Ecology: Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical

Daniel E. Bunker; Fabrice DeClerck; Jason C. Bradford; Robert K. Colwell; Ivette Perfecto; Oliver L. Phillips; Mahesh Sankaran; Shahid Naeem

doi:10.1126/science.1117682

Ecology: Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical

Daniel E. Bunker, Fabrice DeClerck, Jason C. Bradford, Robert K. Colwell, Ivette Perfecto, Oliver L. Phillips, Mahesh Sankaran, Shahid Naeem

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

352 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tropical forest biodiversity is declining, but the resulting effects on key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, remain unknown. We assessed the influence of the loss of tropical tree species on carbon storage by simulating 18 possible extinction scenarios within a well-studied 50-hectare tropical forest plot in Panama, which contains 227 tree species. Among extinction scenarios, aboveground carbon stocks varied by more than 600%, and biological insurance varied by more than 400%. These results indicate that future carbon storage in tropical forests will be influenced strongly by future species composition.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1029-1031
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	310
Issue number	5750
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1117682
State	Published - Nov 11 2005
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Ecology: Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical",

abstract = "Tropical forest biodiversity is declining, but the resulting effects on key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, remain unknown. We assessed the influence of the loss of tropical tree species on carbon storage by simulating 18 possible extinction scenarios within a well-studied 50-hectare tropical forest plot in Panama, which contains 227 tree species. Among extinction scenarios, aboveground carbon stocks varied by more than 600%, and biological insurance varied by more than 400%. These results indicate that future carbon storage in tropical forests will be influenced strongly by future species composition.",

author = "Bunker, {Daniel E.} and Fabrice DeClerck and Bradford, {Jason C.} and Colwell, {Robert K.} and Ivette Perfecto and Phillips, {Oliver L.} and Mahesh Sankaran and Shahid Naeem",

year = "2005",

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T2 - Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical

AU - Bunker, Daniel E.

AU - DeClerck, Fabrice

AU - Bradford, Jason C.

AU - Colwell, Robert K.

AU - Perfecto, Ivette

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Sankaran, Mahesh

AU - Naeem, Shahid

PY - 2005/11/11

Y1 - 2005/11/11

N2 - Tropical forest biodiversity is declining, but the resulting effects on key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, remain unknown. We assessed the influence of the loss of tropical tree species on carbon storage by simulating 18 possible extinction scenarios within a well-studied 50-hectare tropical forest plot in Panama, which contains 227 tree species. Among extinction scenarios, aboveground carbon stocks varied by more than 600%, and biological insurance varied by more than 400%. These results indicate that future carbon storage in tropical forests will be influenced strongly by future species composition.

AB - Tropical forest biodiversity is declining, but the resulting effects on key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and sequestration, remain unknown. We assessed the influence of the loss of tropical tree species on carbon storage by simulating 18 possible extinction scenarios within a well-studied 50-hectare tropical forest plot in Panama, which contains 227 tree species. Among extinction scenarios, aboveground carbon stocks varied by more than 600%, and biological insurance varied by more than 400%. These results indicate that future carbon storage in tropical forests will be influenced strongly by future species composition.

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ER -

Ecology: Species loss and aboveground carbon storage in a tropical

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