ALBERT

Description: The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 tree species, of which just 227 (1.4%) account for half of all trees. Most of these are habitat specialists and only dominant in one or two regions of the basin. We discuss some implications of the finding that a small group of species--less diverse than the North American tree flora--accounts for half of the world's most diverse tree community.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉ter Steege, Hans -- Pitman, Nigel C A -- Sabatier, Daniel -- Baraloto, Christopher -- Salomao, Rafael P -- Guevara, Juan Ernesto -- Phillips, Oliver L -- Castilho, Carolina V -- Magnusson, William E -- Molino, Jean-Francois -- Monteagudo, Abel -- Nunez Vargas, Percy -- Montero, Juan Carlos -- Feldpausch, Ted R -- Coronado, Euridice N Honorio -- Killeen, Tim J -- Mostacedo, Bonifacio -- Vasquez, Rodolfo -- Assis, Rafael L -- Terborgh, John -- Wittmann, Florian -- Andrade, Ana -- Laurance, William F -- Laurance, Susan G W -- Marimon, Beatriz S -- Marimon, Ben-Hur Jr -- Guimaraes Vieira, Ima Celia -- Amaral, Ieda Leao -- Brienen, Roel -- Castellanos, Hernan -- Cardenas Lopez, Dairon -- Duivenvoorden, Joost F -- Mogollon, Hugo F -- Matos, Francisca Dionizia de Almeida -- Davila, Nallarett -- Garcia-Villacorta, Roosevelt -- Stevenson Diaz, Pablo Roberto -- Costa, Flavia -- Emilio, Thaise -- Levis, Carolina -- Schietti, Juliana -- Souza, Priscila -- Alonso, Alfonso -- Dallmeier, Francisco -- Montoya, Alvaro Javier Duque -- Fernandez Piedade, Maria Teresa -- Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro -- Arroyo, Luzmila -- Gribel, Rogerio -- Fine, Paul V A -- Peres, Carlos A -- Toledo, Marisol -- Aymard C, Gerardo A -- Baker, Tim R -- Ceron, Carlos -- Engel, Julien -- Henkel, Terry W -- Maas, Paul -- Petronelli, Pascal -- Stropp, Juliana -- Zartman, Charles Eugene -- Daly, Doug -- Neill, David -- Silveira, Marcos -- Paredes, Marcos Rios -- Chave, Jerome -- Lima Filho, Diogenes de Andrade -- Jorgensen, Peter Moller -- Fuentes, Alfredo -- Schongart, Jochen -- Cornejo Valverde, Fernando -- Di Fiore, Anthony -- Jimenez, Eliana M -- Penuela Mora, Maria Cristina -- Phillips, Juan Fernando -- Rivas, Gonzalo -- van Andel, Tinde R -- von Hildebrand, Patricio -- Hoffman, Bruce -- Zent, Eglee L -- Malhi, Yadvinder -- Prieto, Adriana -- Rudas, Agustin -- Ruschell, Ademir R -- Silva, Natalino -- Vos, Vincent -- Zent, Stanford -- Oliveira, Alexandre A -- Schutz, Angela Cano -- Gonzales, Therany -- Trindade Nascimento, Marcelo -- Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma -- Sierra, Rodrigo -- Tirado, Milton -- Umana Medina, Maria Natalia -- van der Heijden, Geertje -- Vela, Cesar I A -- Vilanova Torre, Emilio -- Vriesendorp, Corine -- Wang, Ophelia -- Young, Kenneth R -- Baider, Claudia -- Balslev, Henrik -- Ferreira, Cid -- Mesones, Italo -- Torres-Lezama, Armando -- Urrego Giraldo, Ligia Estela -- Zagt, Roderick -- Alexiades, Miguel N -- Hernandez, Lionel -- Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau -- Milliken, William -- Palacios Cuenca, Walter -- Pauletto, Daniela -- Valderrama Sandoval, Elvis -- Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis -- Dexter, Kyle G -- Feeley, Ken -- Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela -- Silman, Miles R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2013 Oct 18;342(6156):1243092. doi: 10.1126/science.1243092.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24136971" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A comparative analysis of 23 populations of the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) across the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Amazon shows that the history and intensity of Brazil nut exploitation are major determinants of population size structure. Populations subjected to persistent levels of harvest lack juvenile trees less than 60 centimeters in diameter at breast height; only populations with a history of either light or recent exploitation contain large numbers of juvenile trees. A harvesting model confirms that intensive exploitation levels over the past century are such that juvenile recruitment is insufficient to maintain populations over the long term. Without management, intensively harvested populations will succumb to a process of senescence and demographic collapse, threatening this cornerstone of the Amazonian extractive economy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Peres, Carlos A -- Baider, Claudia -- Zuidema, Pieter A -- Wadt, Lucia H O -- Kainer, Karen A -- Gomes-Silva, Daisy A P -- Salomao, Rafael P -- Simoes, Luciana L -- Franciosi, Eduardo R N -- Cornejo Valverde, Fernando -- Gribel, Rogerio -- Shepard, Glenn H Jr -- Kanashiro, Milton -- Coventry, Peter -- Yu, Douglas W -- Watkinson, Andrew R -- Freckleton, Robert P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2003 Dec 19;302(5653):2112-4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. C.Peres@uea.ac.uk〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14684819" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Brienen, R J W -- Phillips, O L -- Feldpausch, T R -- Gloor, E -- Baker, T R -- Lloyd, J -- Lopez-Gonzalez, G -- Monteagudo-Mendoza, A -- Malhi, Y -- Lewis, S L -- Vasquez Martinez, R -- Alexiades, M -- Alvarez Davila, E -- Alvarez-Loayza, P -- Andrade, A -- Aragao, L E O C -- Araujo-Murakami, A -- Arets, E J M M -- Arroyo, L -- Aymard C, G A -- Banki, O S -- Baraloto, C -- Barroso, J -- Bonal, D -- Boot, R G A -- Camargo, J L C -- Castilho, C V -- Chama, V -- Chao, K J -- Chave, J -- Comiskey, J A -- Cornejo Valverde, F -- da Costa, L -- de Oliveira, E A -- Di Fiore, A -- Erwin, T L -- Fauset, S -- Forsthofer, M -- Galbraith, D R -- Grahame, E S -- Groot, N -- Herault, B -- Higuchi, N -- Honorio Coronado, E N -- Keeling, H -- Killeen, T J -- Laurance, W F -- Laurance, S -- Licona, J -- Magnussen, W E -- Marimon, B S -- Marimon-Junior, B H -- Mendoza, C -- Neill, D A -- Nogueira, E M -- Nunez, P -- Pallqui Camacho, N C -- Parada, A -- Pardo-Molina, G -- Peacock, J -- Pena-Claros, M -- Pickavance, G C -- Pitman, N C A -- Poorter, L -- Prieto, A -- Quesada, C A -- Ramirez, F -- Ramirez-Angulo, H -- Restrepo, Z -- Roopsind, A -- Rudas, A -- Salomao, R P -- Schwarz, M -- Silva, N -- Silva-Espejo, J E -- Silveira, M -- Stropp, J -- Talbot, J -- ter Steege, H -- Teran-Aguilar, J -- Terborgh, J -- Thomas-Caesar, R -- Toledo, M -- Torello-Raventos, M -- Umetsu, R K -- van der Heijden, G M F -- van der Hout, P -- Guimaraes Vieira, I C -- Vieira, S A -- Vilanova, E -- Vos, V A -- Zagt, R J -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):344-8. doi: 10.1038/nature14283.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. ; 1] School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. [2] Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. ; 1] Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK. [2] School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, 4870 Queenland, Australia. ; Jardin Botanico de Missouri, Prolongacion Bolognesi Mz.e, Lote 6, Oxapampa, Pasco, Peru. ; Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QK, UK. ; 1] School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. [2] Department of Geography, University College London, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury CT1 3EH, UK. ; Servicios Ecosistemicos y Cambio Climatico, Jardin Botanico de Medellin, Calle 73 no. 51 D-14, C.P. 050010, Medellin, Colombia. ; Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University, Box 90381, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. ; Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragment Project (INPA &STRI), C.P. 478, Manaus AM 69011-970, Brazil. ; 1] Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. [2] National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Av. Dos Astronautas, 1758, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo 12227-010, Brazil. ; Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Universidad Autonoma Gabriel Rene Moreno, Casilla 2489, Av. Irala 565, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. ; Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. ; UNELLEZ-Guanare, Programa de Ciencias del Agro y el Mar, Herbario Universitario (PORT), Mesa de Cavacas, Estado Portuguesa, 3350 Venezuela. ; Biodiversiteit en Ecosysteem Dynamica, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ; 1] Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UMR EcoFoG, Campus Agronomique, 97310 Kourou, French Guiana. [2] International Center for Tropical Botany, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, USA. ; Universidade Federal do Acre, Campus de Cruzeiro do Sul, Rio Branco, Brazil. ; INRA, UMR 1137 ''Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestiere'' 54280 Champenoux, France. ; Embrapa Roraima, Caixa Postal 133, Boa Vista, RR, CEP 69301-970, Brazil. ; Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Av. de la Cultura N degrees 733, Cusco, Peru. ; 1] School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. [2] International Master Program of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan. ; Universite Paul Sabatier CNRS, UMR 5174 Evolution et Diversite Biologique, Batiment 4R1, 31062 Toulouse, France. ; Northeast Region Inventory and Monitoring Program, National Park Service, 120 Chatham Lane, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22405, USA. ; Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program, Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru. ; Universidade Federal do Para, Centro de Geociencias, Belem, CEP 66017-970 Para, Brazil. ; Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Campus de Nova Xavantina, Caixa Postal 08, CEP 78.690-000, Nova Xavantina MT, Brazil. ; Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, SAC Room 5.150, 2201 Speedway Stop C3200, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. ; Department of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, MRC 187, Washington DC 20013-7012, USA. ; Cirad, UMR Ecologie des Forets de Guyane, Campus Agronomique, 97310 Kourou, French Guiana. ; 1] School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. [2] Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana, Av. A. Jose Quinones km 2.5, Iquitos, Peru. ; World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington DC 20037, USA. ; Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia. ; Instituto Boliviano de Investigacion Forestal, C.P. 6201, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. ; National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA), C.P. 478, Manaus, Amazonas, CEP 69011-970, Brazil. ; 1] FOMABO, Manejo Forestal en las Tierras Tropicales de Bolivia, Sacta, Bolivia. [2] Escuela de Ciencias Forestales (ESFOR), Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS), Sacta, Bolivia. ; Universidad Estatal Amazonica, Facultad de Ingenieria Ambiental, Paso lateral km 2 1/2 via Napo, Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador. ; National Institute for Research in Amazonia (INPA), C.P. 2223, 69080-971, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. ; Universidad Autonoma del Beni, Campus Universitario, Av. Ejercito Nacional, Riberalta, Beni, Bolivia. ; 1] Instituto Boliviano de Investigacion Forestal, C.P. 6201, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. [2] Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. ; 1] Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University, Box 90381, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. [2] The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496, USA. ; Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. ; Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru. ; Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo Forestal (INDEFOR), Universidad de Los Andes, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Conjunto Forestal, C.P. 5101, Merida, Venezuela. ; Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, 77 High Street Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana. ; Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Av. Magalhaes Barata, 376 - Sao Braz, CEP 66040-170, Belem PA, Brazil. ; UFRA, Av. Presidente Tancredo Neves 2501, CEP 66.077-901, Belem, Para, Brazil. ; Museu Universitario, Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco AC 69910-900, Brazil. ; European Commission - DG Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Via Enrico Fermi 274, 21010 Ispra, Italy. ; 1] Naturalis Biodiversity Center, PO Box, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands. [2] Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Utrecht University, PO Box 80084, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands. ; Museo de Historia Natural Alcide D'Orbigny, Av. Potosi no 1458, Cochabamba, Bolivia. ; 1] School of Earth and Environmental Science, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia. [2] Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland 4878, Australia. ; 1] Northumbria University, School of Geography, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 8ST, UK. [2] University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, USA. [3] Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama. ; Van der Hout Forestry Consulting, Jan Trooststraat 6, 3078 HP Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ; Universidade Estadual de Campinas, NEPAM, Rua dos Flamboyants, 155- Cidade Universitaria Zeferino Vaz, Campinas, CEP 13083-867, Sao Paulo, Brazil. ; 1] Universidad Autonoma del Beni, Campus Universitario, Av. Ejercito Nacional, Riberalta, Beni, Bolivia. [2] Centro de Investigacion y Promocion del Campesinado, regional Norte Amazonico, C/ Nicanor Gonzalo Salvatierra N degrees 362, Casilla 16, Riberalta, Bolivia. ; Tropenbos International, PO Box 232, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25788097" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 tree species, of which just 227 (1.4%) account for half of all trees. Most of these are habitat specialists and only dominant in one or two regions of the basin. We discuss some implications of the finding that a small group of species—less diverse than the North American tree flora—accounts for half of the world’s most diverse tree community.

Description: Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system1. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2,3,4,5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Here we combine several ground-sourced6 and satellite-derived approaches2,7,8 to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands. Despite regional variation, the predictions demonstrated remarkable consistency at a global scale, with only a 12% difference between the ground-sourced and satellite-derived estimates. At present, global forest carbon storage is markedly under the natural potential, with a total deficit of 226 Gt (model range = 151–363 Gt) in areas with low human footprint. Most (61%, 139 Gt C) of this potential is in areas with existing forests, in which ecosystem protection can allow forests to recover to maturity. The remaining 39% (87 Gt C) of potential lies in regions in which forests have been removed or fragmented. Although forests cannot be a substitute for emissions reductions, our results support the idea2,3,9 that the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of diverse forests offer valuable contributions to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets.