Contrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in West Africa and Amazonia

Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng (), Stephen Adu-Bredu, Akwasi Duah-Gyamfi, Sam Moore, Shalom D. Addo-Danso, Lucy Amissah, Riccardo Valentini, Gloria Djagbletey, Kelvin Anim-Adjei, John Quansah, Bernice Sarpong, Kennedy Owusu-Afriyie, Agne Gvozdevaite, Minxue Tang, Maria C. Ruiz-Jaen, Forzia Ibrahim, Cécile A. J. Girardin, Sami Rifai, Cecilia A. L. Dahlsjö, Terhi Riutta, Xiongjie Deng, Yuheng Sun, Iain Colin Prentice, Imma Oliveras Menor and Yadvinder Malhi ()
Additional contact information
Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng: University of Oxford
Stephen Adu-Bredu: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Akwasi Duah-Gyamfi: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Sam Moore: University of Oxford
Shalom D. Addo-Danso: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Lucy Amissah: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Riccardo Valentini: Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici
Gloria Djagbletey: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Kelvin Anim-Adjei: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
John Quansah: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Bernice Sarpong: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Kennedy Owusu-Afriyie: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Agne Gvozdevaite: University of Oxford
Minxue Tang: Imperial College London
Maria C. Ruiz-Jaen: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Forzia Ibrahim: Czech University of Life Sciences
Cécile A. J. Girardin: University of Oxford
Sami Rifai: University of Adelaide
Cecilia A. L. Dahlsjö: University of Oxford
Terhi Riutta: University of Oxford
Xiongjie Deng: University of Oxford
Yuheng Sun: University of Groningen
Iain Colin Prentice: Imperial College London
Imma Oliveras Menor: University of Oxford
Yadvinder Malhi: University of Oxford

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Tropical forests cover large areas of equatorial Africa and play a substantial role in the global carbon cycle. However, there has been a lack of biometric measurements to understand the forests’ gross and net primary productivity (GPP, NPP) and their allocation. Here we present a detailed field assessment of the carbon budget of multiple forest sites in Africa, by monitoring 14 one-hectare plots along an aridity gradient in Ghana, West Africa. When compared with an equivalent aridity gradient in Amazonia, the studied West African forests generally had higher productivity and lower carbon use efficiency (CUE). The West African aridity gradient consistently shows the highest NPP, CUE, GPP, and autotrophic respiration at a medium-aridity site, Bobiri. Notably, NPP and GPP of the site are the highest yet reported anywhere for intact forests. Widely used data products substantially underestimate productivity when compared to biometric measurements in Amazonia and Africa. Our analysis suggests that the high productivity of the African forests is linked to their large GPP allocation to canopy and semi-deciduous characteristics.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47202-x

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