Dataset Information

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO₂ signal.

ABSTRACT: Tropical ecosystems are large carbon stores that are vulnerable to climate change. The sparseness of ground-based measurements has precluded verification of these ecosystems being a net annual source (+ve) or sink (-ve) of atmospheric carbon. We show that two independent satellite data sets of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂), interpreted using independent models, are consistent with the land tropics being a net annual carbon emission of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] petagrams (PgC) in 2015 and 2016, respectively. These pan-tropical estimates reflect unexpectedly large net emissions from tropical Africa of [Formula: see text] PgC in 2015 and [Formula: see text] PgC in 2016. The largest carbon uptake is over the Congo basin, and the two loci of carbon emissions are over western Ethiopia and western tropical Africa, where there are large soil organic carbon stores and where there has been substantial land use change. These signals are present in the space-borne CO₂ record from 2009 onwards.

SUBMITTER: Palmer PI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6692308 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> signal.

Palmer Paul I PI Feng Liang L Baker David D Chevallier Frédéric F Bösch Hartmut H Somkuti Peter P

Nature communications 20190813 1

Tropical ecosystems are large carbon stores that are vulnerable to climate change. The sparseness of ground-based measurements has precluded verification of these ecosystems being a net annual source (+ve) or sink (-ve) of atmospheric carbon. We show that two independent satellite data sets of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), interpreted using independent models, are consistent with the land tropics being a net annual carbon emission of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] and [Fo ...[more]

PMID: 31409792

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Project description:Climate change is resulting in rapid poleward shifts in the geographical distribution of tropical and subtropical fish species. We can expect that such range shifts are likely to be limited by species-specific resource requirements, with temperate rocky reefs potentially lacking a range of settlement substrates or specific dietary components important in structuring the settlement and success of tropical and subtropical fish species. We examined the importance of resource use in structuring the distribution patterns of range shifting tropical and subtropical fishes, comparing this with resident temperate fish species within western Japan (Tosa Bay); the abundance, diversity, size class, functional structure and latitudinal range of reef fishes utilizing both coral reef and adjacent rocky reef habitat were quantified over a 2 year period (2008-2010). This region has undergone rapid poleward expansion of reef-building corals in response to increasing coastal water temperatures, and forms one of the global hotspots for rapid coastal changes. Despite the temperate latitude surveyed (33°N, 133°E) the fish assemblage was both numerically, and in terms of richness, dominated by tropical fishes. Such tropical faunal dominance was apparent within both coral, and rocky reef habitats. The size structure of the assemblage suggested that a relatively large number of tropical species are overwintering within both coral and rocky habitats, with a subset of these species being potentially reproductively active. The relatively high abundance and richness of tropical species with obligate associations with live coral resources (i.e., obligate corallivores) shows that this region holds the most well developed temperate-located tropical fish fauna globally. We argue that future tropicalisation of the fish fauna in western Japan, associated with increasing coral habitat development and reported increasing shifts in coastal water temperatures, may have considerable positive economic impacts to the local tourism industry and bring qualitative changes to both local and regional fisheries resources.

Dataset Information

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO₂ signal.

Publications

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> signal.

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Dataset Information

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO2 signal.

Publications

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> signal.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

Net carbon emissions from African biosphere dominate pan-tropical atmospheric CO₂ signal.