Legacy of Fire Slows Carbon Sequestration in Amazonian Forest Regrowth
Daniel
Jacob
Zarin, University of Florida, zarin@ufl.edu
(Presenting)
Ima
Vieira, Museu Goeldi, ima@museu-goeldi.br
Patricia
Delamonica
Sampaio, University of Florida, psampaio@ufl.edu
Rita
Guimarães
Mesquita, INPA, rita@inpa.gov.br
Ted
Feldspauch, Cornell University, trf2@cornell.edu
Mark
Ducey, University of New Hampshire, mjducey@cisunix.unh.edu
Eric
Davidson, Woods Hole Research Center, edavidson@whrc.org
Eduardo
Sonnewend
Brondizio, Inidiana University, ebrondiz@indiana.edu
Much of the ~200,000 km2 of post-abandonment forest regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon has been subjected to repeated burning, yet there have been no prior systematic examinations of the role of fire history in altering the trajectory of forest regrowth on previously cleared lands, even though regrowth constitutes a substantial component of the regional carbon budget. We compiled published and unpublished data for nine sites in the Brazilian Amazon for which information about aboveground carbon stocks and fire history were available for a total of 90 forest regrowth plots. We grouped those plots into categories based on the number of times they had previously been burned (0, 1-2, 3-4, 5+) and calculated the annualized difference between observed and predicted aboveground carbon stock for each plot, based on a validated empirical model that predicts biomass as a function of plot age, soil texture, and climate. Relative to model predictions, carbon sequestration in plots burned five or more times was slower than that in plots that were either cleared without burning, or that were burned 1-2 times (P < 0.05); the reduction in carbon sequestration for plots with this legacy of five or more fires was 1.7±0.6 Mg C ha-1 y-1, compared to predicted sequestration rates of 3.2±0.6 Mg C ha-1 y-1 (mean±95% confidence interval). These results should inform regional carbon models as well as Brazil’s effort to develop an environmental services payment initiative (PROAMBIENTE) that includes a carbon credit program to encourage Amazonian smallholders to maintain forest regrowth rather than reclearing it for agriculture.
Submetido por Daniel Jacob Zarin em 17-MAR-2004
Tema Científico do LBA: CD (Armazenamento e Trocas de Carbono)