Publications by authors named "Janvier Lisingo"
The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.
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- * A study analyzing 44 montane sites across 12 African countries reveals that the average aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stock is 149.4 megagrams of carbon per hectare, which is higher than similar forests in the Neotropics and above default values set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- * Despite this carbon richness, African montane forests face threats, having lost about 0.8 million hectares of old-growth forest since 2000, emphasizing the need for conservation efforts to protect
Article Synopsis
- The study highlights the uncertainty in how tropical forests' carbon storage responds to climate change, particularly the effects of long-term drying and warming.
- Analysis of 590 permanent plots across the tropics finds that maximum temperature significantly reduces aboveground biomass, affecting carbon storage more in hotter forests.
- The results indicate that tropical forests have greater resilience to temperature changes than short-term studies suggest, emphasizing the need for forest protection and climate stabilization for long-term adaptation.
Structurally intact tropical forests sequestered about half of the global terrestrial carbon uptake over the 1990s and early 2000s, removing about 15 per cent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Climate-driven vegetation models typically predict that this tropical forest 'carbon sink' will continue for decades. Here we assess trends in the carbon sink using 244 structurally intact African tropical forests spanning 11 countries, compare them with 321 published plots from Amazonia and investigate the underlying drivers of the trends.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: African tropical rainforests are one of the most important hotspots to look for changes in the upcoming decades when it comes to C storage and release. The focus of studying C dynamics in these systems lies traditionally on living aboveground biomass. Belowground soil organic carbon stocks have received little attention and estimates of the size, controls and distribution of soil organic carbon stocks are highly uncertain.
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