Data from: Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests

Vanessa Boukili, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Mariá C. Fandino, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros
Paulo Massoca, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Jorge Rodríguez-Velázquez, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Eben N. Broadbent, Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Geography, University of Alabama
Miguel Martínez-Ramos, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madelon Lohbeck, Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal (IBIF), FCA-UAGRM
Susana Ochoa-Gaona, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros
Michiel Van Breugel, Yale-NUS College
Edith Orihuela-Belmonte, Department of Sustainability Science, El Colegio de la Frontera sur Unidad Campeche, Parque Industrial Lerma
Angélica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab, Department of Geography, University of Alabama
Danaë M. A. Rozendaal, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Robin L. Chazdon, SI ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Naomi B. Schwartz, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
Marc K. Steininger
Ben H. J. De Jong, Department of Sustainability Science, El Colegio de la Frontera sur Unidad Campeche, Parque Industrial Lerma
G. Bruce Williamson, Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Environmental Dynamics Research Coordination, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, Departamento de Ecologiá y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Hans F. M. Vester, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam
Patricia Balvanera, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Catarina C. Jakovac, Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Unidad de Recursos Naturales
Ricardo G. César, Fondo Patrimonio Natural Para la Biodiversidad y Areas Protegidas
Erika Marín-Spiotta, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Rita Mesquita, Departamento de Ecologiá y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Hans Van Der Wal, Departamento de Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera sur, Unidad Villahermosa Centro
Lourens Poorter, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University
Jarcilene S. De Almeida-Cortez, Departamento de Botanica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Justin M. Becknell, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University
Nathan G. Swenson, Department of Biology, University of Maryland
Julie S. Denslow, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University

Description

Land-use change occurs nowhere more rapidly than in the tropics, where the imbalance between deforestation and forest regrowth has large consequences for the global carbon cycle1. However, considerable uncertainty remains about the rate of biomass recovery in secondary forests, and how these rates are influenced by climate, landscape, and prior land use2, 3, 4. Here we analyse aboveground biomass recovery during secondary succession in 45 forest sites and about 1,500 forest plots covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics. The studied secondary forests are highly productive and resilient. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years was on average 122 megagrams per hectare (Mg ha−1), corresponding to a net carbon uptake of 3.05 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, 11 times the uptake rate of old-growth forests. Aboveground biomass stocks took a median time of 66 years to recover to 90% of old-growth values. Aboveground biomass recovery after 20 years varied 11.3-fold (from 20 to 225 Mg ha−1) across sites, and this recovery increased with water availability (higher local rainfall and lower climatic water deficit). We present a biomass recovery map of Latin America, which illustrates geographical and climatic variation in carbon sequestration potential during forest regrowth. The map will support policies to minimize forest loss in areas where biomass resilience is naturally low (such as seasonally dry forest regions) and promote forest regeneration and restoration in humid tropical lowland areas with high biomass resilience.

Publication Date

1-21-2017

Publisher

Zenodo

DOI

10.5061/dryad.82vr4

Document Type

Data Set

Identifier

4991473

Embargo Date

1-21-2017

Version

1

Link to Full Text

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