Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Abstract

Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-Tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Sullivan, Martin J P Talbot, Joey Lewis, Simon L. Phillips, Oliver L. Qie, Lan Begne, Serge K. Chave, Jerôme Cuni-Sanchez, Aida Hubau, Wannes Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela Miles, Lera Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel Sonké, Bonaventure Sunderland, Terry Ter Steege, Hans White, Lee J T Affum-Baffoe, Kofi Aiba, Shin Ichiro De Almeida, Everton Cristo De Oliveira, Edmar Almeida Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia Dávila, Esteban Álvarez Andrade, Ana Aragão, Luiz E O C Ashton, Peter Aymard, Gerardo A. Baker, Timothy R. Balinga, Michael Banin, Lindsay F. Baraloto, Christopher Bastin, Jean Francois Berry, Nicholas Bogaert, Jan Bonal, Damien Bongers, Frans Brienen, Roel Camargo, José Luís C Cerón, Carlos Moscoso, Victor Chama Chezeaux, Eric Clark, Connie J. Pacheco, Álvaro Cogollo Comiskey, James A. Valverde, Fernando Cornejo Coronado, Eurídice N Honorio Dargie, Greta Davies, Stuart J. De Canniere, Charles Djuikouo, Marie Noel Doucet, Jean Louis Erwin, Terry L. Espejo, Javier Silva Ewango, Corneille E N Fauset, Sophie Feldpausch, Ted R. Herrera, Rafael Gilpin, Martin Gloor, Emanuel Hall, Jefferson S. Harris, David J. Hart, Terese B. Kartawinata, Kuswata Kho, Lip Khoon Kitayama, Kanehiro Laurance, Susan G W Laurance, William F. Leal, Miguel E. Lovejoy, Thomas Lovett, Jon C. Lukasu, Faustin Mpanya Makana, Jean Remy Malhi, Yadvinder Maracahipes, Leandro Marimon, Beatriz S. Junior, Ben Hur Marimon Marshall, Andrew R. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4877-1018 Morandi, Paulo S. Mukendi, John Tshibamba Mukinzi, Jaques Nilus, Reuben Vargas, Percy Núñez Camacho, Nadir C Pallqui Pardo, Guido Peña-Claros, Marielos Pétronelli, Pascal Pickavance, Georgia C. Poulsen, Axel Dalberg Poulsen, John R. Primack, Richard B. Priyadi, Hari Quesada, Carlos A. Reitsma, Jan Réjou-Méchain, Maxime Restrepo, Zorayda Rutishauser, Ervan Salim, Kamariah Abu Salomão, Rafael P. Samsoedin, Ismayadi Sheil, Douglas Sierra, Rodrigo Silveira, Marcos Slik, J. W Ferry Steel, Lisa Taedoumg, Hermann Tan, Sylvester Terborgh, John W. Thomas, Sean C. Toledo, Marisol Umunay, Peter M. Gamarra, Luis Valenzuela Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães Vos, Vincent A. Wang, Ophelia Willcock, Simon Zemagho, Lise
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2017
Keywords:	Africa,Americas,Asia,Biodiversity,Carbon/analysis,Forests,Plants/chemistry,Tropical Climate
Dates:	Published: 17 January 2017 Accepted: 26 October 2016
Institution:	The University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Environment and Geography (York)
Depositing User:	Pure (York)
Date Deposited:	05 Apr 2017 11:20
Last Modified:	04 Dec 2024 00:12
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39102
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1038/srep39102
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:114616