Requena Suarez, D, Rozendaal, DMA, De Sy, V et al. (31 more authors) (2019) Estimating aboveground net biomass change for tropical and subtropical forests: Refinement of IPCC default rates using forest plot data. Global Change Biology, 25 (11). pp. 3609-3624. ISSN 1354-1013
Abstract
As countries advance in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for climate change mitigation, consistent estimates of aboveground net biomass change (∆AGB) are needed. Countries with limited forest monitoring capabilities in the tropics and subtropics rely on IPCC 2006 default ∆AGB rates, which are values per ecological zone, per continent. Similarly, research on forest biomass change at large scale also make use of these rates. IPCC 2006 default rates come from a handful of studies, provide no uncertainty indications, and do not distinguish between older secondary forests and old‐growth forests. As part of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, we incorporate ∆AGB data available from 2006 onwards, comprising 176 chronosequences in secondary forests and 536 permanent plots in old‐growth and managed/logged forests located in 42 countries in Africa, North and South America, and Asia. We generated ∆AGB rate estimates for younger secondary forests (≤20 years), older secondary forests (>20 years and up to 100 years) and old‐growth forests, and accounted for uncertainties in our estimates. In tropical rainforests, for which data availability was the highest, our ∆AGB rate estimates ranged from 3.4 (Asia) to 7.6 (Africa) Mg ha‐1 yr‐1 in younger secondary forests, from 2.3 (North and South Ameri09ca) to 3.5 (Africa) Mg ha‐1 yr‐1 in older secondary forests, and 0.7 (Asia) to 1.3 (Africa) Mg ha‐1 yr‐1 in old‐growth forests. We provide a rigorous and traceable refinement of the IPCC 2006 default rates in tropical and subtropical ecological zones, and identify which areas require more research on ∆AGB. In this respect, this study should be considered as an important step towards quantifying the role of tropical and subtropical forests as carbon sinks with higher accuracy; our new rates can be used for large‐scale GHG accounting by governmental bodies, non‐governmental organisations and in scientific research.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | (sub)tropical forests; biomass change; global ecological zones; IPCC; managed and logged forests; old‐growth forests; secondary forests |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC NER/A/S/2003/00609 EU - European Union EXT 448221 NERC NE/B503384/1 Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation N/A NERC NE/F005806/1 EU - European Union 283080 NERC NE/I02982X/1 USDA Forest Service 11-IJ-11242306-024 EU - European Union 291585 (ERC 2011 ADG) Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation N/A Royal Society No External Ref NERC NE/N012542/1 Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation Grant 5349 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2019 12:04 |
Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2019 08:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/gcb.14767 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148829 |