Tree growth and stem carbon accumulation in human-modified Amazonian forests following drought and fire.

ABSTRACT: Human-modified forests are an ever-increasing feature across the Amazon Basin, but little is known about how stem growth is influenced by extreme climatic events and the resulting wildfires. Here we assess for the first time the impacts of human-driven disturbance in combination with El Niño-mediated droughts and fires on tree growth and carbon accumulation. We found that after 2.5 years of continuous measurements, there was no difference in stem carbon accumulation between undisturbed and human-modified forests. Furthermore, the extreme drought caused by the El Niño did not affect carbon accumulation rates in surviving trees. In recently burned forests, trees grew significantly more than in unburned ones, regardless of their history of previous human disturbance. Wood density was the only

SUBMITTER: Berenguer E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6178429 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature