Congo Basin Carbon Cycle Responses to Global Change.

ABSTRACT: The Congo Basin and its contiguous forests harbor globally significant carbon stocks, estimated at 65 gigatons of C (GtC) above and belowground. Despite rising temperatures and intensifying droughts, they have remained a carbon sink, albeit weak: 0.26-0.50 GtC yr.^-1 carbon uptake since 1980. However, these forests' carbon stocks and fluxes, including gross primary productivity, respiration, net primary productivity, and riverine carbon transport, remain poorly quantified. This limits understanding of the region's role in the global carbon cycle, its vulnerability to environmental change, and its potential as a long-term carbon sink. We review and quantify Congo Basin and contiguous forest carbon stocks and fluxes and synthesize the current knowledge on how key global change driv

SUBMITTER: Worden S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12817162 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature