Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance

作者：Espirito Santo Fernando D B^*; Gloor Manuel; Keller Michael; Malhi Yadvinder; Saatchi Sassan; Nelson Bruce; Oliveira Junior Raimundo C; Pereira Cleuton; Lloyd Jon; Frolking Steve; Palace Michael; Shimabukuro Yosio E; Duarte Valdete; Mendoza Abel Monteagudo; Lopez Gonzalez Gabriela; Baker Tim R; Feldpausch Ted R; Brienen Roel J W; Asner Gregory P; Boyd Doreen S; Phillips Oliver L

来源：Nature Communications, 2014, 5(1): 3434.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms4434

Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of disturbance events in natural forests from 0.01 ha to 2,651 ha size throughout Amazonia using a novel combination of forest inventory, airborne lidar and satellite remote sensing data. We find that small-scale mortality events are responsible for aboveground biomass losses of similar to 1.7 Pg Cy-1 over the entire Amazon region. We also find that intermediate-scale disturbances account for losses of similar to 0.2 Pg Cy-1, and that the largest-scale disturbances as a result of blow-downs only account for losses of similar to 0.004 Pg Cy-1. Simulation of growth and mortality indicates that even when all carbon losses from intermediate and large-scale disturbances are considered, these are outweighed by the net biomass accumulation by tree growth, supporting the inference of an Amazon carbon sink.

• 出版日期2014-3
• 单位中国林业科学研究院热带林业研究所