Data from: Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests

Robin L. Chazdon, SI ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Ben H. J. De Jong, Department of Sustainability Science, El Colegio de la Frontera sur Unidad Campeche, Parque Industrial Lerma
André B. Junqueira, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University
Daniel Piotto, Departamento de Ecologiá y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
T. Mitchell Aide, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico
Frans Bongers, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University
Edith Orihuela-Belmonte, Department of Sustainability Science, El Colegio de la Frontera sur Unidad Campeche, Parque Industrial Lerma
Jefferson S. Hall, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Naomi B. Schwartz, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
Tony Vizcarra Bentos, Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Environmental Dynamics Research Coordination, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Jorge Ruíz, School of Social Sciences, Geography Area, Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia (UPTC)
Alberto Vicentini, Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Environmental Dynamics Research Coordination, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Robert Muscarella, Departamento de Ecologiá y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Michiel Van Breugel, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore
Miguel Martínez-Ramos, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nathan G. Swenson, Department of Biology, University of Maryland
Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Department of Forest Sciences, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of Saõ Paulo
Rodrigo Munõz, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Hans Van Der Wal, Departamento de Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera sur, Unidad Villahermosa Centro
Danaë M. A. Rozendaal, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Patricia Balvanera, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Erika Marín-Spiotta, Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University
Maria Uriarte, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, Departamento de Ecologiá y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Jarcilene S. De Almeida-Cortez, Departamento de Botanica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Daisy H. Dent, Departamento de Botanica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Ricardo G. César, Fondo Patrimonio Natural Para la Biodiversidad y Areas Protegidas
Vanessa Boukili, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Susan G. Letcher, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Colorado Mesa University
José Luis Hernandez-Stefanoni, SI ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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.,Above-ground biomass of Neotropical secondary forests databaseThis database is the product of the 2ndFOR collaborative research network on secondary forests. The database contains aboveground biomass data (in Mg/ha) for 1334 secondary forest plots differing in time since abandonment. The plots belong to different chonosequence studies in the Neotropics. For a description of the database, see Poorter et al. 2016. Biomass resilience of Neotropical secondary forests. Nature doi:10.1038/nature16512.Aboveground biomass 2ndFOR database.csv

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publisher

DRYAD

DOI

10.5061/dryad.82vr4

Language

en

Document Type

Data Set

Identifier

10.5061/dryad.82vr4

Embargo Date

1-1-2017

Version

1

Link to Full Text

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