Mature Andean forests as globally important carbon sinks and future carbon refuges.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Duque A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8035207 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Mature Andean forests as globally important carbon sinks and future carbon refuges.
Duque Alvaro A Peña Miguel A MA Cuesta Francisco F González-Caro Sebastián S Kennedy Peter P Phillips Oliver L OL Calderón-Loor Marco M Blundo Cecilia C Carilla Julieta J Cayola Leslie L Farfán-Ríos William W Fuentes Alfredo A Grau Ricardo R Homeier Jürgen J Loza-Rivera María I MI Malhi Yadvinder Y Malizia Agustina A Malizia Lucio L Martínez-Villa Johanna A JA Myers Jonathan A JA Osinaga-Acosta Oriana O Peralvo Manuel M Pinto Esteban E Saatchi Sassan S Silman Miles M Tello J Sebastián JS Terán-Valdez Andrea A Feeley Kenneth J KJ
Nature communications 20210409 1
It is largely unknown how South America's Andean forests affect the global carbon cycle, and thus regulate climate change. Here, we measure aboveground carbon dynamics over the past two decades in 119 monitoring plots spanning a range of >3000 m elevation across the subtropical and tropical Andes. Our results show that Andean forests act as strong sinks for aboveground carbon (0.67 ± 0.08 Mg C ha<sup>-1</sup> y<sup>-1</sup>) and have a high potential to serve as future carbon refuges. Abovegroun ...[more]
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