Defaunation affects carbon storage in tropical forests.
Defaunation affects carbon storage in tropical forests.
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DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.1501105
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发表时间：
2015-12
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Jordano P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bello C;Galetti M;Pizo MA;Magnago LF;Rocha MF;Lima RA;Peres CA;Ovaskainen O;Jordano P
热带雨林中大型食果动物的数量正在减少，这可能对碳储存和气候产生影响。碳储存被广泛认为是最有价值的森林生态系统服务之一。砍伐森林、伐木、破碎化、火灾和气候变化对热带碳储量有重大影响;然而，碳储量的减少可能是由于大型种子传播者的减少。许多大型热带树木对碳储存有相当大的贡献，它们依赖大型脊椎动物进行种子传播和再生，但许多这些食果动物受到狩猎，非法贸易和栖息地丧失的威胁。我们使用了一个关于树种组成和丰富度，种子，果实和碳相关性状以及植物-动物相互作用的大型数据集来估计热带森林在动物灭绝情况下的碳储存能力损失。通过模拟31个大西洋森林群落中依赖大型食果动物的树木的局部灭绝，我们发现，即使只有一小部分大种子树木被消灭，动物群的破坏也有可能显著侵蚀碳储量。虽然政府间减少碳排放和重新造林计划的政策主要集中在森林砍伐上，但我们的研究结果表明，动物群的破坏和关键生态相互作用的丧失也对维持热带森林碳储存构成了严重风险。
Populations of large frugivores are declining in tropical rainforests with potential consequences for carbon storage and climate. Carbon storage is widely acknowledged as one of the most valuable forest ecosystem services. Deforestation, logging, fragmentation, fire, and climate change have significant effects on tropical carbon stocks; however, an elusive and yet undetected decrease in carbon storage may be due to defaunation of large seed dispersers. Many large tropical trees with sizeable contributions to carbon stock rely on large vertebrates for seed dispersal and regeneration, however many of these frugivores are threatened by hunting, illegal trade, and habitat loss. We used a large data set on tree species composition and abundance, seed, fruit, and carbon-related traits, and plant-animal interactions to estimate the loss of carbon storage capacity of tropical forests in defaunated scenarios. By simulating the local extinction of trees that depend on large frugivores in 31 Atlantic Forest communities, we found that defaunation has the potential to significantly erode carbon storage even when only a small proportion of large-seeded trees are extirpated. Although intergovernmental policies to reduce carbon emissions and reforestation programs have been mostly focused on deforestation, our results demonstrate that defaunation, and the loss of key ecological interactions, also poses a serious risk for the maintenance of tropical forest carbon storage.