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Elias F, Ferreira J, Lennox GD, Berenguer E, Ferreira S, Schwartz G, Melo LDO, Reis Júnior DN, Nascimento RO, Ferreira FN, Espirito-Santo F, Smith CC, Barlow J. Assessing the growth and climate sensitivity of secondary forests in highly deforested Amazonian landscapes. Ecology 2020; 101:e02954. [PMID: 31840235 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Revised: 10/13/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Tropical forests hold 30% of Earth's terrestrial carbon and at least 60% of its terrestrial biodiversity, but forest loss and degradation are jeopardizing these ecosystems. Although the regrowth of secondary forests has the potential to offset some of the losses of carbon and biodiversity, it remains unclear if secondary regeneration will be affected by climate changes such as higher temperatures and more frequent extreme droughts. We used a data set of 10 repeated forest inventories spanning two decades (1999-2017) to investigate carbon and tree species recovery and how climate and landscape context influence carbon dynamics in an older secondary forest located in one of the oldest post-Columbian agricultural frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. Carbon accumulation averaged 1.08 Mg·ha-1 ·yr-1 , and species richness was effectively constant over the studied period. Moreover, we provide evidence that secondary forests are vulnerable to drought stress: Carbon balance and growth rates were lower in drier periods. This contrasts with drought responses in primary forests, where changes in carbon dynamics are driven by increased stem mortality. These results highlight an important climate change-vegetation feedback, whereby the increasing dry-season lengths being observed across parts of Amazonia may reduce the effectiveness of secondary forests in sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change. In addition, the current rate of forest regrowth in this region was low compared with previous pan-tropical and Amazonian assessments-our secondary forests reached just 41.1% of the average carbon and 56% of the tree diversity in the nearest primary forests-suggesting that these areas are unlikely to return to their original levels on politically meaningful time scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Elias
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará/Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, 66075-110, Brazil
| | - Joice Ferreira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará/Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, 66075-110, Brazil.,Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, 66095-903, Brazil
| | - Gareth D Lennox
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Erika Berenguer
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.,Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK
| | | | | | | | - Denilson N Reis Júnior
- Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Belém, Pará, 66077-830, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo O Nascimento
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, 66075-110, Brazil
| | | | - Fernando Espirito-Santo
- Centre for Landscape and Climate Research, Leicester Institute of Space and Earth Observation, School of Geography, Geology and Environment, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Charlotte C Smith
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - Jos Barlow
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK.,Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, 37200-000, Brazil
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