Long-term carbon sink in Borneo's forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects

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Less than half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions remain in the atmosphere. While carbon balance models imply large carbon uptake in tropical forests, direct on-the-ground observations are still lacking in Southeast Asia. Here, using long-term plot monitoring records of up to half a century, we find that intact forests in Borneo gained 0.43 Mg C ha-1 per year (95% CI 0.14-0.72, mean period 1988-2010) in above-ground live biomass carbon. These results closely match those from African and Amazonian plot networks, suggesting that the world’s remaining intact tropical forests are now en masse out-of-equilibrium. Although both pan-tropical and long-term, the sink in remaining intact forests appears vulnerable to climate and land use changes. Across Borneo the 1997-1998 El Niño drought temporarily halted the carbon sink by increasing tree mortality, while fragmentation persistently offset the sink and turned many edge-affected forests into a carbon source to the atmosphere.

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01997-0

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Publication year

2017

Authors

Lan, Q.; Lewis, S.L.; Sullivan, M.J.P.; Lopez-Gonzalez, G.; Pickavance, G.C.; Sunderland, T.C.H.; Ashton, P.; Hubau, W.; Salim, K.A.; Aiba, S-I.; Banin, L.F.; Berry, N.; Brearley, F.Q.; Burslem, D.F.R.P.; Dancák, M.; Davies, S.J.; Fredriksson, G.; Hamer, K.C.; Hédl, R.; Lip, K.K.; Kitayama, K.; Krisnawati, H.; Lhota, S.; Malhi, Y.; Maycock, C.; Metali, F.; Mirmanto, E.; Nagy, L.; Nilus, R.; Ong, R.; Pendry, C.A.; Poulsen, A.D.; Primack, R.B.; Rutishauser, E.; Samsoedin, I.; Saragih, B.; Sist, P.; Slik, J.W.F.; Sukri, R.S.; Svátek, M.; Tan, S.; Tjoa, A.; van Nieuwstadt, M.; Vernimmen, R.R.E.; Yassir, I.; Kidd, P.S.; Fitriadi, M.; Ideris, N.K.M.; Serudin, R.M.; Lim, L.S.A.; Saparudin, M.S.; Phillips, O.L.

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English

Keywords

carbon sinks, emissions, drought, tropical forests

Geographic

Indonesia

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Long-term carbon sink in Borneo's forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects

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