Authors
Martin JP Sullivan, Simon L Lewis, Kofi Affum-Baffoe, Carolina Castilho, Flávia Costa, Aida Cuni Sanchez, Corneille EN Ewango, Wannes Hubau, Beatriz Marimon, Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza, Lan Qie, Bonaventure Sonké, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Timothy R Baker, Roel JW Brienen, Ted R Feldpausch, David Galbraith, Manuel Gloor, Yadvinder Malhi, Shin-Ichiro Aiba, Miguel N Alexiades, Everton C Almeida, Edmar Almeida De Oliveira, Esteban Álvarez Dávila, Patricia Alvarez Loayza, Ana Andrade, Simone Aparecida Vieira, Luiz EOC Aragão, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Eric JMM Arets, Luzmila Arroyo, Peter Ashton, Gerardo Aymard C, Fabrício B Baccaro, Lindsay F Banin, Christopher Baraloto, Plínio Barbosa Camargo, Jos Barlow, Jorcely Barroso, Jean-François Bastin, Sarah A Batterman, Hans Beeckman, Serge K Begne, Amy C Bennett, Erika Berenguer, Nicholas Berry, Lilian Blanc, Pascal Boeckx, Jan Bogaert, Damien Bonal, Frans Bongers, Matt Bradford, Francis Q Brearley, Terry Brncic, Foster Brown, Benoit Burban, José Luís Camargo, Wendeson Castro, Carlos Céron, Sabina Cerruto Ribeiro, Victor Chama Moscoso, Jerôme Chave, Eric Chezeaux, Connie J Clark, Fernanda Coelho De Souza, Murray Collins, James A Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Massiel Corrales Medina, Lola Da Costa, Martin Dančák, Greta C Dargie, Stuart Davies, Nallaret Davila Cardozo, Thales De Haulleville, Marcelo Brilhante De Medeiros, Jhon del Aguila Pasquel, Géraldine Derroire, Anthony Di Fiore, Jean-Louis Doucet, Aurélie Dourdain, Vincent Droissart, Luisa Fernanda Duque, Romeo Ekoungoulou, Fernando Elias, Terry Erwin, Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert, Sophie Fauset, Joice Ferreira, Gerardo Flores Llampazo, Ernest Foli, Andrew Ford, Martin Gilpin, Jefferson S Hall, Keith C Hamer, Alan C Hamilton, David J Harris, Terese B Hart, Radim Hédl, Bruno Herault, Rafael Herrera, Niro Higuchi, Annette Hladik, Eurídice Honorio Coronado, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Walter Huaraca Huasco, Kathryn J Jeffery, Eliana Jimenez-Rojas, Michelle Kalamandeen, Marie Noël Kamdem Djuikouo, Elizabeth Kearsley, Ricardo Keichi Umetsu, Lip Khoon Kho, Timothy Killeen, Kanehiro Kitayama, Bente Klitgaard, Alexander Koch, Nicolas Labrière, William Laurance, Susan Laurance, Miguel E Leal, Aurora Levesley, Adriano JN Lima, Janvier Lisingo, Aline P Lopes, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Tom Lovejoy, Jon C Lovett, Richard Lowe, William E Magnusson, Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte, Ângelo Gilberto Manzatto, Ben Hur Marimon Jr, Andrew R Marshall, Toby Marthews, Simone Matias de Almeida Reis, Colin Maycock, Karina Melgaço, Casimiro Mendoza, Faizah Metali, Vianet Mihindou, William Milliken, Edward TA Mitchard, Paulo S Morandi, Hannah L Mossman, Laszlo Nagy, Henrique Nascimento, David Neill, Reuben Nilus, Percy Núñez Vargas
Publication date
2020/5/22
Journal
Science
Volume
368
Issue
6493
Pages
869-874
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description
The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate.
Scholar articles
MJP Sullivan, SL Lewis, K Affum-Baffoe, C Castilho… - Science, 2020