Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly

Author(s):Show less -

Bennett, Amy C. ; Rodrigues de Sousa, Thaiane ; Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel ; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane ; Morandi, Paulo S. ; Coelho de Souza, Fernanda ; Castro, Wendeson ; Duque, Luisa Fernanda ; Flores Llampazo, Gerardo ; Manoel dos Santos, Rubens ; Ramos, Eliana ; Vilanova Torre, Emilio ; Alvarez-Davila, Esteban ; Baker, Timothy R. ; Costa, Flavia R. C. ; Lewis, Simon L. ; Marimon, Beatriz S. ; Schietti, Juliana ; Burban, Benoit ; Berenguer, Erika ; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro ; Restrepo Correa, Zorayda ; Lopez, Wilmar ; Delgado Santana, Flavia ; Viscarra, Laura Jessica ; Elias, Fernando ; Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo ; Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur ; Galbraith, David ; Sullivan, Martin J. P. ; Emilio, Thaise ; Prestes, Nayane C. C. S. ; Barlow, Jos ; Alencar Fagundes, Nathalle Cristine ; Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar ; Alvarez Loayza, Patricia ; Alves, Luciana F. ; Aparecida Vieira, Simone ; Andrade Maia, Vinicius ; Aragao, Luiz E. O. C. ; Arets, Eric J. M. M. ; Arroyo, Luzmila ; Banki, Olaf ; Baraloto, Christopher ; Barbosa Camargo, Plinio ; Barroso, Jorcely ; Bento da Silva, Wilder ; Bonal, Damien ; Borges Miranda Santos, Alisson ; Brienen, Roel J. W. ; Brown, Foster ; Castilho, Carolina V. ; Cerruto Ribeiro, Sabina ; Chama Moscoso, Victor ; Chavez, Ezequiel ; Comiskey, James A. ; Cornejo Valverde, Fernando ; Davila Cardozo, Nallarett ; de Aguiar-Campos, Natalia ; de Oliveira Melo, Lia ; del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon ; Derroire, Geraldine ; Disney, Mathias ; do Socorro, Maria ; Dourdain, Aurelie ; Feldpausch, Ted R. ; Ferreira, Joice ; Forni Martins, Valeria ; Gardner, Toby ; Gloor, Emanuel ; Gutierrez Sibauty, Gloria ; Guillen, Rene ; Hase, Eduardo ; Herault, Bruno ; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N. ; Huaraca Huasco, Walter ; Janovec, John P. ; Jimenez-Rojas, Eliana ; Joly, Carlos ; Kalamandeen, Michelle ; Killeen, Timothy J. ; Lais Farrapo, Camila ; Levesley, Aurora ; Lizon Romano, Leon ; Lopez Gonzalez, Gabriela ; Maes dos Santos, Flavio Antonio ; Magnusson, William E. ; Malhi, Yadvinder ; Matias de Almeida Reis, Simone ; Melgaco, Karina ; Melo Cruz, Omar A. ; Mendoza Polo, Irina ; Montanez, Tatiana ; Morel, Jean Daniel ; Nunez Vargas, M. Percy ; Oliveira de Araujo, Raimunda ; Pallqui Camacho, Nadir C. ; Parada Gutierrez, Alexander ; Pennington, Toby ; Pickavance, Georgia C. ; Pipoly, John ; Pitman, Nigel C. A. ; Quesada, Carlos ; Ramirez Arevalo, Freddy ; Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma ; Flora Ramos, Rafael ; Richardson, James E. ; Rodrigo de Souza, Cleber ; Roopsind, Anand ; Schwartz, Gustavo ; Silva, Richarlly C. ; Silva Espejo, Javier ; Silveira, Marcos ; Singh, James ; Soto Shareva, Yhan ; Steininger, Marc ; Stropp, Juliana ; Talbot, Joey ; ter Steege, Hans ; Terborgh, John ; Thomas, Raquel ; Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis ; van der Heijden, Geertje ; van der Hout, Peter ; Zagt, Roderick ; Phillips, Oliver L.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE; v. N/A, p. 26-pg., 2023-09-04.

Abstract

The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it is unclear which forests are the most vulnerable to extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may be protected by prior adaptation, or more vulnerable because they operate closer to physiological limits. Here we report that forests in drier South American climates experienced the greatest impacts of the 2015-2016 El Nino, indicating greater vulnerability to extreme temperatures and drought. The long-term, ground-measured tree-by-tree responses of 123 forest plots across tropical South America show that the biomass carbon sink ceased during the event with carbon balance becoming indistinguishable from zero (-0.02 & PLUSMN; 0.37 Mg C ha-1 per year). However, intact tropical South American forests overall were no more sensitive to the extreme 2015-2016 El Nino than to previous less intense events, remaining a key defence against climate change as long as they are protected. The authors analyse tree responses to an extreme heat and drought event across South America to understand long-term climate resistance. While no more sensitive to this than previous lesser events, forests in drier climates showed the greatest impacts and thus vulnerability to climate extremes. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 03/12595-7 - Floristic composition, structure and functioning of the Dense Rainforest nuclei of Picinguaba and Santa Virgínia of Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, State of São Paulo, Brazil
• Grantee: Carlos Alfredo Joly
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 12/51872-5 - ECOFOR: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in degraded and recovering Amazonian and Atlantic Forests
• Grantee: Carlos Alfredo Joly
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/15001-6 - ARBOLES: a trait-based understanding of LATAM forest biodiversity and resilience
• Grantee: Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de Aragão
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants