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FOREST RESILIENCE AFTER WINDTHROWS IN THE AMAZON.

Presentation Date
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 8:30am - Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 12:20pm
Location
Convention Center - Hall B-C (Poster Hall)
Authors

Author

Abstract

Amazon rainforest is a vast and complex ecosystem, the most striking feature is its resilience to disturbances. However, windthrow events, which are caused by strong winds that uproot and snapped trees are increasing frequency in the Amazon basin is raising concerns about the long-term resilience of the forest and additionally, can make the forest more susceptible to other disturbances, such as fire and deforestation. These events can have a significant impact on the structure and composition of the forest, and they are becoming more frequent as climate change alters weather patterns the extent of its resilience to windthrow events remains a subject of debate. Some studies have suggested that the forest is relatively structurally resilient to windthrow events, citing the ability of trees to quickly re-sprout, varying from ~20 (northwestern Amazon) to ~40 years (central Amazon). Studies have shown that pioneer species, those that thrive in disturbed areas, contribute significantly to the forest's regeneration following windthrow events. These fast-growing species rapidly colonise open spaces, providing shade and shelter for the establishment of more shade-tolerant species, producing different spectral responses that can be measured by near-infrared spectrums through satellite images. Further research is needed to better understand the resilience of the Amazon rainforest to windthrow events; thus, this research is focus on identifying the variety of time span of the forest's resilience using long time series (38 years) of Landsat near-infrared (NIR) band combined with a novel version of the windthrows inventory database (WInD V1) across the Amazon. Our results suggest a recovery time of ~30 years after windthrow. However, in some cases, NIR values do not recover to old-growth forest values.

Category
Biogeosciences
Funding Program Area(s)