Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots

Author:

Baker Timothy R.12,Phillips Oliver L.2,Malhi Yadvinder3,Almeida Samuel4,Arroyo Luzmila5,Di Fiore Anthony6,Erwin Terry7,Higuchi Niro8,Killeen Timothy J.9,Laurance Susan G.10,Laurance William F.10,Lewis Simon L.23,Monteagudo Abel1112,Neill David A.13,Núñez Vargas Percy11,Pitman Nigel C. A.14,Silva J. Natalino M.1516,Vásquez Martínez Rodolfo12

Affiliation:

1. Max–Planck–Institut für Biogeochemie, Postfach 10 01 64, D–07701 Jena, Germany

2. Earth and Biosphere Institute, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

3. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Darwin Building, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JU, UK

4. Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, 66077-530, Belém, Brazil

5. Museo Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

6. Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA

7. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0166, USA

8. INPA, 69011-970, Manaus, Brazil

9. Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Washington, DC 20036, USA

10. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 2072, Balboa, Panama

11. Herbario Vargas, Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru

12. Proyecto Flora del Perú, Jardin Botanico de Missouri, Oxapampa, Peru

13. Missouri Botanical Garden, c/o Herbario Nacional del Ecuador, Casilla 17–21–1787, Quito, Ecuador

14. Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0381, USA

15. CIFOR, Tapajos, Brazil

16. EMBRAPA Amazonia Oriental, 66095-100, Belém, Brazil

Abstract

A previous study by Phillips et al . of changes in the biomass of permanent sample plots in Amazonian forests was used to infer the presence of a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated a vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present a new analysis of biomass change in old–growth Amazonian forest plots using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, the above–ground dry biomass in trees that are more than 10 cm in diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment by 1.22 ± 0.43 Mg per hectare per year (ha −1 yr −1 ), where 1 ha = 10 4 m 2 ), or 0.98 ± 0.38 Mg ha −1 yr −1 if individual plot values are weighted by the number of hectare years of monitoring. This significant increase is neither confounded by spatial or temporal variation in wood specific gravity, nor dependent on the allometric equation used to estimate AGB. The conclusion is also robust to uncertainty about diameter measurements for problematic trees: for 34 plots in western Amazon forests a significant increase in AGB is found even with a conservative assumption of zero growth for all trees where diameter measurements were made using optical methods and/or growth rates needed to be estimated following fieldwork. Overall, our results suggest a slightly greater rate of net stand–level change than was reported by Phillips et al . Considering the spatial and temporal scale of sampling and associated studies showing increases in forest growth and stem turnover, the results presented here suggest that the total biomass of these plots has on average increased and that there has been a regional–scale carbon sink in old–growth Amazonian forests during the previous two decades.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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