Carbon-centric conservation strategies such as the United Nation’s program to Reduce CO2 Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), are expected to simultaneously reduce net global CO2 emissions and mitigate species extinctions in regions with high endemism and diversity, such as the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot. Using data from the northern Andes, we show, however, that carbo...

Forest ecosystems make a greater contribution to carbon (C) stocks than any other terrestrial ecosystem. To understand the role of regional forest ecosystems in global climate change and carbon exchange, forest C stocks and their spatial distribution within the small (2300 km2) Liuxihe River basin in China were analyzed to determine the different contributors to the C stocks. Forest C stocks we...

This study examines the effects of thinning, age, and site quality on aboveground live tree carbon (ATC) (Mg/ha) stocks in upland hardwood forests of mixed-species composition in the southern Appalachian Mountains. In 1974, 80 plots ranging in size from 0.06 to 0.1 ha were established in even-aged, mixed-hardwood forests throughout the southern Appalachians. All trees 2.54 cm dbh within each pl...

Seagrass meadows are important sinks of organic carbon (Corg), in particular the near-surface Corg pool (? 15 cm) compared to deeper sediments. Near-surface is highly susceptible disturbance and loss atmosphere, however, inadequate accounting for variability this limits their uptake into frameworks. We therefore investigated spatial seagrass biomass across different geomorphic (estuary, lagoona...

Climatic conditions shift gradually over millennia, altering the rates at which carbon (C) is fixed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil. However, legacy impacts of past climates on current soil C stocks are poorly understood. We used data from more than 5000 terrestrial sites from three global and regional data sets to identify the relative importance of current and past (Last Glacial Ma...

Information on carbon stock and flux resulting from land-use changes in subtropical, semi-arid ecosystems are important to understand global carbon flux, yet little data is available. In the Tamaulipan thornscrub forests of northeastern Mexico, biomass components of standing vegetation were estimated from 56 quadrats (200 m2 each). Regional land-use changes and present forest cover, as well as ...

Large dead trees and other large forest detritus (collectively known as coarse woody debris, or CWD) play an important role in the global carbon cycle. In tropical systems, CWD stocks (necromass) have been found to constitute 5% to 33% of total biomass. Despite harboring the second largest rain forest on earth, in Central Africa there have been virtually no studies of coarse woody debris. In th...