Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 January 1988:
Vol. 239. no. 4835, pp. 42 - 47
DOI: 10.1126/science.239.4835.42
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Tropical Forests and the Global Carbon Cycle

R. P. DETWILER 1 and CHARLES A. S. HALL 2

1 Associate at the law firm of Covington & Burling, P.O. Box 7566, Washington, DC 20044.
2 Associate professor at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, and Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Polson, MT 59860.

New data on the three major determinants of the carbon release from tropical forest clearing are used in a computer model that simulates land use change and its effects on the carbon content of vegetation and soil in order to calculate the net flux of carbon dioxide between tropical ecosystems and the atmosphere. The model also permits testing the sensitivity of the calculated flux to uncertainties in these data. The tropics were a net source of at least 0.4 x 1015 grams but not more than 1.6 x 1015 grams of carbon in 1980, considerably less than previous estimates. Decreases in soil organic matter were responsible for 0.1 x 1015 to 0.3 x 1015 grams of the release, while the burning and decay of cleared vegetation accounted for 0.3 x 1015 to 1.3 x 1015 grams. These estimates are lower than many previous ones because lower biomass estimates and slightly lower land clearing rates were used and because ecosystem recovery processes were included. These new estimates of the biotic release allow for the possibility of a balanced global budget given the large remaining uncertainties in the marine, terrestrial, and fossil fuel components of the carbon cycle.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Global Allocation Rules for Patterns of Biomass Partitioning in Seed Plants.
B. J. Enquist and K. J. Niklas (2002)
Science 295, 1517-1520
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon Pools and Flux of Global Forest Ecosystems.
R. K. Dixon, R. K. Dixon, A. M. Solomon, S. Brown, R. A. Houghton, M. C. Trexier, and J. Wisniewski (1994)
Science 263, 185-190
   Abstract »    PDF »
Biomass and Carbon Budget of European Forests, 1971 to 1990.
P. E. Kauppi, K. Mielikainen, and K. Kuusela (1992)
Science 256, 70-74
   Abstract »    PDF »
Neotropical Mammals and the Myth of Amazonian Biodiversity.
M. A. MARES (1992)
Science 255, 976-979
   Abstract »    PDF »
Observational Contrains on the Global Atmospheric Co2 Budget.
P. P. Tans, I. Y. Fung, and T. Takahashi (1990)
Science 247, 1431-1438
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Effects of Enriched Carbon Dioxide Atmospheres on Plant--Insect Herbivore Interactions.
E. D. FAJER, M. D. BOWERS, and F. A. BAZZAZ (1989)
Science 243, 1198-1200
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbon flows in the biosphere: present and future.
D. O. HALL (1989)
Journal of the Geological Society 146, 175-181
   Abstract »    PDF »
Response:The Global Carbon Cycle.
R. P. DETWILER and C. A. S. HALL (1988)
Science 241, 1738-1739
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)