RV, Alexiades M, Almeida S, Brown S, Chave J, Comiskey JA, Czimczik CI, Di Fiore A, Erwin T, Kuebler C, Laurance SG, Nascimento HEM, Olivier J, Palacios W, Patiño S, Pitman NCA, Quesada CA, Saldias M, Lezama AT, Vinceti B. Pattern and process in Amazon tree turnover, 1976-2001. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2004; 359:381-407. [PMID: 15212092 PMCID: PMC1693333 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 328] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous work has shown that tree turnover, tree biomass and large liana densities have increased in mature tropical forest plots in the late twentieth century. These results point to a concerted shift in forest ecological processes that may already be having significant impacts on terrestrial carbon stocks, fluxes and biodiversity. However, the findings have proved controversial, partly because a rather limited number of permanent plots have been monitored for rather short periods. The aim of this paper is to characterize regional-scale patterns of 'tree turnover' (the rate with which trees die and recruit into a population) by using improved datasets now available for Amazonia that span the past 25 years. Specifically, we assess whether concerted changes in turnover are occurring, and if so whether they are general throughout the Amazon or restricted to one region or environmental zone. In addition, we ask whether they are driven by changes in recruitment, mortality or both. We find that: (i) trees 10 cm or more in diameter recruit and die twice as fast on the richer soils of southern and western Amazonia than on the poorer soils of eastern and central Amazonia; (ii) turnover rates have increased throughout Amazonia over the past two decades; (iii) mortality and recruitment rates have both increased significantly in every region and environmental zone, with the exception of mortality in eastern Amazonia; (iv) recruitment rates have consistently exceeded mortality rates; (v) absolute increases in recruitment and mortality rates are greatest in western Amazonian sites; and (vi) mortality appears to be lagging recruitment at regional scales. These spatial patterns and temporal trends are not caused by obvious artefacts in the data or the analyses. The trends cannot be directly driven by a mortality driver (such as increased drought or fragmentation-related death) because the biomass in these forests has simultaneously increased. Our findings therefore indicate that long-acting and widespread environmental changes are stimulating the growth and productivity of Amazon forests.
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Baker TR, Phillips OL, Malhi Y, Almeida S, Arroyo L, Di Fiore A, Erwin T, Higuchi N, Killeen TJ, Laurance SG, Laurance WF, Lewis SL, Monteagudo A, Neill DA, Vargas PN, Pitman NCA, Silva JNM, Martínez RV. Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2004; 359:353-65. [PMID: 15212090 PMCID: PMC1693327 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A previous study by Phillips et al. of changes in the biomass of permanent sample plots in Amazonian forests was used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated a vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present a new analysis of biomass change in old-growth Amazonian forest plots using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, the above-ground dry biomass in trees that are more than 10 cm in diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment by 1.22 +/- 0.43 Mg per hectare per year (ha(-1) yr(-1), where 1 ha = 10(4) m2), or 0.98 +/- 0.38 Mg ha(-1) yr(-1) if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is neither confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor dependent on the allometric equation used to estimate AGB. The conclusion is also robust to uncertainty about diameter measurements for problematic trees: for 34 plots in western Amazon forests a significant increase in AGB is found even with a conservative assumption of zero growth for all trees where diameter measurements were made using optical methods and/or growth rates needed to be estimated following fieldwork. Overall, our results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand-level change than was reported by Phillips et al. Considering the spatial and temporal scale of sampling and associated studies showing increases in forest growth and stem turnover, the results presented here suggest that the total biomass of these plots has on average increased and that there has been a regional-scale carbon sink in old-growth Amazonian forests during the previous two decades.
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Abstract
The frequency distribution of numbers of species in taxonomic groups, where many species belong to a few very diverse higher taxa, is mirrored by that of species in most communities, where many individuals belong to a few very abundant species. Various hypotheses mechanistically link a species' community abundance with the diversity of the higher level taxon (genus, family, order) to which it belongs, but empirical data are equivocal about general trends in the relation between rank-taxon diversity and mean abundance. One reason for this inconclusive result may be the effect of the semisubjective nature of rank-based classification. We assessed the relationship between clade diversity and mean species abundance for two diverse tropical tree communities, using both traditional rank-based analysis and two new phylogenetic analyses (based on the ratio of individuals to taxa at each node in the phylogeny). Both rank-based and phylogenetic analyses using taxonomic ranks above the species level as terminal taxa detected a trend associating common species with species-rich families. In contrast, phylogenetic analyses using species as terminal taxa could not distinguish the observed distribution of species abundances from a random distribution with respect to clade diversity. The difference between these results might be due to (1) the absence of a real phylogeny-wide relationship between clade abundance and diversity, (2) the influence of poor phylogenetic resolution within families in our phylogenies, or (3) insufficient sensitivity of our metrics to subtle tree-wide effects. Further development and application of phylogeny-based methods for testing abundance-diversity relationships is needed.
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Pitman NCA, Terborgh JW, Silman MR, Núñez V. P, Neill DA, Cerón CE, Palacios WA, Aulestia M. A COMPARISON OF TREE SPECIES DIVERSITY IN TWO UPPER AMAZONIAN FORESTS. Ecology 2002. [DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[3210:acotsd]2.0.co;2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Pitman NCA, Terborgh JW, Silman MR, Núñez V P, Neill DA, Cerón CE, Palacios WA, Aulestia M. DOMINANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TREE SPECIES IN UPPER AMAZONIAN TERRA FIRME FORESTS. Ecology 2001. [DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2001)082[2101:dadots]2.0.co;2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 366] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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