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Bustamante MMC, Roitman I, Aide TM, Alencar A, Anderson LO, Aragão L, Asner GP, Barlow J, Berenguer E, Chambers J, Costa MH, Fanin T, Ferreira LG, Ferreira J, Keller M, Magnusson WE, Morales-Barquero L, Morton D, Ometto JPHB, Palace M, Peres CA, Silvério D, Trumbore S, Vieira ICG. Toward an integrated monitoring framework to assess the effects of tropical forest degradation and recovery on carbon stocks and biodiversity. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2016; 22:92-109. [PMID: 26390852 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2015] [Revised: 07/23/2015] [Accepted: 08/19/2015] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Tropical forests harbor a significant portion of global biodiversity and are a critical component of the climate system. Reducing deforestation and forest degradation contributes to global climate-change mitigation efforts, yet emissions and removals from forest dynamics are still poorly quantified. We reviewed the main challenges to estimate changes in carbon stocks and biodiversity due to degradation and recovery of tropical forests, focusing on three main areas: (1) the combination of field surveys and remote sensing; (2) evaluation of biodiversity and carbon values under a unified strategy; and (3) research efforts needed to understand and quantify forest degradation and recovery. The improvement of models and estimates of changes of forest carbon can foster process-oriented monitoring of forest dynamics, including different variables and using spatially explicit algorithms that account for regional and local differences, such as variation in climate, soil, nutrient content, topography, biodiversity, disturbance history, recovery pathways, and socioeconomic factors. Generating the data for these models requires affordable large-scale remote-sensing tools associated with a robust network of field plots that can generate spatially explicit information on a range of variables through time. By combining ecosystem models, multiscale remote sensing, and networks of field plots, we will be able to evaluate forest degradation and recovery and their interactions with biodiversity and carbon cycling. Improving monitoring strategies will allow a better understanding of the role of forest dynamics in climate-change mitigation, adaptation, and carbon cycle feedbacks, thereby reducing uncertainties in models of the key processes in the carbon cycle, including their impacts on biodiversity, which are fundamental to support forest governance policies, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Iris Roitman
- Department of Ecology, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, CEP 70910900, Brazil
| | - T Mitchell Aide
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, 00931-3360, Puerto Rico
| | - Ane Alencar
- Amazon Environmental Research Institute - IPAM, SHIN CA5 Bl J2 Sala 309, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
| | - Liana O Anderson
- National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters - CEMADEN, Parque Tecnológico de São José dos Campos, Estrada Doutor Altino Bondensan, 500, São José dos Campos, SP, 12247-016, Brazil
- Environmental Change Institute, ECI, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos, SP, 12247-016, Brazil
| | - Luiz Aragão
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos, SP, 12247-016, Brazil
| | - Gregory P Asner
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Jos Barlow
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
- Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, C.P. 399, Belém, Pará, CEP 66040170, Brasil
| | - Erika Berenguer
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Jeffrey Chambers
- Geography Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Marcos H Costa
- Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil
| | - Thierry Fanin
- Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Laerte G Ferreira
- Instituto de Estudos Sócio-Ambientais - IESA, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
| | - Joice Ferreira
- Embrapa Amazonia Oriental, C. Postal 48 66017-970, Belem, PA, Brazil
| | - Michael Keller
- USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- EMBRAPA Monitoramento por Satélite, Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil
| | - William E Magnusson
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Caixa Postal 2223, Manaus, AM, 69067-971, Brazil
| | - Lucia Morales-Barquero
- School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK
| | - Douglas Morton
- Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 618, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA
| | - Jean P H B Ometto
- Earth System Science Centre (CCST), National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Av dos Astronautas, 1758, São José dos Campos, SP, 12227-010, Brazil
| | - Michael Palace
- Earth System Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, UNH, Norwich, UK
| | - Carlos A Peres
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR47TJ, UK
| | - Divino Silvério
- Department of Ecology, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, CEP 70910900, Brazil
| | | | - Ima C G Vieira
- Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, C.P. 399, Belém, Pará, CEP 66040170, Brasil
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Magnago LFS, Magrach A, Laurance WF, Martins SV, Meira-Neto JAA, Simonelli M, Edwards DP. Would protecting tropical forest fragments provide carbon and biodiversity cobenefits under REDD+? GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2015; 21:3455-3468. [PMID: 25832015 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2015] [Revised: 03/12/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Tropical forests store vast amounts of carbon and are the most biodiverse terrestrial habitats, yet they are being converted and degraded at alarming rates. Given global shortfalls in the budgets required to prevent carbon and biodiversity loss, we need to seek solutions that simultaneously address both issues. Of particular interest are carbon-based payments under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism to also conserve biodiversity at no additional cost. One potential is for REDD+ to protect forest fragments, especially within biomes where contiguous forest cover has diminished dramatically, but we require empirical tests of the strength of any carbon and biodiversity cobenefits in such fragmented systems. Using the globally threatened Atlantic Forest landscape, we measured above-ground carbon stocks within forest fragments spanning 13 to 23 442 ha in area and with different degrees of isolation. We related these stocks to tree community structure and to the richness and abundance of endemic and IUCN Red-listed species. We found that increasing fragment size has a positive relationship with above-ground carbon stock and with abundance of IUCN Red-listed species and tree community structure. We also found negative relationships between distance from large forest block and tree community structure, endemic species richness and abundance, and IUCN Red-listed species abundance. These resulted in positive congruence between carbon stocks and Red-listed species, and the abundance and richness of endemic species, demonstrating vital cobenefits. As such, protecting forest fragments in hotspots of biodiversity, particularly larger fragments and those closest to sources, offers important carbon and biodiversity cobenefits. More generally, our results suggest that macroscale models of cobenefits under REDD+ have likely overlooked key benefits at small scales, indicating the necessity to apply models that include finer-grained assessments in fragmented landscapes rather than using averaged coarse-grained cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luiz Fernando S Magnago
- Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Plants (LEEP), Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Tropical and Marine Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Qld, Australia
| | - Ainhoa Magrach
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Tropical and Marine Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Qld, Australia
| | - William F Laurance
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Tropical and Marine Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Qld, Australia
| | - Sebastião V Martins
- Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - João Augusto A Meira-Neto
- Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Plants (LEEP), Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Marcelo Simonelli
- Instituto Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
| | - David P Edwards
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Tropical and Marine Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Qld, Australia
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
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