Restoration 
Plantations and tree crop commodities 
Enhanced nutrition and food security 
Biodiversity, safeguarding and conservation 
Nationally determined contributions 
Bioenergy and biomaterials 
Blue carbon and peatlands 
Climate change adaptation 
Landscape governance 
Gender 
Silvopastoral systems 
Market-based agroforestry-forestry 
Farm-forest policy interface 
Agroecology 
Livelihood trajectory modelling and assessment 
Inclusive finance and business models 
Innovating finance for sustainable landscapes 
Public and private commitments to zero deforestation 
Orphan tree crops 
Effectiveness of approaches to sustainable supply 
Quality of FTA research for development 
Sentinel landscapes 
Foresight 
Seeds and seedlings delivery systems 
Smallholder tree-crop commodities 
Quantifying carbon dynamics in forests is critical for understanding their role in long-term climate regulation. Yet little is known about tree longevity in tropical forests, a factor that is vital for estimating carbon persistence. Here we calculate mean carbon age (the period that carbon is fixed in trees7) in different strata of African tropical forests using (1) growth-ring records with a unique timestamp accurately demarcating 66 years of growth in one site and (2) measurements of diameter increments from the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network (23 sites). We find that in spite of their much smaller size, in understory trees mean carbon age (74 years) is greater than in sub-canopy (54 years) and canopy (57 years) trees and similar to carbon age in emergent trees (66 years). The remarkable carbon longevity in the understory results from slow and aperiodic growth as an adaptation to limited resource availability. Our analysis also reveals that while the understory represents a small share (11%) of the carbon stock, it contributes disproportionally to the forest carbon sink (20%). We conclude that accounting for the diversity of carbon age and carbon sequestration among different forest strata is critical for effective conservation management and for accurate modelling of carbon cycling.
Authors:
Hubau, W.; De Mil, T.; Van den Bulcke, J.; Phillips, O.L.; Angoboy Ilondea, B.; Van Acker, J.; Sullivan, M.J.P.; Nsenga, L.; Toirambe, B.; Couralet, C.; Banin, L.F.; Begne, S.K.; Baker, T.R.; Bourland, N.; Chezeaux, E.; Clark, C.J.; Collins, M.; Comiskey, J.A.; Cuni-Sanchez, A.; Deklerck, V.; Dierickx, S.; Doucet, J.-L.; Ewango, C.E.N.; Feldpausch, T.R.; Gilpin, M.; Gonmadje, C.; Hall, J.S.; Harris, D.j.; Hardy, O.J.; Kamdem, M.-N.D.; Kasongo Yakusu, E.; Lopez-Gonzalez, G.; Makana, J.-R.; Malhi, Y.; Mbayu, F.M.; Moore, S.; Mukinzi, J.; Pickavance, G.; Poulsen, J.R.; Reitsma, J.; Rousseau, M.; Sonké, B.; Sunderland, T.C.H.; Taedoumg, H.; Talbot, J.; Tshibamba Mukendi, J.; Umunay, P.M.; Vleminckx, J.; White, L.J.T.; Zemagho, L.; Lewis, S.L.; Beeckman, H.
Subjects:
forest ecology, forestry, plant development, plant ecology, tropical forests
Publication type:
ISI, Letter, Publication
Year:
2019
ISSN:
2055-0278
