"Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests" by Lourens Poorter, Frans Bongers et al.

Faculty Publications

Title

Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests

Authors

Lourens Poorter, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Frans Bongers, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
T Mitchell Aide, PO Box 23360, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00931-3360, Puerto Rico.
Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Geography, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA.
Patricia Balvanera, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CP58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México.
Justin M. Becknell, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
Vanessa Boukili, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
Pedro H. Brancalion, Department of Forest Sciences, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Avenida Pádua Dias 11, 13418-900, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-11-2016

Abstract

Land-use change occurs nowhere more rapidly than in the tropics, where the imbalance between deforestation and forest regrowth has large consequences for the global carbon cycle. However, considerable uncertainty remains about the rate of biomass recovery in secondary forests, and how these rates are influenced by climate, landscape, and prior land use. Here we analyse aboveground biomass recovery during secondary succession in 45 forest sites and about 1,500 forest plots covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. The studied secondary forests are highly productive and resilient. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years was on average 122 megagrams per hectare (Mg ha(-1)), corresponding to a net carbon uptake of 3.05 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), 11 times the uptake rate of old-growth forests. Aboveground biomass stocks took a median time of 66 years to recover to 90% of old-growth values. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years varied 11.3-fold (from 20 to 225 Mg ha(-1)) across sites, and this recovery increased with water availability (higher local rainfall and lower climatic water deficit). We present a biomass recovery map of Latin America, which illustrates geographical and climatic variation in carbon sequestration potential during forest regrowth. The map will support policies to minimize forest loss in areas where biomass resilience is naturally low (such as seasonally dry forest regions) and promote forest regeneration and restoration in humid tropical lowland areas with high biomass resilience.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Nature

First Page

211

Last Page

Recommended Citation

Poorter, L., Bongers, F., Aide, T. M., Almeyda Zambrano, A. M., Balvanera, P., Becknell, J. M., Boukili, V., & Brancalion, P. H. (2016). Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests. Nature, 530 (7589), 211-4. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16512

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