Resistance of African tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2003169118
• Publication Date: 2021-05-17T20:35:13Z
• Authors: Amy C. Bennett; Greta C. Dargie; Aida Cuni-Sanchez; John Tshibamba Mu...; Wannes Hubau; Jacques M. Mukinzi; Oliver L. Phillips; Yadvinder Malhi; Martin J. P. Sull...; Declan L. M. Cooper; Stephen Adu-Bredu; Kofi Affum-Baffoe; Christian A. Amani; Lindsay F. Banin; Hans Beeckman; Serge K. Begne; Yannick E. Bocko; Pascal Boeckx; Jan Bogaert; Terry Brncic; Eric Chezeaux; Connie J. Clark; Armandu K. Daniels; Thales de Haullev...; Marie-Noël Djuiko...; Jean-Louis Doucet; Fidèle Evouna Ondo; Corneille E. N. E...; Ted R. Feldpausch; Ernest G. Foli; Christelle Gonmadje; Jefferson S. Hall; Olivier J. Hardy; David J. Harris; Suspense A. Ifo; Kathryn J. Jeffery; Elizabeth Kearsley; Miguel Leal; Aurora Levesley; Jean-Remy Makana; Faustin Mbayu Lukasu; Vincent P. Medjibe; Vianet Mihindu; Sam Moore; Natacha Nssi Begone; Georgia C. Pickav...; John R. Poulsen; Jan Reitsma; Bonaventure Sonké; Terry C. H. Sunde...; Hermann Taedoumg; Joey Talbot; Darlington S. Tua...; Peter M. Umunay; Hans Verbeeck; Jason Vleminckx; Lee J. T. White; Hannsjoerg Woell; John T. Woods; Lise Zemagho; Simon L. Lewis
• Keywords: Agriculture and Food Sciences; Tropical savanna climate; 0301 basic medicine; Atmospheric Science; Hot Temperature; 550; DIVERSITY; Tropical climate; drought; Precipitation; 551; Estimation of Forest Biomass and Carbon Stocks; BIOMASS; Trees; Tropical forest; CARBON STORAGE; Climate change; DROUGHT; tropical forests; El Nino-Southern Oscillation; Climatology; Global and Planetary Change; Multidisciplinary; PRODUCTIVITY; Geography; Ecology; Causes and Impacts of Climate Change Over Millennia; Physics; Geology; Biological Sciences; Condensed matter physics; 6. Clean water; Droughts; Anomaly (physics); Earth and Planetary Sciences; Physical Sciences; GROWTH; TREES; CO2; Seasons; ENSO; Biologie; SOIL RESPIRATION; El Nino; Rainforest; Ecosystem Resilience; Climate Change; MODELS; El Niño Southern Oscillation; 333; Environmental science; Carbon Cycle; 03 medical and health sciences; Meteorology; carbon cycle; Humans; El Niño; Biology; Ecosystem; Nature and Landscape Conservation; 580; Tropical Climate; Global Forest Drought Response and Climate Change; Tropics; temperature; FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences; 15. Life on land; 13. Climate action; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; cavelab; biodiversity conservation; Tropical monsoon climate

Significance The responses of tropical forests to heat and drought are critical uncertainties in predicting the future impacts of climate change. The 2015–2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) resulted in unprecedented heat and low precipitation across the tropics, including in the very poorly studied African tropical forest region. We assess African forest ENSO responses using on-the-ground measurements. Across 100 long-term plots, record high temperatures did not significantly reduce carbon gains from tree growth or significantly increase carbon losses from tree mortality. Overall, despite the climate anomaly, forests continued to gain live biomass over the ENSO period. Our analyses, while limited to African tropical forests, suggest that they may be more resistant to climate extremes than Amazonian and Asian forests.