Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink

Roel Brienen; Oliver Phillips; Ted Feldpausch; Emanuel Gloor; Tim Baker; Jon Lloyd; Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez; Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza; Yadvinder Malhi; Simon L. Lewis; Rodolfo Vásquez Martinez; Miguel Alexiades; Esteban Álvarez Dávila; Patricia Alvarez-Loayza; Ana Andrade; Luiz Aragão; Alejandro Araujo-Murakami; Eric Arets; Luzmila Arroyo; Gerardo Aymard; Olaf Bánki; Christopher Baraloto; Jorcely Barroso; Damien Bonal; R. Boot; Jose Camargo; Carolina Castilho; Victor Chama; Kuo Chao; Jerome Chave; James Comiskey; Fernando Cornejo Valverde; L. da Costa; E. de Oliveira; Anthony Di Fiore; Terry Erwin; Sophie Fauset; Mônica Forsthofer; David Galbraith; E. Grahame; N. Groot; Bruno Hérault; Niro Higuchi; Eurídice Honorio Coronado; H. Keeling; Timothy Killeen; William Laurance; Susan Laurance; Juan-Carlos Licona; William Magnussen; Beatriz Marimon; Ben Hur Marimon-Junior; Casimiro Mendoza; David Neill; Euler Nogueira; Paul Núñez; Nadir Pallqui Camacho; Alexander Parada; Gerin Pardo-Molina; Julie Peacock; Marielos Peña-Claros; G. Pickavance; Nigel Pitman; Lourens Poorter; Adriana Prieto; Carlos Quesada; Facundo Ramírez; Hirma Ramírez-Angulo; Zorayda Restrepo; Anand Roopsind; A. Rudas; Rafael Salomão; M. Schwarz; Nelson Silva; Javier Silva-Espejo; Marcus Silveira; Juliana Stropp; J. Talbot; Hans ter Steege; J. Teran-Aguilar; John Terborgh; R. Thomas-Caesar; Marisol Toledo; Mireia Torello-Raventos; Ricardo Umetsu; Geertje van der Heijden; Peter van der Hout; Ima Guimarães Vieira; Sonia Vieira; Emilio Vilanova; Vincent Vos; Roderick Zagt

doi:10.1038/nature14283

Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink

Roel Brienen^*, Oliver Phillips^*, Ted Feldpausch, Emanuel Gloor, Tim Baker, Jon Lloyd, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza, Yadvinder Malhi, Simon L. Lewis, Rodolfo Vásquez Martinez, Miguel Alexiades, Esteban Álvarez Dávila, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Ana Andrade, Luiz Aragão, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Eric Arets, Luzmila Arroyo, Gerardo AymardOlaf Bánki, Christopher Baraloto, Jorcely Barroso, Damien Bonal, R. Boot, Jose Camargo, Carolina Castilho, Victor Chama, Kuo Chao, Jerome Chave, James Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, L. da Costa, E. de Oliveira, Anthony Di Fiore, Terry Erwin, Sophie Fauset, Mônica Forsthofer, David Galbraith, E. Grahame, N. Groot, Bruno Hérault, Niro Higuchi, Eurídice Honorio Coronado, H. Keeling, Timothy Killeen, William Laurance, Susan Laurance, Juan-Carlos Licona, William Magnussen, Beatriz Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Casimiro Mendoza, David Neill, Euler Nogueira, Paul Núñez, Nadir Pallqui Camacho, Alexander Parada, Gerin Pardo-Molina, Julie Peacock, Marielos Peña-Claros, G. Pickavance, Nigel Pitman, Lourens Poorter, Adriana Prieto, Carlos Quesada, Facundo Ramírez, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo, Zorayda Restrepo, Anand Roopsind, A. Rudas, Rafael Salomão, M. Schwarz, Nelson Silva, Javier Silva-Espejo, Marcus Silveira, Juliana Stropp, J. Talbot, Hans ter Steege, J. Teran-Aguilar, John Terborgh, R. Thomas-Caesar, Marisol Toledo, Mireia Torello-Raventos, Ricardo Umetsu, Geertje van der Heijden, Peter van der Hout, Ima Guimarães Vieira, Sonia Vieira, Emilio Vilanova, Vincent Vos, Roderick Zagt

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geography and Environmental Sciences Department

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

810 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	344-348
Journal	Nature
Volume	519
Issue number	7543
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14283
Publication status	Published - 19 Mar 2015

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Brienen, R., Phillips, O., Feldpausch, T., Gloor, E., Baker, T., Lloyd, J., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Monteagudo-Mendoza, A., Malhi, Y., Lewis, S. L., Vásquez Martinez, R., Alexiades, M., Álvarez Dávila, E., Alvarez-Loayza, P., Andrade, A., Aragão, L., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arets, E., Arroyo, L., ... Zagt, R. (2015). Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink. Nature, 519(7543), 344-348. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14283

@article{dc6ba8b9352a4f6880053cdd7e48e430,

title = "Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink",

abstract = "Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.",

author = "Roel Brienen and Oliver Phillips and Ted Feldpausch and Emanuel Gloor and Tim Baker and Jon Lloyd and Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez and Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza and Yadvinder Malhi and Lewis, {Simon L.} and {V{\'a}squez Martinez}, Rodolfo and Miguel Alexiades and {{\'A}lvarez D{\'a}vila}, Esteban and Patricia Alvarez-Loayza and Ana Andrade and Luiz Arag{\~a}o and Alejandro Araujo-Murakami and Eric Arets and Luzmila Arroyo and Gerardo Aymard and Olaf B{\'a}nki and Christopher Baraloto and Jorcely Barroso and Damien Bonal and R. Boot and Jose Camargo and Carolina Castilho and Victor Chama and Kuo Chao and Jerome Chave and James Comiskey and {Cornejo Valverde}, Fernando and {da Costa}, L. and {de Oliveira}, E. and {Di Fiore}, Anthony and Terry Erwin and Sophie Fauset and M{\^o}nica Forsthofer and David Galbraith and E. Grahame and N. Groot and Bruno H{\'e}rault and Niro Higuchi and {Honorio Coronado}, Eur{\'i}dice and H. Keeling and Timothy Killeen and William Laurance and Susan Laurance and Juan-Carlos Licona and William Magnussen and Beatriz Marimon and Marimon-Junior, {Ben Hur} and Casimiro Mendoza and David Neill and Euler Nogueira and Paul N{\'u}{\~n}ez and {Pallqui Camacho}, Nadir and Alexander Parada and Gerin Pardo-Molina and Julie Peacock and Marielos Pe{\~n}a-Claros and G. Pickavance and Nigel Pitman and Lourens Poorter and Adriana Prieto and Carlos Quesada and Facundo Ram{\'i}rez and Hirma Ram{\'i}rez-Angulo and Zorayda Restrepo and Anand Roopsind and A. Rudas and Rafael Salom{\~a}o and M. Schwarz and Nelson Silva and Javier Silva-Espejo and Marcus Silveira and Juliana Stropp and J. Talbot and {ter Steege}, Hans and J. Teran-Aguilar and John Terborgh and R. Thomas-Caesar and Marisol Toledo and Mireia Torello-Raventos and Ricardo Umetsu and {van der Heijden}, Geertje and {van der Hout}, Peter and {Guimar{\~a}es Vieira}, Ima and Sonia Vieira and Emilio Vilanova and Vincent Vos and Roderick Zagt",

year = "2015",

month = mar,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1038/nature14283",

language = "English",

volume = "519",

pages = "344--348",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

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number = "7543",

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Brienen, R, Phillips, O, Feldpausch, T, Gloor, E, Baker, T, Lloyd, J, Lopez-Gonzalez, G, Monteagudo-Mendoza, A, Malhi, Y, Lewis, SL, Vásquez Martinez, R, Alexiades, M, Álvarez Dávila, E, Alvarez-Loayza, P, Andrade, A, Aragão, L, Araujo-Murakami, A, Arets, E, Arroyo, L, Aymard, G, Bánki, O, Baraloto, C, Barroso, J, Bonal, D, Boot, R, Camargo, J, Castilho, C, Chama, V, Chao, K, Chave, J, Comiskey, J, Cornejo Valverde, F, da Costa, L, de Oliveira, E, Di Fiore, A, Erwin, T, Fauset, S, Forsthofer, M, Galbraith, D, Grahame, E, Groot, N, Hérault, B, Higuchi, N, Honorio Coronado, E, Keeling, H, Killeen, T, Laurance, W, Laurance, S, Licona, J-C, Magnussen, W, Marimon, B, Marimon-Junior, BH, Mendoza, C, Neill, D, Nogueira, E, Núñez, P, Pallqui Camacho, N, Parada, A, Pardo-Molina, G, Peacock, J, Peña-Claros, M, Pickavance, G, Pitman, N, Poorter, L, Prieto, A, Quesada, C, Ramírez, F, Ramírez-Angulo, H, Restrepo, Z, Roopsind, A, Rudas, A, Salomão, R, Schwarz, M, Silva, N, Silva-Espejo, J, Silveira, M, Stropp, J, Talbot, J, ter Steege, H, Teran-Aguilar, J, Terborgh, J, Thomas-Caesar, R, Toledo, M, Torello-Raventos, M, Umetsu, R, van der Heijden, G, van der Hout, P, Guimarães Vieira, I, Vieira, S, Vilanova, E, Vos, V & Zagt, R 2015, 'Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink', Nature, vol. 519, no. 7543, pp. 344-348. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14283

TY - JOUR

T1 - Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink

AU - Brienen, Roel

AU - Phillips, Oliver

AU - Feldpausch, Ted

AU - Gloor, Emanuel

AU - Baker, Tim

AU - Lloyd, Jon

AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela

AU - Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel

AU - Malhi, Yadvinder

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Vásquez Martinez, Rodolfo

AU - Alexiades, Miguel

AU - Álvarez Dávila, Esteban

AU - Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia

AU - Andrade, Ana

AU - Aragão, Luiz

AU - Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro

AU - Arets, Eric

AU - Arroyo, Luzmila

AU - Aymard, Gerardo

AU - Bánki, Olaf

AU - Baraloto, Christopher

AU - Barroso, Jorcely

AU - Bonal, Damien

AU - Boot, R.

AU - Camargo, Jose

AU - Castilho, Carolina

AU - Chama, Victor

AU - Chao, Kuo

AU - Chave, Jerome

AU - Comiskey, James

AU - Cornejo Valverde, Fernando

AU - da Costa, L.

AU - de Oliveira, E.

AU - Di Fiore, Anthony

AU - Erwin, Terry

AU - Fauset, Sophie

AU - Forsthofer, Mônica

AU - Galbraith, David

AU - Grahame, E.

AU - Groot, N.

AU - Hérault, Bruno

AU - Higuchi, Niro

AU - Honorio Coronado, Eurídice

AU - Keeling, H.

AU - Killeen, Timothy

AU - Laurance, William

AU - Laurance, Susan

AU - Licona, Juan-Carlos

AU - Magnussen, William

AU - Marimon, Beatriz

AU - Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur

AU - Mendoza, Casimiro

AU - Neill, David

AU - Nogueira, Euler

AU - Núñez, Paul

AU - Pallqui Camacho, Nadir

AU - Parada, Alexander

AU - Pardo-Molina, Gerin

AU - Peacock, Julie

AU - Peña-Claros, Marielos

AU - Pickavance, G.

AU - Pitman, Nigel

AU - Poorter, Lourens

AU - Prieto, Adriana

AU - Quesada, Carlos

AU - Ramírez, Facundo

AU - Ramírez-Angulo, Hirma

AU - Restrepo, Zorayda

AU - Roopsind, Anand

AU - Rudas, A.

AU - Salomão, Rafael

AU - Schwarz, M.

AU - Silva, Nelson

AU - Silva-Espejo, Javier

AU - Silveira, Marcus

AU - Stropp, Juliana

AU - Talbot, J.

AU - ter Steege, Hans

AU - Teran-Aguilar, J.

AU - Terborgh, John

AU - Thomas-Caesar, R.

AU - Toledo, Marisol

AU - Torello-Raventos, Mireia

AU - Umetsu, Ricardo

AU - van der Heijden, Geertje

AU - van der Hout, Peter

AU - Guimarães Vieira, Ima

AU - Vieira, Sonia

AU - Vilanova, Emilio

AU - Vos, Vincent

AU - Zagt, Roderick

PY - 2015/3/19

Y1 - 2015/3/19

N2 - Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.

AB - Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.

U2 - 10.1038/nature14283

DO - 10.1038/nature14283

M3 - Article

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 519

SP - 344

EP - 348

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7543

ER -

Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink

Abstract

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