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Concerted Changes in Amazon Forest Structure and Dynamics

Concerted Changes in Amazon Forest Structure and Dynamics. RAINFOR: Red Amazonica de Inventarios Forestales. Aim: Characterize Amazon forest ecology through space and time. Outputs include…: *biomass, & change *tree population dynamics, & change *productivity and growth, & change

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Concerted Changes in Amazon Forest Structure and Dynamics

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  1. Concerted Changes in Amazon Forest Structure and Dynamics

  2. RAINFOR: Red Amazonica de Inventarios Forestales Aim: Characterize Amazon forest ecology through space and time Outputs include…: *biomass, & change *tree population dynamics, & change *productivity and growth, & change *floristic & functional patterns and change *nutrient, climate, floristic controls on these Approach: *long-term *multi-site *basin-wide Sucusari, Peru

  3. Changes through time

  4. 1. Amazon forests increasing in biomass

  5. 0.61 ± 0.22 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 0.35 ± 0.35 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 0.57 ± 0.32 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 1.22 ± 0.20 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 Biomass change / Mg C ha-1 yr-1 Change in above-ground live biomass, 59 plots across Amazonia. Baker et al. 2004. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 359: 353-365 (b) (c) (d)

  6. Rate of biomass increase is correlated with soil fertility n = 95 Increasing fertility

  7. 2. Forest dynamics are accelerating

  8. Amazon tree turnover, 1976-2001 Phillips et al. 2004. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Series B 359: 381-407.

  9. unpublished data as of 2003, updating Phillips & Gentry 1994

  10. Amazonia Recruitment and mortality both increased Phillips et al, Phil. Trans. Royal Society, 2004

  11. Changes within Amazon plots Relative increase = 2 to 5 % a-1 P<0.001 P<0.05 P<0.001 P<0.01 Lewis et al. 2004b Phil Trans Roy. Soc. London

  12. Concerted change: both biomass and dynamics increased in most plots Basal area = 0.38+0.15% a-1 Turnover change = 3.6+1.7% a-1 30 8 1 11 Lewis et al. 2004. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.

  13. Some results so far… Net gain in biomass = (Amazon, stocks) Increase in turnover = (global, flux) Gains in mortality lag the gains in recruitment (Amazon, flux) Fluxes increasing much faster than stocks

  14. Concerted changes in Amazon forest structure and dynamicsMechanism? many possible drivers but the only environmental factors increasing over large enough spatial and temporal scales are temperature and CO2

  15. BUT, problem: 1.Temperature increases may reduce tropical lowland production (Clark ?)2. CO2 increase = 0.5% a-1; direct fertilization might explain 0.25% a-1 (Chambers ….)Ecosystem-level drivers alone cannot account for change

  16. Community ecology required to amplify physiological mechanisms, e.g. Proposal for Amazonia Now take account of: Improved Soil and Climate understanding of our sites and Within-stand changes (Floristics and Function) Floristic shifts: gap increases mayfavour fast-growing taxa Population dynamic shiftswithin-species:accelerated reproduction and recruitment

  17. Conclusions • The remotest tropical forests are already undergoing concerted changes in biomass, dynamics, and biodiversity • Mechanisms uncertain, but require • atmospheric change • community ecology feedbacks

  18. Thanks to… Yadvinder Malhi (University of Oxford) Simon Lewis (University of Leeds) Tim Baker & Jon Lloyd (University of Leeds & Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry) Samuel Almeida, Esteban Alvarez, Luzmila Arroyo, Jerome Chave, Claudia Czimczik, Anthony Di Fiore, Niro Higuchi, Timothy Killeen, Susan Laurance, William Laurance, Lina Mercado, Abel Monteagudo, David Neill, Percy Núñez Vargas, Sandra Patiño, Nigel Pitman, Carlos Alberto Quesada, Rafael Salomão,Natalino Silva, Armando Torres, Rodolfo Vásquez Martínez, John Terborgh, Ima Vieira, Barbara Vinceti Research funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council, the Royal Society, the European Union, the Max-Planck Institute, National Geographic Society

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