GEOG 315 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Tropical And Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests, Ecology, Ecosystem Services
23 Feb 2020
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Document Summary
Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical forest. Tropical forest biodiversity is declining, but the resulting effects on key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, remain unknown. We assessed the influence of the loss of tropical tree species on carbon storage by simulating 18 possible extinction scenarios within a well-studied 50-hectare tropical forest plot in panama, which contains 227 trees species. Among extinction scenarios, aboveground carbon stocks varied by more than 600%, and biological insurance varied by more than 400%. These results indicate that future carbon storage in tropical forests will be influenced strongly by future species composition. Relationship between diversity and aboveground biomass observed in: grasslands, meadows, wetlands. Explored 3 classes of trait-based extinction scenarios that represent a broad spectrum of extinction mechanisms. Class 1: extinction associated with population traits: low population growth rates, low densities, and endemism.
