The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted—modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth–survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.
Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests / Esquivel-Muelbert A.; Phillips O.L.; Brienen R.J.W.; Fauset S.; Sullivan M.J.P.; Baker T.R.; Chao K.-J.; Feldpausch T.R.; Gloor E.; Higuchi N.; Houwing-Duistermaat J.; Lloyd J.; Liu H.; Malhi Y.; Marimon B.; Marimon Junior B.H.; Monteagudo-Mendoza A.; Poorter L.; Silveira M.; Torre E.V.; Davila E.A.; del Aguila Pasquel J.; Almeida E.; Loayza P.A.; Andrade A.; Aragao L.E.O.C.; Araujo-Murakami A.; Arets E.; Arroyo L.; Aymard C G.A.; Baisie M.; Baraloto C.; Camargo P.B.; Barroso J.; Blanc L.; Bonal D.; Bongers F.; Boot R.; Brown F.; Burban B.; Camargo J.L.; Castro W.; Moscoso V.C.; Chave J.; Comiskey J.; Valverde F.C.; da Costa A.L.; Cardozo N.D.; Di Fiore A.; Dourdain A.; Erwin T.; Llampazo G.F.; Vieira I.C.G.; Herrera R.; Honorio Coronado E.; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco I.; Jimenez-Rojas E.; Killeen T.; Laurance S.; Laurance W.; Levesley A.; Lewis S.L.; Ladvocat K.L.L.M.; Lopez-Gonzalez G.; Lovejoy T.; Meir P.; Mendoza C.; Morandi P.; Neill D.; Nogueira Lima A.J.; Vargas P.N.; de Oliveira E.A.; Camacho N.P.; Pardo G.; Peacock J.; Pena-Claros M.; Penuela-Mora M.C.; Pickavance G.; Pipoly J.; Pitman N.; Prieto A.; Pugh T.A.M.; Quesada C.; Ramirez-Angulo H.; de Almeida Reis S.M.; Rejou-Machain M.; Correa Z.R.; Bayona L.R.; Rudas A.; Salomao R.; Serrano J.; Espejo J.S.; Silva N.; Singh J.; Stahl C.; Stropp J.; Swamy V.; Talbot J.; ter Steege H.; Terborgh J.; Thomas R.; Toledo M.; Torres-Lezama A.; Gamarra L.V.; van der Heijden G.; van der Meer P.; van der Hout P.; Martinez R.V.; Vieira S.A.; Cayo J.V.; Vos V.; Zagt R.; Zuidema P.; Galbraith D.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - ELETTRONICO. - 11:1(2020), pp. 5515.1-5515.11. [10.1038/s41467-020-18996-3]
Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests
Houwing-Duistermaat J.;Rudas A.;Singh J.;Thomas R.;
2020
Abstract
The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted—modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth–survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests.pdf
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