Title
Carbon and Beyond: The Biogeochemistry of Climate in a Rapidly Changing Amazon
Date Issued
11 March 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Covey K.
Soper F.
Pangala S.
Bernardino A.
Pagliaro Z.
Basso L.
Cassol H.
Fearnside P.
Navarrete D.
Sawakuchi H.
Lovejoy T.
Marengo J.
Peres C.A.
Baillie J.
Bernasconi P.
Camargo J.
Freitas C.
Hoffman B.
Nardoto G.B.
Nobre I.
Mayorga J.
Mesquita R.
Pavan S.
Pinto F.
Rocha F.
de Assis Mello R.
Thuault A.
Bahl A.A.
Elmore A.
Publisher(s)
Frontiers Media S.A.
Abstract
The Amazon Basin is at the center of an intensifying discourse about deforestation, land-use, and global change. To date, climate research in the Basin has overwhelmingly focused on the cycling and storage of carbon (C) and its implications for global climate. Missing, however, is a more comprehensive consideration of other significant biophysical climate feedbacks [i.e., CH4, N2O, black carbon, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), aerosols, evapotranspiration, and albedo] and their dynamic responses to both localized (fire, land-use change, infrastructure development, and storms) and global (warming, drying, and some related to El Niño or to warming in the tropical Atlantic) changes. Here, we synthesize the current understanding of (1) sources and fluxes of all major forcing agents, (2) the demonstrated or expected impact of global and local changes on each agent, and (3) the nature, extent, and drivers of anthropogenic change in the Basin. We highlight the large uncertainty in flux magnitude and responses, and their corresponding direct and indirect effects on the regional and global climate system. Despite uncertainty in their responses to change, we conclude that current warming from non-CO2 agents (especially CH4 and N2O) in the Amazon Basin largely offsets—and most likely exceeds—the climate service provided by atmospheric CO2 uptake. We also find that the majority of anthropogenic impacts act to increase the radiative forcing potential of the Basin. Given the large contribution of less-recognized agents (e.g., Amazonian trees alone emit ~3.5% of all global CH4), a continuing focus on a single metric (i.e., C uptake and storage) is incompatible with genuine efforts to understand and manage the biogeochemistry of climate in a rapidly changing Amazon Basin.
Volume
4
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias del medio ambiente
Geoquímica, Geofísica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85106437642
Source
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
ISSN of the container
2624893X
Sponsor(s)
This project was funded as part of the National Geographic Society and Rolex partnership to support a Perpetual Planet. This synthesis began as a multi-day convening hosted by the National Geographic Society in Manaus, Brazil, in 2019, for which we acknowledge the advice of Teagan Blaine. KC and ZP acknowledge generous support from the Deborah and Dexter Senft. ABe was funded by a National Geographic Society research grant. LB, HC, and JMay were funded by FAPESP Grants 2018/14006-4, 2018/14423-4, and 2014/50848-9, respectively. JMay was funded by the National Coordination for High Level Education and Training (CAPES) Grant 88887.136402-00INCT and the National Institute of Science and Technology for Climate Change Phase 2 (CNPq Grant 465501/2014-1). PF was funded by CNPq (311103/2015-4, 429795/2016-5), FAPEAM (708565), INPA (PRJ15.125), and Rede Clima (INPE) FINEP (01.13.0353-00). The author team is grateful for the contribution of two reviewers whose thoughtful comments and suggestions considerably improved the manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus