High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests
High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests
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DOI：
10.1038/s41586-021-03728-4
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发表时间：
2021-08-26
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Zibera, Etienne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cuni-Sanchez, Aida;Sullivan, Martin J. P.;Zibera, Etienne
热带森林储存了40- 50%的陆地植被碳（1）。然而，对地上活树生物量碳储量的空间变化仍然知之甚少，特别是在热带山地森林中（2）。由于气候和土壤随海拔升高而变化（3），热带山地森林的AGC储量低于低地森林（2）。在这里，我们组装和分析的数据集结构完整的原始森林（AfriMont）跨越44个山地网站在12个非洲国家。我们发现，在AfriMont地块网络的山地网站有一个平均AGC库存的149.4兆克碳每公顷（95%置信区间137.1-164.2），与非洲热带雨林观测网络的低地森林相当（4），比山地样地网络的平均值高出约70%和32%（2，5，6）和低地（7）森林。值得注意的是，我们的结果比政府间气候变化专门委员会对非洲这些森林的默认值高出三分之二（8）。我们发现，非洲低地森林（4）的低树干密度和高丰度的大树反映在山地森林采样。这种碳储存受到威胁：我们估计，自2000年以来，80万公顷的古老非洲山地森林已经消失。我们根据我们的地块网络提供特定国家山地森林AGC蓄积量估算，以帮助指导森林保护和造林干预。我们的研究结果强调了保护这些生物多样性（9，10）和富碳生态系统的必要性。非洲山地森林网络的地上碳储量与低地非洲森林网络相当，比这些山地森林的默认值高出三分之二。
Tropical forests store 40-50 per cent of terrestrial vegetation carbon(1). However, spatial variations in aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stocks remain poorly understood, in particular in tropical montane forests(2). Owing to climatic and soil changes with increasing elevation(3), AGC stocks are lower in tropical montane forests compared with lowland forests(2). Here we assemble and analyse a dataset of structurally intact old-growth forests (AfriMont) spanning 44 montane sites in 12 African countries. We find that montane sites in the AfriMont plot network have a mean AGC stock of 149.4 megagrams of carbon per hectare (95% confidence interval 137.1-164.2), which is comparable to lowland forests in the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network(4) and about 70 per cent and 32 per cent higher than averages from plot networks in montane(2,5,6) and lowland(7) forests in the Neotropics, respectively. Notably, our results are two-thirds higher than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change default values for these forests in Africa(8). We find that the low stem density and high abundance of large trees of African lowland forests(4) is mirrored in the montane forests sampled. This carbon store is endangered: we estimate that 0.8 million hectares of old-growth African montane forest have been lost since 2000. We provide country-specific montane forest AGC stock estimates modelled from our plot network to help to guide forest conservation and reforestation interventions. Our findings highlight the need for conserving these biodiverse(9,10) and carbon-rich ecosystems.The aboveground carbon stock of a montane African forest network is comparable to that of a lowland African forest network and two-thirds higher than default values for these montane forests.