Old-growth forest loss and secondary forest recovery across Amazonian countries

Smith, Charlotte Caroline; Healey, John R.; Berenguer, Erika; Young, Paul; Taylor, Benjamin M.; Elias, Fernando; Espírito-Santo, Fernando Del Bon; Barlow, Jos

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac1701

Cited by 30 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…As in other tropical environments (e.g. Meyfroidt & Lambin, 2008;Smith et al, 2021), evidence shows a process of 'rejuvenation' of forests in BAF. Young forests increased at a rate of ~150,000 ha annually since 2000, however the loss of older forests occurred at rate of ~100,000-200,000 ha annually in the same period (Rosa et al, 2021).…”

Section: Forest Restoration As An Auxiliary Measure Of Biodiversity C...supporting

confidence: 51%

Forest regeneration may reduce the negative impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a tropical hotspot

Tonetti

Niebuhr

Ribeiro

et al. 2022

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim: Evaluate how large-scale forest regeneration based on a low-cost restoration method may mitigate the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation associated to future climate changes on the distribution of birds and arboreal mammals in a tropical biodiversity hotspot; find areas with different current and future potential species richness and assess how passive restoration can reduce the risk of species extinction.Location: Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF). Methods: We built a forest regeneration scenario via a model of seed dispersal based on the potential movement of frugivorous fauna and projected the potential distribution of 356 bird species and 21 arboreal mammals based on Species Distribution Models (SDM) which employed 79,462 occurrence records and four algorithms for different climate and landscape scenarios. SDM were based on climate and landscape predictors separately and the results were combined into maps of species richness. Finally, we assessed the species' risk of extinction based on the species-area relationship.Results: Without considering the effects of climate change, the potential distribution area for each species increases on average by 72.5% (SD = 8%) in the scenario of potential regeneration. Climate change decreases the area of potential occurrence of 252 species, which may suffer a mean reduction of 74.4% (SD = 9.3%) in their current potential distribution areas. BAF regions with the largest amounts of forest had the greatest potential richness of species. In future climate scenario, 3.4% of species may become extinct, but we show that large-scale regeneration may prevent these extinctions.Main conclusions: Despite the possible negative impacts of climate change on the distribution of 67% of the studied species, which would increase the risk of species extinction, our analysis indicated that promoting large-scale BAF restoration based on natural regeneration may prevent biodiversity loss.

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Section: Forest Restoration As An Auxiliary Measure Of Biodiversity C...supporting

confidence: 51%

Forest regeneration may reduce the negative impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a tropical hotspot

Tonetti

Niebuhr

Ribeiro

et al. 2022

Diversity and Distributions

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“…Previous pan-Amazonia scale studies have used baseline accumulation rates for young and old secondary forests (Smith et al, 2021). The change in secondary forest AGC is derived from the growth curve using secondary forest age and accounting for changes in secondary forest extent.…”

Section: Biomass Change Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining Amazon biomass due to deforestation and subsequent degradation losses exceeding gains

Fawcett

Sitch

Ciais

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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In the Amazon, deforestation and climate change lead to increased vulnerability to forest degradation, threatening its existing carbon stocks and its capacity as a carbon sink. We use satellite L‐Band Vegetation Optical Depth (L‐VOD) data that provide an integrated (top‐down) estimate of biomass carbon to track changes over 2011–2019. Because the spatial resolution of L‐VOD is coarse (0.25°), it allows limited attribution of the observed changes. We therefore combined high‐resolution annual maps of forest cover and disturbances with biomass maps to model carbon losses (bottom‐up) from deforestation and degradation, and gains from regrowing secondary forests. We show an increase of deforestation and associated degradation losses since 2012 which greatly outweigh secondary forest gains. Degradation accounted for 40% of gross losses. After an increase in 2011, old‐growth forests show a net loss of above‐ground carbon between 2012 and 2019. The sum of component carbon fluxes in our model is consistent with the total biomass change from L‐VOD of 1.3 Pg C over 2012‐2019. Across nine Amazon countries, we found that while Brazil contains the majority of biomass stocks (64%), its losses from disturbances were disproportionately high (79% of gross losses). Our multi‐source analysis provides a pessimistic assessment of the Amazon carbon balance and highlights the urgent need to stop the recent rise of deforestation and degradation, particularly in the Brazilian Amazon.

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“…This region is the least populated area of Peru but is responsible for the greatest amount of forest extraction. As of 2017, 17% of the original forest area in the total Amazon basin had been cleared (Bullock et al 2020), and 6.9% in the Peruvian amazon (Smith et al 2021). The average annual forest loss in the Peruvian lowland Amazon forest was 128,764 ha/yr for the period 2000-2020 (FAO 2020).…”

Section: Study Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Peruvian lowland Amazon forests, in particular, have the potential to store > 150 Mg/ha of carbon in their aboveground biomass . Across the Peruvian Amazon, a recent study reported 2.6 million ha of secondary forest, and this forest recovery resulted in an accumulation of 73.8 Tg of carbon (Smith et al 2021).…”

Section: Amazonian Forest Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, it has been estimated that secondary forests represent half of the remaining forest in tropical regions (McGee et al 2020). Approximately 2.6-8 million ha have been reported as secondary vegetation in the Peruvian Amazon (MINAM 2015, Smith et al 2021. Published reports have shown that secondary forests often rapidly accumulate aboveground biomass and thus sequester carbon dioxide at even higher rates than mature forests (Asner et al 2010, Poorter et al 2016, Chazdon et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Secondary forests in Peru: differential provision of ecosystem services compared to other post-deforestation forest transitions

Tito¹,

Salinas²,

Cosio³

et al. 2022

E&S

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While tropical forests are undergoing rapid transformation as a result of direct human impacts, many deforested areas are reverting to forest through natural or human-assisted regeneration. This situation provides a window of opportunity to implement forest management strategies to achieve environmental objectives while promoting social development and contributing to local livelihoods. Successful forest management policy, however, depends on how well we can appraise environmental consequences as well as on the value of ecosystem services that these regrowing forests provide. Here, we review the published literature to synthesize the ecosystem services provided by three types of forest transitions: naturally-regenerated secondary forests, agroforestry systems, and tree plantations, in the coastal, Andean, and Amazonian regions of Peru. We then discuss the potential of these regrowing forests as naturebased solutions that can help in the adoption of policies that promote their sustainable use and conservation. Our literature analysis reveals that forest transitions provide significant services in offsetting carbon emissions, providing habitats for biodiversity, and regulating hydrological services. However, the amount and importance of ecosystem services vary depending on the forest transition type. Secondary forests offer multiple services, representing a low-cost, immediate, and highly effective strategy in mitigating the climate and biodiversity crises and ultimately providing vital ecosystem services to society, such as water provision. In contrast, exotic tree plantations have negative effects on water regulation services. We highlight the potential of secondary forests for land management that supports multiple and integrated environmental initiatives. This framework can guide policy decisions to choose appropriate options on forest transition types most suitable to achieve specific end goals at local and regional scales, considering both ecosystem services and disservices to avoid trade-offs in which the achievement of one goal is detrimental to another.

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Old-growth forest loss and secondary forest recovery across Amazonian countries

Cited by 30 publications

References 56 publications

Forest regeneration may reduce the negative impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a tropical hotspot

Forest regeneration may reduce the negative impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of a tropical hotspot

Declining Amazon biomass due to deforestation and subsequent degradation losses exceeding gains

Secondary forests in Peru: differential provision of ecosystem services compared to other post-deforestation forest transitions

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