Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Martin J.P. Sullivan; Joey Talbot; Simon L. Lewis; Oliver L. Phillips; Lan Qie; Serge K. Begne; Jerôme Chave; Aida Cuni-Sanchez; Wannes Hubau; Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez; Lera Miles; Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza; Bonaventure Sonké; Terry Sunderland; Hans Ter Steege; Lee J.T. White; Kofi Affum-Baffoe; Shin Ichiro Aiba; Everton Cristo De Almeida; Edmar Almeida De Oliveira; Patricia Alvarez-Loayza; Esteban Álvarez Dávila; Ana Andrade; Luiz E.O.C. Aragão; Peter Ashton; Gerardo A. Aymard; Timothy R. Baker; Michael Balinga; Lindsay F. Banin; Christopher Baraloto; Jean Francois Bastin; Nicholas Berry; Jan Bogaert; Damien Bonal; Frans Bongers; Roel Brienen; José Luís C. Camargo; Carlos Cerón; Victor Chama Moscoso; Eric Chezeaux; Connie J. Clark; Álvaro Cogollo Pacheco; James A. Comiskey; Fernando Cornejo Valverde; Eurídice N.Honorio Coronado; Greta Dargie; Stuart J. Davies; Charles De Canniere; Marie Noel Djuikouo; Jean Louis Doucet

doi:10.1038/srep39102

Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Martin J.P. Sullivan^*, Joey Talbot, Simon L. Lewis, Oliver L. Phillips, Lan Qie, Serge K. Begne, Jerôme Chave, Aida Cuni-Sanchez, Wannes Hubau, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Lera Miles, Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza, Bonaventure Sonké, Terry Sunderland, Hans Ter Steege, Lee J.T. White, Kofi Affum-Baffoe, Shin Ichiro Aiba, Everton Cristo De Almeida, Edmar Almeida De OliveiraPatricia Alvarez-Loayza, Esteban Álvarez Dávila, Ana Andrade, Luiz E.O.C. Aragão, Peter Ashton, Gerardo A. Aymard, Timothy R. Baker, Michael Balinga, Lindsay F. Banin, Christopher Baraloto, Jean Francois Bastin, Nicholas Berry, Jan Bogaert, Damien Bonal, Frans Bongers, Roel Brienen, José Luís C. Camargo, Carlos Cerón, Victor Chama Moscoso, Eric Chezeaux, Connie J. Clark, Álvaro Cogollo Pacheco, James A. Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Eurídice N.Honorio Coronado, Greta Dargie, Stuart J. Davies, Charles De Canniere, Marie Noel Djuikouo, Jean Louis Doucet

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Geography & Sustainable Development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

249 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-Tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.

Original language	English
Article number	39102
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39102
Publication status	Published - 17 Jan 2017

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Sullivan, M. J. P., Talbot, J., Lewis, S. L., Phillips, O. L., Qie, L., Begne, S. K., Chave, J., Cuni-Sanchez, A., Hubau, W., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Miles, L., Monteagudo-Mendoza, A., Sonké, B., Sunderland, T., Ter Steege, H., White, L. J. T., Affum-Baffoe, K., Aiba, S. I., De Almeida, E. C., ... Doucet, J. L. (2017). Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 39102. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39102

@article{ff8be7a8a67e488e91dad06d11569a47,

title = "Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome",

abstract = "Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-Tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.",

author = "Sullivan, {Martin J.P.} and Joey Talbot and Lewis, {Simon L.} and Phillips, {Oliver L.} and Lan Qie and Begne, {Serge K.} and Jer{\^o}me Chave and Aida Cuni-Sanchez and Wannes Hubau and Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez and Lera Miles and Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza and Bonaventure Sonk{\'e} and Terry Sunderland and {Ter Steege}, Hans and White, {Lee J.T.} and Kofi Affum-Baffoe and Aiba, {Shin Ichiro} and {De Almeida}, {Everton Cristo} and {De Oliveira}, {Edmar Almeida} and Patricia Alvarez-Loayza and D{\'a}vila, {Esteban {\'A}lvarez} and Ana Andrade and Arag{\~a}o, {Luiz E.O.C.} and Peter Ashton and Aymard, {Gerardo A.} and Baker, {Timothy R.} and Michael Balinga and Banin, {Lindsay F.} and Christopher Baraloto and Bastin, {Jean Francois} and Nicholas Berry and Jan Bogaert and Damien Bonal and Frans Bongers and Roel Brienen and Camargo, {Jos{\'e} Lu{\'i}s C.} and Carlos Cer{\'o}n and Moscoso, {Victor Chama} and Eric Chezeaux and Clark, {Connie J.} and Pacheco, {{\'A}lvaro Cogollo} and Comiskey, {James A.} and Valverde, {Fernando Cornejo} and Coronado, {Eur{\'i}dice N.Honorio} and Greta Dargie and Davies, {Stuart J.} and {De Canniere}, Charles and Djuikouo, {Marie Noel} and Doucet, {Jean Louis}",

note = "Funding Information: This paper is a product of the RAINFOR, AfriTRON and T-FORCES networks, for which we are hugely indebted to hundreds of institutions, field assistants and local communities across many countries that have hosted fieldwork. The three networks have been supported by a European Research Council (ERC) grant ({"}T-FORCES{"} - Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (283080, 'GEOCARBON'; 282664, 'AMAZALERT'), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency Grants and NERC Consortium Grants 'AMAZONICA' (NE/F005806/1) and 'TROBIT' (NE/D005590/1), 'BIO-RED' (NE/N012542/1) and a NERC New Investigators Grant, the Royal Society, the Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR) and Gabon's National Parks Agency (ANPN). Additional data were included from the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a collaboration between Conservation International, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institution and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and partly funded by these institutions, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and other donors. J.T. was supported by a NERC PhD Studentship with CASE sponsorship from UNEP-WCMC. R.J.W.B. is funded by a NERC research fellowship (grant ref: NE/I021160/1). S.L.L. was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, ERC Advanced Grant (T-FORCES) and a Phillip Leverhulme Prize. O.L.P. is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant (T-FORCES) and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. L.F.B. was supported by a NERC studentship and RGS-IBG Henrietta Hutton Grant. We thank the National Council for Science and Technology Development of Brazil (CNPq) for support to Project Cerrado/Amazonia Transition (PELD/403725/2012-7), Project Phytogeography of Amazonia/Cerrado Transition (CNPq/PPBio/457602/2012-0) and Productivity Grant to B.S.M and B.H.M-J. Funding for plots in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania) was obtained from the Leverhulme Trust under the Valuing the Arc project. We thank the ANPN (Gabon), WCS-Congo and WCS-DR Congo, Marien Ngouabi University and the University of Kisangani for logistical support in Africa, and the Tropenbos Kalimantan project (ITCI plots) and WWF (KUB plots) for providing data from Asia. This study is contribution number 706 to the Technical Series (TS) of the BDFFP - (INPA-STRI). For assistance with access to datasets we thank Adriana Prieto, Agust?n Rudas, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Alexander G. Parada Gutierrez, Anand Roopsind, Atila Alves de Oliveira, Claudinei Oliveira dos Santos, C. E. Timothy Paine, David Neill, Eliana Jimenez-Rojas, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Hannsjoerg Woell, I?da Le?o do Amaral, Irina Mendoza Polo, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Julien Engel, Kathryn Jeffery, Luzmila Arroyo, Michael D. Swaine, Nallaret Davila Cardozo, Natalino Silva, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Niro Higuchi, Raquel Thomas, Renske van Ek, Richard Condit, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Timothy J. Killeen, Walter A. Palacios, Wendeson Castro. We thank Georgina Mace and Jon Lloyd for comments on the manuscript. We thank our deceased colleagues, Samuel Almeida, Kwaku Duah, Alwyn Gentry, and Sandra Pati?o, for their invaluable contributions to this work and our wider understanding of tropical forest ecology. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2017.",

year = "2017",

month = jan,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1038/srep39102",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

journal = "Scientific Reports",

issn = "2045-2322",

publisher = "Nature publishing group",

}

Sullivan, MJP, Talbot, J, Lewis, SL, Phillips, OL, Qie, L, Begne, SK, Chave, J, Cuni-Sanchez, A, Hubau, W, Lopez-Gonzalez, G, Miles, L, Monteagudo-Mendoza, A, Sonké, B, Sunderland, T, Ter Steege, H, White, LJT, Affum-Baffoe, K, Aiba, SI, De Almeida, EC, De Oliveira, EA, Alvarez-Loayza, P, Dávila, EÁ, Andrade, A, Aragão, LEOC, Ashton, P, Aymard, GA, Baker, TR, Balinga, M, Banin, LF, Baraloto, C, Bastin, JF, Berry, N, Bogaert, J, Bonal, D, Bongers, F, Brienen, R, Camargo, JLC, Cerón, C, Moscoso, VC, Chezeaux, E, Clark, CJ, Pacheco, ÁC, Comiskey, JA, Valverde, FC, Coronado, ENH, Dargie, G, Davies, SJ, De Canniere, C, Djuikouo, MN & Doucet, JL 2017, 'Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 39102. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39102

TY - JOUR

T1 - Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

AU - Sullivan, Martin J.P.

AU - Talbot, Joey

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Qie, Lan

AU - Begne, Serge K.

AU - Chave, Jerôme

AU - Cuni-Sanchez, Aida

AU - Hubau, Wannes

AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela

AU - Miles, Lera

AU - Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel

AU - Sonké, Bonaventure

AU - Sunderland, Terry

AU - Ter Steege, Hans

AU - White, Lee J.T.

AU - Affum-Baffoe, Kofi

AU - Aiba, Shin Ichiro

AU - De Almeida, Everton Cristo

AU - De Oliveira, Edmar Almeida

AU - Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia

AU - Dávila, Esteban Álvarez

AU - Andrade, Ana

AU - Aragão, Luiz E.O.C.

AU - Ashton, Peter

AU - Aymard, Gerardo A.

AU - Baker, Timothy R.

AU - Balinga, Michael

AU - Banin, Lindsay F.

AU - Baraloto, Christopher

AU - Bastin, Jean Francois

AU - Berry, Nicholas

AU - Bogaert, Jan

AU - Bonal, Damien

AU - Bongers, Frans

AU - Brienen, Roel

AU - Camargo, José Luís C.

AU - Cerón, Carlos

AU - Moscoso, Victor Chama

AU - Chezeaux, Eric

AU - Clark, Connie J.

AU - Pacheco, Álvaro Cogollo

AU - Comiskey, James A.

AU - Valverde, Fernando Cornejo

AU - Coronado, Eurídice N.Honorio

AU - Dargie, Greta

AU - Davies, Stuart J.

AU - De Canniere, Charles

AU - Djuikouo, Marie Noel

AU - Doucet, Jean Louis

N1 - Funding Information: This paper is a product of the RAINFOR, AfriTRON and T-FORCES networks, for which we are hugely indebted to hundreds of institutions, field assistants and local communities across many countries that have hosted fieldwork. The three networks have been supported by a European Research Council (ERC) grant ("T-FORCES" - Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (283080, 'GEOCARBON'; 282664, 'AMAZALERT'), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency Grants and NERC Consortium Grants 'AMAZONICA' (NE/F005806/1) and 'TROBIT' (NE/D005590/1), 'BIO-RED' (NE/N012542/1) and a NERC New Investigators Grant, the Royal Society, the Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR) and Gabon's National Parks Agency (ANPN). Additional data were included from the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a collaboration between Conservation International, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institution and the Wildlife Conservation Society, and partly funded by these institutions, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and other donors. J.T. was supported by a NERC PhD Studentship with CASE sponsorship from UNEP-WCMC. R.J.W.B. is funded by a NERC research fellowship (grant ref: NE/I021160/1). S.L.L. was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, ERC Advanced Grant (T-FORCES) and a Phillip Leverhulme Prize. O.L.P. is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant (T-FORCES) and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. L.F.B. was supported by a NERC studentship and RGS-IBG Henrietta Hutton Grant. We thank the National Council for Science and Technology Development of Brazil (CNPq) for support to Project Cerrado/Amazonia Transition (PELD/403725/2012-7), Project Phytogeography of Amazonia/Cerrado Transition (CNPq/PPBio/457602/2012-0) and Productivity Grant to B.S.M and B.H.M-J. Funding for plots in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania) was obtained from the Leverhulme Trust under the Valuing the Arc project. We thank the ANPN (Gabon), WCS-Congo and WCS-DR Congo, Marien Ngouabi University and the University of Kisangani for logistical support in Africa, and the Tropenbos Kalimantan project (ITCI plots) and WWF (KUB plots) for providing data from Asia. This study is contribution number 706 to the Technical Series (TS) of the BDFFP - (INPA-STRI). For assistance with access to datasets we thank Adriana Prieto, Agust?n Rudas, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Alexander G. Parada Gutierrez, Anand Roopsind, Atila Alves de Oliveira, Claudinei Oliveira dos Santos, C. E. Timothy Paine, David Neill, Eliana Jimenez-Rojas, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Hannsjoerg Woell, I?da Le?o do Amaral, Irina Mendoza Polo, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Julien Engel, Kathryn Jeffery, Luzmila Arroyo, Michael D. Swaine, Nallaret Davila Cardozo, Natalino Silva, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Niro Higuchi, Raquel Thomas, Renske van Ek, Richard Condit, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Timothy J. Killeen, Walter A. Palacios, Wendeson Castro. We thank Georgina Mace and Jon Lloyd for comments on the manuscript. We thank our deceased colleagues, Samuel Almeida, Kwaku Duah, Alwyn Gentry, and Sandra Pati?o, for their invaluable contributions to this work and our wider understanding of tropical forest ecology. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2017.

PY - 2017/1/17

Y1 - 2017/1/17

N2 - Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-Tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.

AB - Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-Tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85009895427&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/srep39102

DO - 10.1038/srep39102

M3 - Article

C2 - 28094794

AN - SCOPUS:85009895427

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 7

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

M1 - 39102

ER -

Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

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