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Silva CVJ, Aragão LEOC, Barlow J, Espirito-Santo F, Young PJ, Anderson LO, Berenguer E, Brasil I, Foster Brown I, Castro B, Farias R, Ferreira J, França F, Graça PMLA, Kirsten L, Lopes AP, Salimon C, Scaranello MA, Seixas M, Souza FC, Xaud HAM. Drought-induced Amazonian wildfires instigate a decadal-scale disruption of forest carbon dynamics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 373:rstb.2018.0043. [PMID: 30297477 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Drought-induced wildfires have increased in frequency and extent over the tropics. Yet, the long-term (greater than 10 years) responses of Amazonian lowland forests to fire disturbance are poorly known. To understand post-fire forest biomass dynamics, and to assess the time required for fire-affected forests to recover to pre-disturbance levels, we combined 16 single with 182 multiple forest census into a unique large-scale and long-term dataset across the Brazilian Amazonia. We quantified biomass, mortality and wood productivity of burned plots along a chronosequence of up to 31 years post-fire and compared to surrounding unburned plots measured simultaneously. Stem mortality and growth were assessed among functional groups. At the plot level, we found that fire-affected forests have biomass levels 24.8 ± 6.9% below the biomass value of unburned control plots after 31 years. This lower biomass state results from the elevated levels of biomass loss through mortality, which is not sufficiently compensated for by wood productivity (incremental growth + recruitment). At the stem level, we found major changes in mortality and growth rates up to 11 years post-fire. The post-fire stem mortality rates exceeded unburned control plots by 680% (i.e. greater than 40 cm diameter at breast height (DBH); 5-8 years since last fire) and 315% (i.e. greater than 0.7 g cm-3 wood density; 0.75-4 years since last fire). Our findings indicate that wildfires in humid tropical forests can significantly reduce forest biomass for decades by enhancing mortality rates of all trees, including large and high wood density trees, which store the largest amount of biomass in old-growth forests. This assessment of stem dynamics, therefore, demonstrates that wildfires slow down or stall the post-fire recovery of Amazonian forests.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camila V J Silva
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK .,National Institute for Space Research, Av. dos Astronautas, 1.758, São José dos Campos 12227-010, Brazil
| | - Luiz E O C Aragão
- National Institute for Space Research, Av. dos Astronautas, 1.758, São José dos Campos 12227-010, Brazil.,College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK
| | - Jos Barlow
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Fernando Espirito-Santo
- Leicester Institute of Space and Earth Observation (LISEO), Centre for Landscape and Climate Research (CLCR), School of Geography, Geology and Environment, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Paul J Young
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.,Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YX, UK
| | - Liana O Anderson
- National Centre for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN), São Jose dos Campos, São Paulo, 12247-016 Brazil.,Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
| | - Erika Berenguer
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.,Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
| | - Izaias Brasil
- Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC), Parque Zoobotanico, Rio Branco 69915-900, Acre, Brazil
| | - I Foster Brown
- Universidade Federal do Acre (UFAC), Parque Zoobotanico, Rio Branco 69915-900, Acre, Brazil.,Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA 02540-1644, USA
| | - Bruno Castro
- Instituto Centro de Vida, Av. Ariosto da Riva, 3473, Centro 78580-000, Alta Floresta, Brazil
| | - Renato Farias
- Instituto Centro de Vida, Av. Ariosto da Riva, 3473, Centro 78580-000, Alta Floresta, Brazil
| | - Joice Ferreira
- Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Trav. Dr. Enéas Pinheiro s/no. Caixa Postal 48, Belém 66095-100, Pará, Brazil
| | - Filipe França
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.,Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Trav. Dr. Enéas Pinheiro s/no. Caixa Postal 48, Belém 66095-100, Pará, Brazil
| | - Paulo M L A Graça
- National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Manaus 69067-375, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Letícia Kirsten
- National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Manaus 69067-375, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Aline P Lopes
- National Institute for Space Research, Av. dos Astronautas, 1.758, São José dos Campos 12227-010, Brazil
| | - Cleber Salimon
- Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e Sociais Aplicadas (CCBSA), R. Horácio Trajano de Oliveira, 1559 - Cristo Redentor, João Pessoa 58070-450, Brazil
| | - Marcos Augusto Scaranello
- Instituto Centro de Vida, Av. Ariosto da Riva, 3473, Centro 78580-000, Alta Floresta, Brazil.,EMBRAPA Informática Agropecuária, Barão Geraldo, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-886 Brazil
| | - Marina Seixas
- Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Trav. Dr. Enéas Pinheiro s/no. Caixa Postal 48, Belém 66095-100, Pará, Brazil
| | | | - Haron A M Xaud
- Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa Roraima, PO Box 133, Boa Vista, Roraima 69.301-970, Brazil
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Davidson EA, de Araújo AC, Artaxo P, Balch JK, Brown IF, C Bustamante MM, Coe MT, DeFries RS, Keller M, Longo M, Munger JW, Schroeder W, Soares-Filho BS, Souza CM, Wofsy SC. The Amazon basin in transition. Nature 2012; 481:321-8. [PMID: 22258611 DOI: 10.1038/nature10717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 755] [Impact Index Per Article: 62.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Agricultural expansion and climate variability have become important agents of disturbance in the Amazon basin. Recent studies have demonstrated considerable resilience of Amazonian forests to moderate annual drought, but they also show that interactions between deforestation, fire and drought potentially lead to losses of carbon storage and changes in regional precipitation patterns and river discharge. Although the basin-wide impacts of land use and drought may not yet surpass the magnitude of natural variability of hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles, there are some signs of a transition to a disturbance-dominated regime. These signs include changing energy and water cycles in the southern and eastern portions of the Amazon basin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric A Davidson
- The Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540-1644, USA.
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Vieira S, de Camargo PB, Selhorst D, da Silva R, Hutyra L, Chambers JQ, Brown IF, Higuchi N, dos Santos J, Wofsy SC, Trumbore SE, Martinelli LA. Forest structure and carbon dynamics in Amazonian tropical rain forests. Oecologia 2004; 140:468-79. [PMID: 15221436 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-004-1598-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2003] [Accepted: 04/20/2004] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Living trees constitute one of the major stocks of carbon in tropical forests. A better understanding of variations in the dynamics and structure of tropical forests is necessary for predicting the potential for these ecosystems to lose or store carbon, and for understanding how they recover from disturbance. Amazonian tropical forests occur over a vast area that encompasses differences in topography, climate, and geologic substrate. We observed large differences in forest structure, biomass, and tree growth rates in permanent plots situated in the eastern (near Santarém, Pará), central (near Manaus, Amazonas) and southwestern (near Rio Branco, Acre) Amazon, which differed in dry season length, as well as other factors. Forests at the two sites experiencing longer dry seasons, near Rio Branco and Santarém, had lower stem frequencies (460 and 466 ha(-1) respectively), less biodiversity (Shannon-Wiener diversity index), and smaller aboveground C stocks (140.6 and 122.1 Mg C ha(-1)) than the Manaus site (626 trees ha(-1), 180.1 Mg C ha(-1)), which had less seasonal variation in rainfall. The forests experiencing longer dry seasons also stored a greater proportion of the total biomass in trees with >50 cm diameter (41-45 vs 30% in Manaus). Rates of annual addition of C to living trees calculated from monthly dendrometer band measurements were 1.9 (Manaus), 2.8 (Santarém), and 2.6 (Rio Branco) Mg C ha(-1) year(-1). At all sites, trees in the 10-30 cm diameter class accounted for the highest proportion of annual growth (38, 55 and 56% in Manaus, Rio Branco and Santarém, respectively). Growth showed marked seasonality, with largest stem diameter increment in the wet season and smallest in the dry season, though this may be confounded by seasonal variation in wood water content. Year-to-year variations in C allocated to stem growth ranged from nearly zero in Rio Branco, to 0.8 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) in Manaus (40% of annual mean) and 0.9 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1) (33% of annual mean) in Santarém, though this variability showed no significant relation with precipitation among years. Initial estimates of the C balance of live wood including recruitment and mortality as well as growth suggests that live wood biomass is at near steady-state in Manaus, but accumulating at about 1.5 Mg C ha(-1) at the other two sites. The causes of C imbalance in living wood pools in Santarém and Rio Branco sites are unknown, but may be related to previous disturbance at these sites. Based on size distribution and growth rate differences in the three sites, we predict that trees in the Manaus forest have greater mean age (approximately 240 years) than those of the other two forests (approximately 140 years).
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Affiliation(s)
- Simone Vieira
- Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica, CENA/USP, Av. Centenário, 303, PO-Box 96, Piracicaba, CEP 13400-970, SP, Brazil.
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Abstract
Fingernail deformities after thermal injury can be very disfiguring and troublesome. The fingernails may be discoloured, cleft or vertically deviated. From the pathophysiology of the nail growth in general, the specific features of the nail deformities after deep burn can be deduced, as can guidelines for the treatment. Over a two-year period, 153 patients with burned hands were treated in the Groningen Burn Centre. Seven of these patients developed abnormal quality and growth pattern of the fingernails. In two patients an effort was made to correct the deformity by incising the dorsal skin at the base of the nail fold, reflecting the nail fold and covering the acquired defect with a full thickness skin graft. Although the patients were satisfied with the results achieved, one year after the operation little or no improvement in the nail growth was found. A cautious policy should be followed in correcting these deformities, since dislocation of the eponychium together with damage to the nail matrix and the nail bed play a complex role in the process of deformation.
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Affiliation(s)
- P H Spauwen
- Department of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands
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