Record Details

Aboveground forest biomass varies across continents, ecological zones and successional stages: refined IPCC default values for tropical and subtropical forests

CGSpace

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Aboveground forest biomass varies across continents, ecological zones and successional stages: refined IPCC default values for tropical and subtropical forests
 
Creator Rozendaal, D.M.A.
Requena Suarez, D.
De Sy, V.
Avitabile, V.
Carter, S.
Adou Yao, C.Y.
Alvarez-Davila, E.
Anderson-Teixeira, K.
Araujo-Murakami, A.
Arroyo, L.
Barca, B.
Baker, T.R.
Birigazzi, L.
Bongers, F.
Branthomme, A.
Brienen, R.J.W.
Carreiras, J.M.B.
Cazzolla Gatti, R.
Cook-Patton, S.C.
Decuyper, M.
DeVries, B.
Espejo, A.B.
Feldpausch, T.R.
Fox, J.
Gamarra, Javier G.P.
Griscom, B.W.
Harris, N.L.
Hérault, B.
Honorio Coronado, E.N.
Jonckheere, I.
Konan, E.
Leavitt, S.M.
Lewis, S.L.
Lindsell, J.A.
N’Dja, J.K.
N’Guessan, A.E.
Marimon, B.
Mitchard, E.T.A.
Monteagudo, A.
Morel, A.
Pekkarinen, A.
Phillips, O.L.
Poorter, L.
Qie, L.
Rutishauser, E.
Ryan, C.M.
Santoro, M.
Silayo, D.S.
Sist, P.
Slik, J.W.F.
Sonké, B.
Sullivan, M.J.P.
Vaglio Laurin, G.
Vilanova, E.
Wang, M.M.H.
Zahabu, E.
Herold, M.
 
Subject monitoring
greenhouse gases
aboveground biomass
tropical forests
 
Description For monitoring and reporting forest carbon stocks and fluxes, many countries in the tropics and subtropics rely on default values of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories. Default IPCC forest AGB values originated from 2006, and are relatively crude estimates of average values per continent and ecological zone. The 2006 default values were based on limited plot data available at the time, methods for their derivation were not fully clear, and no distinction between successional stages was made. As part of the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for GHG Inventories, we updated the default AGB values for tropical and subtropical forests based on AGB data from >25 000 plots in natural forests and a global AGB map where no plot data were available. We calculated refined AGB default values per continent, ecological zone, and successional stage, and provided a measure of uncertainty. AGB in tropical and subtropical forests varies by an order of magnitude across continents, ecological zones, and successional stage. Our refined default values generally reflect the climatic gradients in the tropics, with more AGB in wetter areas. AGB is generally higher in old-growth than in secondary forests, and higher in older secondary (regrowth >20 years old and degraded/logged forests) than in young secondary forests (⩽20 years old). While refined default values for tropical old-growth forest are largely similar to the previous 2006 default values, the new default values are 4.0–7.7-fold lower for young secondary forests. Thus, the refined values will strongly alter estimated carbon stocks and fluxes, and emphasize the critical importance of old-growth forest conservation. We provide a reproducible approach to facilitate future refinements and encourage targeted efforts to establish permanent plots in areas with data gaps.
 
Date 2022-01-01
2022-01-21T05:18:26Z
2022-01-21T05:18:26Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Rozendaal, D.M.A., Requena Suarez, D., De Sy, V., Avitabile, V., Carter, S., Adou Yao, C.Y., Alvarez-Davila, E., Anderson-Teixeira, K., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arroyo, L., Barca, B., Baker, T.R., Birigazzi, L., Bongers, F., Branthomme, A., Brienen, R.J.W., Carreiras, J.M.B., Cazzolla Gatti, R., Cook-Patton, S.C., Decuyper, M., DeVries, B., Espejo, A.B., Feldpausch, T.R., Fox, J., G P Gamarra, J., Griscom, B.W., Harris, N., Hérault, B., Honorio Coronado, E.N., Jonckheere, I., Konan, E., Leavitt, S.M., Lewis, S.L., Lindsell, J.A., N’Dja, J.K., N’Guessan, A.E., Marimon, B., Mitchard, E.T.A., Monteagudo, A., Morel, A., Pekkarinen, A., Phillips, O.L., Poorter, L., Qie, L., Rutishauser, E., Ryan, C.M., Santoro, M., Silayo, D.S., Sist, P., Slik, J.W.F., Sonké, B., Sullivan, M.J.P., Vaglio Laurin, G., Vilanova, E., Wang, M.M.H., Zahabu, E. and Herold, M. 2022. Aboveground forest biomass varies across continents, ecological zones and successional stages: refined IPCC default values for tropical and subtropical forests. Environmental Research Letters 17(1): 014047. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac45b3
1748-9326
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/117672
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac45b3/pdf
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac45b3
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Format 014047
 
Publisher IOP Publishing
 
Source Environmental Research Letters