High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests

In the tropics, variation in aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stocks is poorly understood in montane forests, and especially so for African nations where montane forests often represent ost of the extant evergreen old-growth forest cover. Although data are few, since primary productivity is temperature-mediated, and cloud immersion, wind and steep slopes constrain tree height, AGC is widely assumed to be lower in tropical montane than lowland forests. To test this, we assembled and analysed a new dataset (“AfriMont”) spanning 44 old-growth montane sites across 12 African countries, and compared findings with old-growth lowland forests in the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network. We find that montane sites have a mean AGC-stock of 149.4 Mg C ha-1 (95% CI 137.1-164.2), higher than montane and lowland forests in the Neotropics and comparable to lowland African forests. Notably, our results are substantially higher than the IPCC default values for these forests in Africa (89.3 Mg C ha-1). The distinctive structure of African lowland tropical forests (low stem density and high abundance of large trees) is mirrored in montane forests. This important carbon store is endangered, 800,000 ha of old-growth montane forest have been lost in the past 18 years in Africa. Our findings highlight the urgent need for the conservation of these biodiversity and carbon-rich forest ecosystems. We provide country-specific estimates to help guide forest conservation and reforestation interventions.

CUNI-SANCHEZ Aida;  SULLIVAN Martin;  PLATTS Phil;  LEWIS Simon L.;  MARCHANT Rob;  IMANI Gerard;  HUBAU Wannes;  ABIEM Iveren;  HADHIKARI Hari;  ALBRECHT Tomas;  ALTMAN Jan;  AMANI Christian;  ANESEYEE Abreham;  AVITABILE Valerio;  BANIN Lindsay;  BATUMIKE Rodrigue;  BAUTERS Marijn;  BEECKMAN Hans;  BEGNE Serge K.;  BENNETT Amy;  BITARIHO Robert;  BOECKX Pascal;  BOGAERT Jan;  BRÄUNING Achim;  BULONVU Franklin;  BURGESS Neil D.;  CALDERS Kim;  CHAPMAN Colin;  CHAPMAN Hazel;  COMISKEY James A.;  DE HAULLEVILLE Thales;  DECUYPER Mathieu;  DEVRIES Ben;  DOLEZAL Jiri;  DROISSART Vincent;  EWANGO Corneille;  FEYERA Senbeta;  GEBREKRISTOS Aster;  GEREAU Roy;  GILPIN Martin;  HAKIZIMANA Dismas;  HALL Jefferson;  HAMILTON Alan;  HARDY Oliver;  HART Terese;  HEISKANEN Janne;  HEMP Andreas;  HEROLD Martin;  HILTNER Ulrike;  HORAK David;  KAMDEM Marie-Noel;  KAYIJAMAHE Charles;  KENFACK David;  KINYANJUI Mwangi;  KLEIN Julia;  LISINGO Janvier;  LOVETT Jon;  LUNG Mark;  MAKANA Jean-Remy;  MALHI Yadvinder;  MARSHALL Andrew;  MARTIN Emanuel;  MITCHARD E. T. A.;  MOREL Alexandra;  MUKENDI John;  MULLER Tom;  NCHU Felix;  NYIRAMBANGUTSE Brigitte;  OKELLO Joseph;  PEH Kelvin S.H.;  PELLIKKA Petri;  PHILLIPS Oliver L.;  PLUMPTRE Andrew;  QIE Lan;  ROVERO Francesco;  SAINGE Moses;  SCHMITT Christine;  SEDLACEK Ondrej;  NGUTE Alain;  SHEIL Douglas;  SHELEME Demisse;  SIMEGN Tibebu;  SIMO-DROISSART Murielle;  SONKÉ Bonaventure;  SOROMESSA Teshome;  SUNDERLAND Terry;  SVOBODA Miroslav;  TAEDOUMG Hermann;  TAPLIN James;  TAYLOR David;  THOMAS Sean C.;  TIMBERLAKE Jonathan;  TUAGBEN Darlington;  UMUNAY Peter;  UZABAHO Eustrate;  VERBEECK H.;  VLEMINCKX Jason;  WALLIN Goran;  WHEELER Charlotte;  WILLCOCK Simon;  WOODS John;  ZIBERA Etienne; 

2021-09-29

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

JRC124799

0028-0836 (online),   

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03728-4,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC124799,   

10.1038/s41586-021-03728-4 (online),