Spanish👉https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01777-3

#TropicalForests

https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/the-vulnerability-of-south-american-tropical-forests-to-climate-change

@NatureClimate @NaturePortfolio @ForestPlots @UniversityLeeds @SoGLeeds

There is also an accompanying Research Briefing https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01777-3

It takes many people to measure a tree and a community to measure a forest. Work like ours is only possible with long-term investment in on-the-ground forest monitoring and the huge collaborative effort this takes.

Let's protect these critical ecosystems to safeguard our planet's future! 🌎🌿

🌍 South American tropical forests have demonstrated resilience to current and past climate extremes, but they are sensitive to temperature increases and face challenges ahead. 🌡️🌳

🌿 The impact of climate anomalies varied depending on pre-existing climate conditions, with drier forests being more vulnerable to carbon losses.

🔍 The El Niño led to increased carbon losses from tree mortality, reducing the long-term biomass carbon sink in these forests.

📊 We measured trees in 123 long-term monitoring plots in South American forests, including Amazonian and Atlantic forests, to assess the El Niño's impact on carbon dynamics.

🗺️ The Amazonian forests, once a major carbon sink, have shown a decline since the 1990s.
🌧️🌡️The 2015-2016 El Niño brought record heat and drought to South America, offering a unique opportunity to study climate impacts on tropical forests.

🌪️ Uncertainty in vegetation and climate-carbon cycle models makes this a critical issue.
🌴 South America houses extensive and diverse tropical forests, making it a key region for understanding ecosystem-climate relationships.

🌳Intact tropical forests are vital for our planet, storing and sequestering large amounts of carbon, playing a crucial role in mitigating climate change
🌡️Climate-driven changes could impact tropical forests' ability to store carbon, and the evolution of climate change itself.

More than 100 researchers tracked trees for up to 30 years in forest plots across South America, to estimate the impacts of record temperatures and drought on forest carbon dynamics. 🌳📈

Detecting the resistance of African tropical forests to extreme climate conditions was only possible because of the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network and long-term investment into on-the-ground monitoring of forests and the huge collaborative effort this takes

Resistance of African forests to heat and drought might be due to their structure, with fewer larger trees, the species present, or that they are not as hot nor warming as fast as tropical forests on other continents

The El Niño significantly decreased the net carbon sink uptake into live biomass by a third, but African forests were still a net carbon sink despite the record heat and drought