Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests.
Nat Commun
; 11(1): 5515, 2020 11 09.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33168823
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.
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Árboles
/
Bosques
/
Ecología
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
País/Región como asunto:
America do sul
/
Brasil
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido