Tree mode of death and mortality risk factors across Amazon forests

Esquivel-Muelbert A.; Phillips O.L.; Brienen R.J.W.; Fauset S.; Sullivan M.J.P.; Baker T.R.; Chao K.-J.; Feldpausch T.R.; Gloor E.; Higuchi N.; Houwing-Duistermaat J.; Lloyd J.; Liu H.; Malhi Y.; Marimon B.; Marimon Junior B.H.; Monteagudo-Mendoza A.; Poorter L.; Silveira M.; Torre E.V.; Dávila E.A.; del Aguila Pasquel J.; Almeida E.; Loayza P.A.; Andrade A.; Aragão L.E.O.C.; Araujo-Murakami A.; Arets E.; Arroyo L.; Aymard C G.A.; Baisie M.; Baraloto C.; Camargo P.B.; Barroso J.; Blanc L.; Bonal D.; Bongers F.; Boot R.; Brown F.; Burban B.; Camargo J.L.; Castro W.; Moscoso V.C.; Chave J.; Comiskey J.; Valverde F.C.; da Costa A.L.; Cardozo N.D.; Di Fiore A.; Dourdain A.; Erwin T.; Llampazo G.F.; Vieira I.C.G.; Herrera R.; Honorio Coronado E.; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco I.; Jimenez-Rojas E.; Killeen T.; Laurance S.; Laurance W.; Levesley A.; Lewis S.L.; Ladvocat K.L.L.M.; Lopez-Gonzalez G.; Lovejoy T.; Meir P.; Mendoza C.; Morandi P.; Neill D.; Nogueira Lima A.J.; Vargas P.N.; de Oliveira E.A.; Camacho N.P.; Pardo G.; Peacock J.; Peña-Claros M.; Peñuela-Mora M.C.; Pickavance G.; Pipoly J.; Pitman N.; Prieto A.; Pugh T.A.M.; Quesada C.; Ramirez-Angulo H.; de Almeida Reis S.M.; Rejou-Machain M.; Correa Z.R.; Bayona L.R.; Rudas A.; Salomão R.; Serrano J.; Espejo J.S.; Silva N.; Singh J.; Stahl C.; Stropp J.; Swamy V.; Talbot J.; ter Steege H.; Terborgh J.; Thomas R.; Toledo M.; Torres-Lezama A.; Gamarra L.V.; van der Heijden G.; van der Meer P.; van der Hout P.; Martinez R.V.; Vieira S.A.; Cayo J.V.; Vos V.; Zagt R.; Zuidema P.; Galbraith D. · Nature Communications (2020) · DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18996-3

Resumen

The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted—modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth–survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco; Universidad Nacional Jorge Basadre Grohmann