High resolution analysis of tropical forest fragmentation and its impact on the global carbon cycle
| Autor: | Dan-Xia Song, Sebastian Lehmann, Sandro Pütz, Andreas Huth, Rico Fischer, Katharina Brinck, Jürgen Groeneveld, Mateus Dantas de Paula, Joseph O. Sexton |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Science General Physics and Astronomy chemistry.chemical_element Atmospheric sciences 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Edge effects Article General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Carbon cycle Deforestation MD Multidisciplinary 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Multidisciplinary Ecology Fragmentation (computing) Tropics General Chemistry Vegetation 15. Life on land chemistry 13. Climate action Greenhouse gas Environmental science Carbon |
| Zdroj: | Nature Communications, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2017) Nature Communications |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| Popis: | Deforestation in the tropics is not only responsible for direct carbon emissions but also extends the forest edge wherein trees suffer increased mortality. Here we combine high-resolution (30 m) satellite maps of forest cover with estimates of the edge effect and show that 19% of the remaining area of tropical forests lies within 100 m of a forest edge. The tropics house around 50 million forest fragments and the length of the world's tropical forest edges sums to nearly 50 million km. Edge effects in tropical forests have caused an additional 10.3 Gt (2.1–14.4 Gt) of carbon emissions, which translates into 0.34 Gt per year and represents 31% of the currently estimated annual carbon releases due to tropical deforestation. Fragmentation substantially augments carbon emissions from tropical forests and must be taken into account when analysing the role of vegetation in the global carbon cycle. Vast quantities of carbon stored in tropical forests are threatened by deforestation. Here, using high resolution satellite data, Brinck et al. examine how edge effects influence carbon emissions and they find an additional 10.3 Gt of carbon are released by deforestation when including fragmentation effects. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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