Important role of forest disturbances in the global biomass turnover and carbon sinks.

ABSTRACT: Forest disturbances leading to replacement of whole tree stands are a cornerstone of forest dynamics, with drivers including fire, wind-throw, biotic outbreaks and harvest. The frequency of disturbances may change over the next century, impacting the age, composition and biomass of forests. However, the variation in disturbance return time, i.e. the mean interval between disturbance events, across the world's forested biomes remains poorly characterised, hindering quantification of their role in the global carbon cycle. Here we present the global distribution of stand-replacing disturbance return time inferred from satellite-based observations of forest loss. Prescribing this distribution within a vegetation model with a detailed representation of stand structure, we quantify the importanc

SUBMITTER: Pugh TAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6718285 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature