Persistent collapse of biomass in Amazonian forest edges following deforestation leads to unaccounted carbon losses

Published in Science Advances
Authors

Celso H. L. Silva Junior, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, Liana O. Anderson, Marisa G. Fonseca, Yosio E. Shimabukuro, Christelle Vancutsem, Frédéric Achard, René Beuchle, Izaya Numata, Carlos A. Silva, Eduardo E. Maeda, Marcos Longo and Sassan S. Saatchi
Publication year 2020
DOI https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8360
Affiliations
  1. Celso H. L. Silva Junior1,2,, 
  2. Luiz E. O. C. Aragão1,2,3, 
  3. Liana O. Anderson1,4, 
  4. Marisa G. Fonseca1,2,5, 
  5. Yosio E. Shimabukuro1,2, 
  6. Christelle Vancutsem6, 
  7. Frédéric Achard6, 
  8. René Beuchle6, 
  9. Izaya Numata7, 
  10. Carlos A. Silva8, 
  11. Eduardo E. Maeda9, 
  12. Marcos Longo10 and 
  13. Sassan S. Saatchi10,11
  1. Tropical Ecosystems and Environmental Sciences Laboratory, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
  2. Remote Sensing Division, National Institute for Space Research, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
  3. Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
  4. National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
  5. Veraterra&ndashMapping and Environmental Consultancy, Praça Pedro Gomes, s/n, Serra Grande, Uruçuca, BA 45680-000 Brazil.
  6. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy.
  7. Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA.
  8. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
  9. Department of Geosciences and Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
  10. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
  11. Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
  1. &crarrCorresponding author. Email: celsohlsj@gmail.com
IAI Program
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. 
  • the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq (305054/2016-3) and the São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (2016/02018-2).
  • the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, IAI (SGP-HW 016),
  • CNPq (442650/2018-3 and 309247/2016-0),
  • FAPESP (2016/02018-2).
  • Academy of Finland (decision numbers 318252 and 319905).
  • the NASA Postdoctoral Program, administered by Universities Space Research Association under contract with NASA.
IAI Project SGP-HW 016
Keywords
deforestation
biomass
PDFPersistent collapse of biomass in Amazonian forest edges following deforestation leads to unaccounted carbon losses.pdf

Abstract

Deforestation is the primary driver of carbon losses in tropical forests, but it does not operate alone. Forest fragmentation, a resulting feature of the deforestation process, promotes indirect carbon losses induced by edge effect. This process is not implicitly considered by policies for reducing carbon emissions in the tropics. Here, we used a remote sensing approach to estimate carbon losses driven by edge effect in Amazonia over the 2001 to 2015 period. We found that carbon losses associated with edge effect (947 Tg C) corresponded to one-third of losses from deforestation (2592 Tg C). Despite a notable negative trend of 7 Tg C year&minus1 in carbon losses from deforestation, the carbon losses from edge effect remained unchanged, with an average of 63 ± 8 Tg C year&minus1. Carbon losses caused by edge effect is thus an additional unquantified flux that can counteract carbon emissions avoided by reducing deforestation, compromising the Paris Agreement&rsquos bold targets.