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Titel |
Controls over aboveground forest carbon density on Barro Colorado Island, Panama |
VerfasserIn |
J. Mascaro, G. P. Asner, H. C. Muller-Landau, M. Breugel, J. Hall, K. Dahlin |
Medientyp |
Artikel
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Sprache |
Englisch
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ISSN |
1726-4170
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Digitales Dokument |
URL |
Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 8, no. 6 ; Nr. 8, no. 6 (2011-06-22), S.1615-1629 |
Datensatznummer |
250005960
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Publikation (Nr.) |
copernicus.org/bg-8-1615-2011.pdf |
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Zusammenfassung |
Despite the importance of tropical forests to the global carbon cycle,
ecological controls over landscape-level variation in live aboveground
carbon density (ACD) in tropical forests are poorly understood. Here, we
conducted a spatially comprehensive analysis of ACD variation for a
continental tropical forest – Barro Colorado Island, Panama (BCI) – and
tested site factors that may control such variation. We mapped ACD over
1256 ha of BCI using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), which
was well-correlated with ground-based measurements of ACD in Panamanian
forests of various ages (r2 = 0.84, RMSE = 17 Mg C ha−1, P < 0.0001). We used multiple regression to examine controls over LiDAR-derived
ACD, including slope angle, forest age, bedrock, and soil texture.
Collectively, these variables explained 14 % of the variation in ACD at
30-m resolution, and explained 33 % at 100-m resolution. At all
resolutions, slope (linked to underlying bedrock variation) was the
strongest driving factor; standing carbon stocks were generally higher on
steeper slopes. This result suggests that physiography may be more important
in controlling ACD variation in Neotropical forests than currently thought.
Although BCI has been largely undisturbed by humans for a century, past
land-use over approximately half of the island still influences ACD
variation, with younger forests (80–130 years old) averaging ~15 % less carbon storage than old-growth forests (>400 years old). If
other regions of relatively old tropical secondary forests also store less
carbon aboveground than primary forests, the effects on the global carbon
cycle could be substantial and difficult to detect with traditional
satellite monitoring. |
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