Contrasting effects of defaunation on aboveground carbon storage across the global tropics

Anand M. Osuri (), Jayashree Ratnam, Varun Varma, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Johanna Hurtado Astaiza, Matt Bradford, Christine Fletcher, Mireille Ndoundou-Hockemba, Patrick A. Jansen, David Kenfack, Andrew R. Marshall, B. R. Ramesh, Francesco Rovero and Mahesh Sankaran
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Anand M. Osuri: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Jayashree Ratnam: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Varun Varma: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza: Center for Tropical Conservation, Duke University
Johanna Hurtado Astaiza: La Selva Biological Station, Organization for Tropical Studies
Matt Bradford: CSIRO Land and Water, Tropical Forest Research Centre
Christine Fletcher: Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM)
Mireille Ndoundou-Hockemba: Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Congo-Program
Patrick A. Jansen: Centre for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
David Kenfack: CTFS-ForestGEO, NMNH - MRC 166, Smithsonian Institution
Andrew R. Marshall: CIRCLE, University of York
B. R. Ramesh: Institut Français de Pondichéry
Francesco Rovero: MUSE – Science Museum of Trento
Mahesh Sankaran: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Defaunation is causing declines of large-seeded animal-dispersed trees in tropical forests worldwide, but whether and how these declines will affect carbon storage across this biome is unclear. Here we show, using a pan-tropical data set, that simulated declines of large-seeded animal-dispersed trees have contrasting effects on aboveground carbon stocks across Earth’s tropical forests. In our simulations, African, American and South Asian forests, which have high proportions of animal-dispersed species, consistently show carbon losses (2–12%), but Southeast Asian and Australian forests, where there are more abiotically dispersed species, show little to no carbon losses or marginal gains (±1%). These patterns result primarily from changes in wood volume, and are underlain by consistent relationships in our empirical data (∼2,100 species), wherein, large-seeded animal-dispersed species are larger as adults than small-seeded animal-dispersed species, but are smaller than abiotically dispersed species. Thus, floristic differences and distinct dispersal mode–seed size–adult size combinations can drive contrasting regional responses to defaunation.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11351

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