Luzmila Arroyo
A5107342025- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Forest ecology and management
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Plant and animal studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications
- Plant Diversity and Evolution
- Forest Management and Policy
- Tree-ring climate responses
- Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Plant responses to elevated CO2
- Higher Education Teaching and Evaluation
- Indigenous Health and Education
- Leaf Properties and Growth Measurement
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Education in Rural Contexts
Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University
2015-2025
Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado
2016-2025
Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios
2022-2023
Pondicherry University
2018
University of Edinburgh
2016
University of Oxford
2009-2014
Missouri Botanical Garden
2002-2010
University of Leeds
2009
National Institute of Amazonian Research
2009
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
2009
Amazon forests are a key but poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle. If, as anticipated, they dry this century, might accelerate climate change through losses and changed surface energy balances. We used records from multiple long-term monitoring plots across Amazonia to assess forest responses intense 2005 drought, possible analog future events. Affected lost biomass, reversing large sink, with greatest impacts observed where season was unusually intense. Relative pre-2005...
The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted study its tree communities to local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on commonness, rarity, richness lowland species across entire Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 plots all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 species, which just 227 (1.4%) account for half trees. Most these are habitat specialists only dominant one or two regions basin. We discuss some...
Abstract Uncertainty in biomass estimates is one of the greatest limitations to models carbon flux tropical forests. Previous comparisons field‐based aboveground (AGB) trees greater than 10 cm diameter within Amazonia have been limited by paucity data for western Amazon forests, and use site‐specific methods estimate from inventory data. In addition, role regional variation stand‐level wood specific gravity has not previously considered. Using 56 mature forest plots across Amazonia, we...
Abstract. Forest structure and dynamics vary across the Amazon Basin in an east-west gradient coincident with variations soil fertility geology. This has resulted hypothesis that may play important role explaining Basin-wide forest biomass, growth stem turnover rates. Soil samples were collected a total of 59 different plots analysed for exchangeable cations, carbon, nitrogen pH, several phosphorus fractions likely plant availability also quantified. Physical properties additionally examined...
The extent to which pre-Columbian societies altered Amazonian landscapes is hotly debated. We performed a basin-wide analysis of impacts on forests by overlaying known archaeological sites in Amazonia with the distributions and abundances 85 woody species domesticated peoples. Domesticated are five times more likely than nondomesticated be hyperdominant. Across basin, relative abundance richness increase around sites. In southwestern eastern Amazonia, distance strongly influences species....
Featured paper: See Editorial p553
A previous study by Phillips et al . of changes in the biomass permanent sample plots Amazonian forests was used to infer presence a regional carbon sink. However, these results generated vigorous debate about sampling and methodological issues. Therefore we present new analysis change old–growth forest using updated inventory data. We find that across 59 sites, above–ground dry trees are more than 10 cm diameter (AGB) has increased since plot establishment 1.22 ± 0.43 Mg per hectare year...
Previous work has shown that tree turnover, biomass and large liana densities have increased in mature tropical forest plots the late twentieth century. These results point to a concerted shift ecological processes may already be having significant impacts on terrestrial carbon stocks, fluxes biodiversity. However, findings proved controversial, partly because rather limited number of permanent been monitored for short periods. The aim this paper is characterize regional–scale patterns ‘tree...
Abstract. Aboveground tropical tree biomass and carbon storage estimates commonly ignore height (H). We estimate the effect of incorporating H on tropics-wide forest in 327 plots across four continents using 42 656 diameter measurements harvested trees from 20 sites to answer following questions: 1. What is best H-model form geographic unit include models minimise site-level uncertainty destructive biomass? 2. To what extent does including derived (1) reduce all plots? 3. accounting for have...
Abstract Most of the planet's diversity is concentrated in tropics, which includes many regions undergoing rapid climate change. Yet, while climate‐induced biodiversity changes are widely documented elsewhere, few studies have addressed this issue for lowland tropical ecosystems. Here we investigate whether floristic and functional composition intact Amazonian forests been changing by evaluating records from 106 long‐term inventory plots spanning 30 years. We analyse three traits that...
Abstract. We analysed 1040 individual trees, located in 62 plots across the Amazon Basin for leaf mass per unit area (MA), foliar carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) and level concentrations of C, N, P, Ca, Mg, K Al. All trees were identified to species with dataset containing 58 families, 236 genera 508 species, distributed a wide range soil types precipitation regimes. Some characteristics such as MA, [C], [N] [Mg] emerge highly constrained by taxonomic affiliation tree but others [P], [K],...
The accurate mapping of forest carbon stocks is essential for understanding the global cycle, assessing emissions from deforestation, and rational land-use planning. Remote sensing (RS) currently key tool this purpose, but RS does not estimate vegetation biomass directly, thus may miss significant spatial variations in structure. We test stated accuracy pantropical maps using a large independent field dataset.Tropical forests Amazon basin. permanent archive plot data can be accessed at:...
Thermal sensitivity of tropical trees A key uncertainty in climate change models is the thermal forests and how this value might influence carbon fluxes. Sullivan et al. measured stocks fluxes permanent forest plots distributed globally. This synthesis plot networks across climatic biogeographic gradients shows that dominated by high daytime temperatures. extreme condition depresses growth rates shortens time resides ecosystem killing under hot, dry conditions. The effect temperature worse...
Abstract While Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, the abundance of trees is skewed strongly towards relatively few ‘hyperdominant’ species. In addition to their diversity, a key component global carbon cycle, assimilating and storing more than any other ecosystem on Earth. Here we ask, using unique data set 530 forest plots, if functions producing woody concentrated in small number tree species, whether most abundant species also dominate cycling, dominant characterized by...
Abstract The Amazon Basin has experienced more variable climate over the last decade, with a severe and widespread drought in 2005 causing large basin‐wide losses of biomass. A similar climatological magnitude occurred again 2010; however, there been no ground‐based evaluation effects on vegetation. We examine to what extent 2010 affected forest dynamics using observations mortality growth from an extensive plot network. find that during interval, forests did not gain biomass (net change:...
Within the tropics, species richness of tree communities is strongly and positively associated with precipitation. Previous research has suggested that this macroecological pattern driven by negative effect water‐stress on physiological processes most species. This implies range limits taxa are defined their ability to occur under dry conditions, thus in terms distributions predicts a nested distribution from wet areas. However, ‘dry‐tolerance’ hypothesis yet be adequately tested at large...
Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare not often incorporated into land-use policy conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical projected deforestation to show that at least 36% up 57% all tree likely qualify as globally threatened under International Union Conservation Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number on Earth by 22%. trends observed in Amazonia apply trees throughout...
Abstract Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system 1 . Remote-sensing estimates to quantify losses from global forests 2–5 characterized by considerable uncertainty we lack comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation benchmark these estimates. Here combine several 6 satellite-derived approaches 2,7,8 evaluate forest potential outside agricultural urban lands. Despite regional variation,...
Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting spread invasive species1,2. Tree in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they potential to transform economies3,4. Here, leveraging global tree databases5-7, we explore how phylogenetic functional diversity communities, human pressure environment influence establishment species subsequent invasion severity. We find that anthropogenic factors are key predicting...
Abstract The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it unclear which forests are the most vulnerable extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may protected by prior adaptation, or more because they operate closer physiological limits. Here we report that in South American climates experienced greatest impacts of 2015–2016 El Niño, indicating greater vulnerability temperatures drought. long-term, ground-measured tree-by-tree responses 123...
Trees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response environmental change, as very little is known about species. A focus on common may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns using inventory data 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations
Abstract. The Amazon basin is likely to be increasingly affected by environmental changes: higher temperatures, changes in precipitation, CO 2 fertilization and habitat fragmentation. To examine the important ecological biogeochemical consequences of these changes, we are developing an international network, RAINFOR, which aims monitor forest biomass dynamics across Amazonia a co‐ordinated fashion order understand their relationship soil climate. network will focus on sample plots...
Abstract Understanding the processes that determine above‐ground biomass ( AGB ) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and designing evaluating dynamic global vegetation models DGVM s). determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary NPP )] rate at which carbon lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whether two direct metrics mortality (the absolute loss stem mortality) and/or , control variation among 167...