International policy commitments highlight the importance of balancing agricultural development with conservation of tropical forest landscapes for climate change mitigation (UNFCCC, 2015), biodiversity conservation (CBD, 2010), and generally sustainable development trajectories (UN, 2015). The Amazon basin has over the last decades become one of the major producer and exporter regions of agricultural commodities (Macedo et al., 2012) at the expense of rampant deforestation (Nepstad et al., 2014; Soares-Filho et al., 2006).
Drivers and mechanisms of tree mortality in moist tropical forests
Drivers and mechanisms of tree mortality in moist tropical forests
Tree mortality rates appear to be increasing in moist tropical forests (MTFs) with significant carbon cycle consequences. Here, we review the state of knowledge regarding MTF tree mortality, create a conceptual framework with testable hypotheses regarding the...