Measuring the natural capital of Amazonian forests: A case study of the National Forest of Carajás, Brazil

Tereza Cristina Giannini, Caroline Oliveira Andrino, Rafael Gomes Barbosa-Silva, José A. Bitencourt, Rafael C. Borges, Renata R. Brito, Rosane Cavalcante, Claudia P.W. Costa, Sidnei Dantas, Markus Gastauer, Vitor F. Gomes, Ulysses M. Maia, Felipe Martello, Leonardo Miranda, Sâmia Nunes, Guilherme Oliveira, Amanda Paracampo, Paulo R. Pontes, Silvio Ramos, José E. Santos, Orlando T. Silveira, Renata Tedeschi, Rafael B. Valadares, Pedro Viana and Jacobus Biesmeijer

Ecosystem Services, 2025, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: We propose an innovative approach that links nature and people to assess the natural capital of tropical forests in the Amazon. Our study location is a protected area inside Eastern Amazon forest, where we defined 14 sampling points and analyzed ten components, which encompass the maintenance of standing forests (nature to itself) and the provision of ecosystem services (nature to people). Five components were used to assess ecosystem functions and five components were used to assess ecosystem services. As for ecosystem functions, we registered 467 species of animals (122 bees, 53 butterflies, 292 birds) and 418 plant species, and a mean interaction diversity of 2.8 (from 480 bee-plant interactions). Based on functional traits, we found that at least 83 % of species must be preserved to guarantee resilience, and that functional diversity relies on 60 % of non-replaceable species. Eleven per cent of birds and 9 % of plants are endangered. As for ecosystem services, carbon storage in soil and vegetation is 41.6 and 173 MgC/ha (on average), respectively. One to four uses by Amazonian traditional communities were reported on 42 % of plants. In the vicinities of the protected area, we found that 66 % of crops (13 from 20 crop species) depend on pollinating bees, and the value of annual crop pollination service is US$4.5Mi. Regarding water protection and local climate regulation, data modelling has shown that the presence of protected forests leads to a 21 % increase in evapotranspiration and a decrease in temperature of 0.4 °C. Our framework showed a clear link between the megadiversity found in Amazonian tropical forest and the robust benefits provided to human welfare, highlighting forest conservation as a key element for sustainable development. Advances in understanding the value of forests stimulate significant new opportunities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of forest conservation and management policies and decision-making.

Keywords: Ecosystem services; Functional traits; Water protection; Climate regulation; Carbon storage; Crop pollinators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041625000385
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:74:y:2025:i:c:s2212041625000385

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101734

Access Statistics for this article

Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat

More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().