Long term effects of forest degradation on carbon cycling in Amazonia

• Grant number: 15/07227-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Michael Maier Keller
• Grantee: Marcos Longo
• Host Institution: Embrapa Informática Agropecuária. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although deforestation in the Amazon have been decreasing during the last decade, processes associated with forest degradation such as logging, fragmentation, and understory fires still contribute significantly to the carbon cycle. However, the impact of forest degradation processes on carbon cycle remains very uncertain, and observation-based studies are often too short to characterize the long-term dynamics of degraded forests. To overcome some of these limitations, we will develop a framework that integrates field measurements and remote sensing data to an individual- and process-based model (Ecosystem Demography model, ED) to study the long-term impact of forest degradation on carbon cycling. We will develop the ED model to represent key forest degradation processes, by including a parameterization of selective logging disturbances and by implementing a mechanistic fire model that predicts understory fires. We will use forest inventories, airborne LiDAR, and satellite-based land use chronosequences for three focal areas in the Amazon with distinct land use change histories (Paragominas, Santarém, and Feliz Natal) to determine initial conditions that capture the heterogeneous landscape of degraded forests, and use multi-temporal data to assess and calibrate the new model implementations and regrowth following disturbance. We will then simulate an array of future climate and land-use scenarios to further understand the relevance of changes in the micro-environment relative to changes in climate, their interactions, and the contributions of disturbance-driven losses and regeneration-driven gains to the carbon stores and cycle in the long term. The developments resulting from this project will provide a novel framework to study the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on ecosystems throughout the 21st century that includes a much broader spectrum of direct and indirect effects of land use changes.

Scientific publications

(12)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LONGO, MARCOS; SAATCHI, SASSAN; KELLER, MICHAEL; BOWMAN, KEVIN; FERRAZ, ANTONIO; MOORCROFT, PAUL R.; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.; BONAL, DAMIEN; BRANDO, PAULO; BURBAN, BENOIT; et al. Impacts of Degradation on Water, Energy, and Carbon Cycling of the Amazon Tropical Forests. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES, v. 125, n. 8, AUG 2020. (15/07227-6)

HOLM, JENNIFER A.; KNOX, RYAN G.; ZHU, QING; FISHER, ROSIE A.; KOVEN, CHARLES D.; LIMA, ADRIANO J. NOGUEIRA; RILEY, WILLIAM J.; LONGO, MARCOS; NEGRON-JUAREZ, I, ROBINSON; DE ARAUJO, ALESSANDRO C.; et al. The Central Amazon Biomass Sink Under Current and Future Atmospheric CO2: Predictions From Big-Leaf and Demographic Vegetation Models. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES, v. 125, n. 3, MAR 2020. (15/07227-6)

SCARANELLO, MARCOS A. S.; KELLER, MICHAEL; LONGO, MARCOS; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA N.; LEITOLD, VERONIKA; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.; PINAGE, EKENA R.; ESPIRITO-SANTO, FERNANDO DEL BON. Estimation of coarse dead wood stocks in intact and degraded forests in the Brazilian Amazon using airborne lidar. BIOGEOSCIENCES, v. 16, n. 17, p. 3457-3474, SEP 13 2019. (15/50392-8, 15/07227-6)

FISHER, ROSIE A.; KOVEN, CHARLES D.; ANDEREGG, WILLIAM R. L.; CHRISTOFFERSEN, BRADLEY O.; DIETZE, MICHAEL C.; FARRIOR, CAROLINE E.; HOLM, JENNIFER A.; HURTT, GEORGE C.; KNOX, RYAN G.; LAWRENCE, PETER J.; et al. Vegetation demographics in Earth System Models: A review of progress and priorities. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, v. 24, n. 1, p. 35-54, JAN 2018. (15/07227-6)

LONGO, MARCOS; KNOX, RYAN G.; MEDVIGY, DAVID M.; LEVINE, NAOMI M.; DIETZE, MICHAEL C.; KIM, YEONJOO; SWANN, ABIGAIL L. S.; ZHANG, KE; ROLLINSON, CHRISTINE R.; BRAS, RAFAEL L.; et al. The biophysics, ecology, and biogeochemistry of functionally diverse, vertically and horizontally heterogeneous ecosystems: the Ecosystem Demography model, version 2.2-Part 1: Model description. Geoscientific Model Development, v. 12, n. 10, p. 4309-4346, OCT 14 2019. (15/07227-6)

HUANG, MAOYI; XU, YI; LONGO, MARCOS; KELLER, MICHAEL; KNOX, RYAN G.; KOVEN, CHARLES D.; FISHER, ROSIE A.. Assessing impacts of selective logging on water, energy, and carbon budgets and ecosystem dynamics in Amazon forests using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator. BIOGEOSCIENCES, v. 17, n. 20, p. 4999-5023, OCT 19 2020. (15/07227-6)

LONGO, MARCOS; KELLER, MICHAEL; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA N.; LEITOLD, VERONIKA; PINAGE, EKENA R.; BACCINI, ALESSANDRO; SAATCHI, SASSAN; NOGUEIRA, EULER M.; BATISTELLA, MATEUS; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.. Aboveground biomass variability across intact and degraded forests in the Brazilian Amazon. GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, v. 30, n. 11, p. 1639-1660, NOV 2016. (15/07227-6)

PINAGE, EKENA RANGEL; KELLER, MICHAEL; DUFFY, PAUL; LONGO, MARCOS; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA NARA; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.. Long-Term Impacts of Selective Logging on Amazon Forest Dynamics from Multi-Temporal Airborne LiDAR. REMOTE SENSING, v. 11, n. 6, MAR 24 2019. (15/07227-6)

LONGO, MARCOS; KNOX, RYAN G.; LEVINE, NAOMI M.; SWANN, ABIGAIL L. S.; MEDVIGY, DAVID M.; DIETZE, MICHAEL C.; KIM, YEONJOO; ZHANG, KE; BONAL, DAMIEN; BURBAN, BENOIT; et al. The biophysics, ecology, and biogeochemistry of functionally diverse, vertically and horizontally heterogeneous ecosystems: the Ecosystem Demography model, version 2.2-Part 2: Model evaluation for tropical South America. Geoscientific Model Development, v. 12, n. 10, p. 4347-4374, OCT 14 2019. (15/07227-6)

RAPPAPORT, DANIELLE I.; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.; LONGO, MARCOS; KELLER, MICHAEL; DUBAYAH, RALPH; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA NARA. Quantifying long-term changes in carbon stocks and forest structure from Amazon forest degradation. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS, v. 13, n. 6, JUN 2018. (15/07227-6)

BECKNELL, JUSTIN M.; KELLER, MICHAEL; PIOTTO, DANIEL; LONGO, MARCOS; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA NARA; SCARANELLO, MARCOS A.; DE OLIVEIRA CAVALCANTE, RODRIGO BRUNO; PORDER, STEPHEN. Landscape-scale lidar analysis of aboveground biomass distribution in secondary Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Biotropica, v. 50, n. 3, p. 520-530, MAY 2018. (15/07227-6)

LEITOLD, VERONIKA; MORTON, DOUGLAS C.; LONGO, MARCOS; DOS-SANTOS, MAIZA NARA; KELLER, MICHAEL; SCARANELLO, MARCOS. El Nino drought increased canopy turnover in Amazon forests. NEW PHYTOLOGIST, v. 219, n. 3, SI, p. 959-971, AUG 2018. (15/07227-6)