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. 2017 Aug 30;3(8):e1701284.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1701284. eCollection 2017 Aug.

The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical savanna

Rodolfo C R Abreu  1 , William A Hoffmann  1 , Heraldo L Vasconcelos  2 , Natashi A Pilon  3   4 , Davi R Rossatto  5 , Giselda Durigan  3
Affiliations

The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical savanna

Rodolfo C R Abreu et al. Sci Adv. .

Abstract

Tropical savannas have been increasingly viewed as an opportunity for carbon sequestration through fire suppression and afforestation, but insufficient attention has been given to the consequences for biodiversity. To evaluate the biodiversity costs of increasing carbon sequestration, we quantified changes in ecosystem carbon stocks and the associated changes in communities of plants and ants resulting from fire suppression in savannas of the Brazilian Cerrado, a global biodiversity hotspot. Fire suppression resulted in increased carbon stocks of 1.2 Mg ha-1 year-1 since 1986 but was associated with acute species loss. In sites fully encroached by forest, plant species richness declined by 27%, and ant richness declined by 35%. Richness of savanna specialists, the species most at risk of local extinction due to forest encroachment, declined by 67% for plants and 86% for ants. This loss highlights the important role of fire in maintaining biodiversity in tropical savannas, a role that is not reflected in current policies of fire suppression throughout the Brazilian Cerrado. In tropical grasslands and savannas throughout the tropics, carbon mitigation programs that promote forest cover cannot be assumed to provide net benefits for conservation.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Historical changes in EVI over 30 years of fire suppression.
Historical changes in the EVI over 30 years of fire suppression, as determined by Landsat images. Each study plot is denoted by a different symbol and a separate regression line.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Carbon stocks and species richness due to forest encroachment.
Changes in (A) carbon stocks, (B) plant species richness, and (C) ant species richness over gradients of forest encroachment. All variables were significantly correlated with basal area (P < 0.0001) except for the number of forest and generalist ants (P = 0.42).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Carbon-biodiversity trade-offs across savanna-forest transitions.
Carbon-biodiversity trade-offs across savanna-forest transitions. Relationships between ecosystem carbon stocks and species richness of (A) plants and (B) ants. All relationships are statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Fitted relationships: all plants, y = 245.88x−0.271; savanna plants, y = 1953.4x−0.975; all ants, y = 198.68x−0.426; savanna ants, y = 2258.8x−1.380.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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