Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience
| dc.contributor.author | Zemp, D. C. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Schleussner, C.-F. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Barbosa, H. M. J. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Rammig, A. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-06-28T18:10:04Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-06-28T18:10:04Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2017-06-08 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Through vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks, rainfall reductions as a result of Amazon deforestation could reduce the resilience on the remaining forest to perturbations and potentially lead to large-scale Amazon forest loss. We track observation-based water fluxes from sources (evapotranspiration) to sinks (rainfall) to assess the effect of deforestation on continental rainfall. By studying 21st century deforestation scenarios, we show that deforestation can reduce dry season rainfall by up to 20% far from the deforested area, namely, over the western Amazon basin and the La Plata basin. As a consequence, forest resilience is systematically eroded in the southwestern region covering a quarter of the current Amazon forest. Our findings suggest that the climatological effects of deforestation can lead to permanent forest loss in this region. We identify hot spot regions where forest loss should be avoided to maintain the ecological integrity of the Amazon forest. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This paper was developed withinthe scope of the IRTG 1740/FAPESP2011/50151-0, funded by theDFG/FAPESP. D.C.Z. also acknowledgesthe ?nancial support from EU-FP7ROBIN project under grant agreement283093, A.R. from the EU-FP7AMAZALERT project under grantagreement 282664 and from theHelmholtz Alliance “Remote Sensingand Earth System Dynamics,” andH.M.J.B. from FAPESP throughgrant 13/50510-5. C.-F.S. wassupported by the German FederalMinistry for the Environment, NatureConservation and Nuclear Safety(16_II_148_Global_A_IMPACT).The moisture recycling networks andthe computer code of the modelsdeveloped in this study are availablefrom the corresponding author, D.C.Z,upon reasonable request. Extendedlists of data and acknowledgmentsare available in the supportinginformation (Texts S4 and S5). | |
| dc.description.uri | https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL072955 | |
| dc.format.extent | 9 pages | |
| dc.genre | journal articles | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.13016/m2f6sn-ssi7 | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Zemp, D. C., C.-F. Schleussner, H. M. J. Barbosa, and A. Rammig. “Deforestation Effects on Amazon Forest Resilience.” Geophysical Research Letters 44, no. 12 (2017): 6182–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072955. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072955 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11603/34770 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | AGU | |
| dc.relation.isAvailableAt | The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Physics Department | |
| dc.rights | ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved | |
| dc.subject | Amazon | |
| dc.subject | deforestation | |
| dc.subject | forest resilience | |
| dc.subject | moisture recycling | |
| dc.subject | tipping point | |
| dc.subject | vegetation-climate interactions | |
| dc.title | Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience | |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dcterms.creator | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4027-1855 |