Species extinction versus carbon loss by deforestation in mountainous neotropical forests

Alvaro Duque, Alvaro Idarraga, Edersson Cabrera, Ricardo Callejas, Juan D. Len

Introduction

Myers et al. 2000

Introduction

Pim and Raven 2000

Introduction

The united Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change program for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) (UNFCCC, 2009)

Introduction

Venter et al. 2009

What would we expect in mountain ecosystems?

+

altitude (m asl)
AGB (Mg ha-1) + number of species

What would we expect in mountain ecosystems?

+

AGB (Mg ha-1)

number of species +

What would we expect in mountain ecosystems?

+

altitude (m asl)
AGB (Mg ha-1) + number of species

What would we expect in mountain ecosystems?

+

AGB (Mg ha-1)

number of species +

Main Goal
Here we aim to estimate the pattern of species extinction between 2010 and 2100 of six different growth forms of vascular plant species in relation to carbon release by deforestation in the province of Antioquia, northwest Colombia.

Study area

Floristic data
Growth form Trees and shrubs Epiphytes Herbs Lowlands (0-1500 masl) 1598 363 952 Highlands (1500-4000 masl) 731 840 963 Number of shared species 548 225 497 Non elevation data 4 22 6 Non elevation nor growth form data 0 0 0 Total 2881 1450 2418

Lianas
Saprophytes Parasites Total

507
9 28 3457 63 38 48 8 0 4 0 161

172
5 36 2747 67 194 73 10 0 5 0 349

137
1 16 1424 27 17 8 5 0 1 1 59

4
0 0 36 1 9 1 0 0 0 0 11

0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

820
15 80 7664 158 258 130 23 0 10 1 580

ENDEMIC Trees and shrubs

Epiphytes Herbs Lianas Saprophytes Parasites Non-data Total

Deforestation
1990 - 2000 2000 - 2005 2005 - 2010

1.3%

0.7%

1.5%

Mean deforestation = 1.2 0.3%

AGB estimation

Td: Log(AGB) = -2.217+2.081*log(DBH)+0.587*log(H)+1.092*log() Tm: Log(AGB) = -2.919+2.081*log(DBH) 0.587*log(H)+0.391*log() Tw: Log(AGB) = -2.857+2.081*log(DBH)+0.587*log(H)+0.453*log() PMw & PMm: Log(AGB) = -2.221+2.081*log(DBH)+0.587*log(H)+1.089*log() LMw: Log(AGB) = -3.670+2.081*log(DBH)+0.587*log(H)-0.360*log()

Species loss
The principles of island ecology allow converting habitat loss in species loss by using the species Area power function S = cAz, where S is the number of species, A is area and c and z are constants, as follows:
S0 / Sn = (A0 / An)z , and S0 = Sn (A0 / An)z or Sn = S0 (An / A0)z , Where: S0 and A0 are the number of species and the area at time cero, and Sn and An are the number of species and the are at time n. Total (locally and globally) species loss (SL) can be calculated as SL = S0 S0 (An / A0)z.

Tree AGB-species richness patterns along the altitudinal gradient

Extinct species

Extinct species by growth form

Results
We expected 2.3 species to become extinct with each Mt of forest carbon loss from the region by deforestation. In lowlands for each Mt of carbon, 0.9 species will become extinct. In highlands, 7.1 species are expected to become extinct for each Mt of forest carbon loss. Consequently, in the highlands, the rate of species extinction for each Mt of carbon loss by deforestation will be nearly eight times greater than in lowlands.

Results
In the entire region, for each Mt of carbon loss, in average we expected 1.03 epiphyte species to become extinct, which is almost twice the expected extinction rate of trees and shrubs (0.63), and herbs (0.52). In the lowlands, for each Mt of carbon loss, we expected the number of extinct species to be of 0.20 for epiphytes, 0.48 for trees and shrubs, and 0.26 for herbs. In the highlands, for each Mt of carbon loss by deforestation, we expected the number of extinct species to be of 3.93 for epiphytes, 1.90 for trees and shrubs, and 1.48 for herb species. Thus, the estimated extinction rate of epiphytes per each Mt of carbon loss in the highlands would be of 1965% greater than in lowlands.

Conclussion
Our study identifies problems associated with existing assumptions about lower diversity in high mountains. A non-critical acceptance of these assumptions could indirectly promote the displacement of deforestation to high diversity habitats due to the almost purecarbon strategy managed by the REDD+ program. Understanding the role played by diversity (as a whole) in regulating ecosystem functioning should be a research priority in order to provide guidelines for how to integrate biodiversity safeguards into the REDD+ Program. Given that a major rationale for curbing anthropogenic mediated global climate change is to preserve and maintain species biodiversity, programs such as REDD+ must explicitly incorporate better measures of species biodiversity into policies and practices.

Agradecimientos

A todos ustedes!