title: Human and natural controls of the variation in aboveground tree biomass in African dry tropical forests.
abstract: Understanding the anthropogenic and natural controls that affect the patterns, distribution, and dynamics of terrestrial carbon is crucial to meeting climate change mitigation objectives. We assessed the human and natural controls over aboveground tree biomass density in African dry tropical forests, using Zambia's first nationwide forest inventory. We identified predictors that best explain the variation in biomass density, contrasted anthropogenic and natural sites at different spatial scales, and compared sites with different stand structure characteristics and species composition. In addition, we evaluated the effects of different management and conservation practices on biomass density. Variation in biomass density was mostly determined by biotic processes, linked with both species richness and dominance (evenness), and to a lesser extent, by land use, environmental controls, and spatial structure. Biomass density was negatively associated with tree species evenness and positively associated with species richness for both natural and human-modified sites. Human influence variables (including distance to roads, distance to town, fire occurrence, and the population on site) did not explain substantial variation in biomass density in comparison to biodiversity variables. The relationship of human activities to biomass density in managed sites appears to be mediated by effects on species diversity and stand structure characteristics, with lower values in human-modified sites for all metrics tested. Small contrasts in carbon density between human-modified and natural forest sites signal the potential to maintain carbon in the landscape inside but also outside forestlands in this region. Biodiversity is positively related to biomass density in both human and natural sites, demonstrating potential synergies between biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. This is the first evidence of positive outcomes of protected areas and participatory forest management on carbon storage at national scale in Zambia. This research shows that understanding controls over biomass density can provide policy relevant inputs for carbon management and on ecological processes affecting carbon storage.
authors.affiliation: Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, Massachusetts, 02540-1644, USA.
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pelletier
authors.affiliation: Zambia Forestry Department, Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 50042, Lusaka, Zambia.
authors.forename: Abel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siampale
authors.affiliation: Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Legendre
authors.affiliation: School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86011, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jantz
authors.affiliation: School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86011, USA.
authors.forename: Nadine T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Laporte
authors.affiliation: Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, Massachusetts, 02540-1644, USA.|School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86011, USA.
authors.forename: Scott J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Goetz
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D004777:Environment; D065928:Forests; D006802:Human Activities; D014197:Trees / Q000502:physiology*; D015024:Zambia
keywords: Miombo woodlands; aboveground biomass; biodiversity and ecosystem function; carbon management and conservation; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation; spatial variability of biomass; variation partitioning