Amazon forest fragmentation and edge effects temporarily favored understory and midstory tree growth

Author(s)

Albiero-Junior, Alci ^{[1, 2]} ; Venegas-Gonzalez, Alejandro ^[3] ; Camargo, Jose Luis Campana ^[4] ; Roig, Fidel Alejandro ^{[2, 3, 5, 6]} ; Tomazello, Mario ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Amazonas, Dept Forest Sci, Manaus, Amazonas - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, Dept Forest Sci, Wood Anat & Tree Ring Lab, Av Padua Dias 11, POB 9, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Mayor, Fac Ciencias, Hemera Ctr Observac Tierra, Escuela Ingn Forestal, Santiago 8340589 - Chile

^[4] Biol Dynam Forest Fragments Project BDFFP, Manaus, Amazonas - Brazil

^[5] CCT CONICET Mendoza, Lab Dendrocronol & Hist Ambiental, IANIGLA, CC 330, M5502IRA, Mendoza - Argentina

^[6] Univ Nacl Cuyo, Fac Ciencias Agr, RA-500 Mendoza - Argentina

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION; v. 35, n. 6 JUL 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The current increase in deforestation rates of the Brazilian Amazon raises important questions about the resilience of trees in distinct vertical profiles in the world's largest tropical rainforest. Seeking to prove the existence of temporal differences in tree growth response after forest fragmentation and edge effects through a dendrochronological perspective, we revealed that Theobroma sylvestre Mart. (Malvaceae), a typically understory and midstory strata tree of the Amazon upland forest (terra firme), increased the basal area increment rates compared to the forest interior, mainly over the first 20 years after forest fragmentation and edge effects. This pattern could not be extrapolated to the entire vertical forest profile, considering previous dendrochronological evidences from trees located in the forest canopy that presented an opposite pattern, a negative increment rate after forest fragmentation and edge creation. These divergences suggest that trees under the canopy of Amazon terra firme forest can be more tolerant to environmental stress (i.e. more incidence of droughts) derived by microclimatic and structural changes in forest subjected to forest fragmentation and edge effects processes, however, future dendroclimatic studies may confirm these hypotheses. In this sense, we highlighted that the increase in basal area increment of trees in the understory and midstory exposed to edge effects may indicate an important component of above-ground biomass stock recovery after forest fragmentation. This fact should be considered in forest management and restoration practices, promoting a new perspective on forest resilience ability after forest fragmentation and its strong impact on plant productivity and capacities in long-term carbon storage. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/53951-7 - Set up of a Multi-User Laboratory specializing in the use of near-infrared spectroscopy and X-ray densitometry in agroforestry applications
• Grantee: Mario Tommasiello Filho
• Support Opportunities: Multi-user Equipment Program
• FAPESP's process: 17/50085-3 - PIRE: climate research education in the Americas using tree-ring speleothem examples (PIRE-CREATE)
• Grantee: Francisco William da Cruz Junior
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants