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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Shifting dynamics of climate-functional groups in old-growth Amazonian forests
Plant Ecology and Diversity, Volume 7, No. 1-2, Year 2014
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Description
Background: Climate change is driving ecosystem shifts, which has implications for tropical forest system function and productivity. Aim: To investigate Amazon forest dynamics and test for compositional changes between 1985 and 2005 across different plant groups. Methods: Tree census data from 46 long-term RAINFOR forest plots in Amazonia for three climate-functional groups were used: dry-affiliate, climate-generalist and wet affiliate. Membership of each group was ascribed at genus level from the distribution of individuals across a wet-dry gradient in Amazonia, and then used to determine whether the proportions of these functional groups have changed over time, and the direction of any change. Results: In total, 91 genera, representing 59% of the stems and 18% of genera in the plots, were analysed. Wet-affiliates tended to move from a state of net basal area gain towards dynamic equilibrium, defined as where gain ≈ loss, governed by an increase in loss rather than a decrease in growth and mainly driven by plots in north-west Amazonia, the wettest part of the region. Dry-affiliates remained in a state of strong net basal area gain across western Amazonia and showed a strong increase in stem recruitment. Wet-affiliates and climate-generalists showed increases in stem mortality, and climate-generalists showed increased stem recruitment, resulting in overall equilibrium of stem numbers. Conclusions: While there were no significant shifts in most genera, the results suggest an overall shift in climate-functional forest composition in western Amazonia away from wet-affiliates, and potential for increased forest persistence under projected drier conditions in the future. © 2014 Copyright 2012 Botanical Society of Scotland and Taylor & Francis.
Authors & Co-Authors
Butt, Nathalie
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Australia, Brisbane
The University of Queensland
Malhi, Yadvinder Singh
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
New, Mark G.
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
South Africa, Cape Town
African Climate and Development Initiative
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Macía, Manuel J.
Spain, Madrid
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Lewis, Simon L.
United Kingdom, Leeds
University of Leeds
United Kingdom, London
University College London
Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela
United Kingdom, Leeds
University of Leeds
Laurance, William F.
Australia, Townsville
James Cook University
G W Laurance, Susan G.W.
Australia, Townsville
James Cook University
Luizão, Regina
Brazil, Manaus
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Andrade, Ana C.S.
Brazil, Manaus
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia
Baker, Timothy R.
United Kingdom, Leeds
University of Leeds
Almeida, Samuel Soares
Unknown Affiliation
Phillips, Oliver L.
United Kingdom, Leeds
University of Leeds
Statistics
Citations: 21
Authors: 13
Affiliations: 9
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1080/17550874.2012.715210
ISSN:
17550874
e-ISSN:
17551668
Research Areas
Environmental