7.17.2011

Weekend reading on the global environment

Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth
Estes et al.
Science 2011

Until recently, large apex consumers were ubiquitous across the globe and had been for millions of years. The loss of these animals may be humankind’s most pervasive influence on nature. Although such losses are widely viewed as an ethical and aesthetic problem, recent research reveals extensive cascading effects of their disappearance in marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. This empirical work supports long-standing theory about the role of top-down forcing in ecosystems but also highlights the unanticipated impacts of trophic cascades on processes as diverse as the dynamics of disease, wildfire, carbon sequestration, invasive species, and biogeochemical cycles. These findings emphasize the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to forecast the effects of trophic downgrading on process, function, and resilience in global ecosystems.

A Large and Persistent Carbon Sink in the World’s Forests
Pan et al.
Science 2011

The terrestrial carbon (C) sink has been large in recent decades, but its size and location remain uncertain. Using forest inventory data and long-term ecosystem C studies, we estimated a total forest sink of 2.4 ± 0.4 Pg C yr–1 globally for 1990–2007. We also estimated a source of 1.3 ± 0.7 Pg C yr–1 from tropical land-use change, consisting of a gross tropical deforestation emission of 2.9 ± 0.5 Pg C yr–1 partially compensated by a C sink in tropical forest regrowth of 1.6 ± 0.5 Pg C yr–1. Together, the fluxes comprise a net global forest sink of 1.1 ± 0.8 Pg C yr–1, with tropical estimates having the largest uncertainties. This forest sink is equivalent in magnitude to the terrestrial sink deduced from fossil fuel emissions and constraints of ocean and atmospheric sinks.

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