@Article{BerenguerGFACCDOVB:2015:DeCoFi,
               author = "Berenguer, Erika and Gardner, Toby A. and Ferreira, Joice and 
                         Arag{\~a}o, Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de and Camargo, Plinio 
                         B. and Cerri, Carlos E. and Durigan, Mariana and Oliveira Junior, 
                         Raimundo C. and Vieira, Ima C. G. and Barlow, Jos",
          affiliation = "{University of Lancaster} and {Stockholm Environmental Institute} 
                         and {International Institute of Sustainability} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Universidade de 
                         S{\~a}o Paulo (USP)} and {Universidade de S{\~a}o Paulo (USP)} 
                         and {Universidade de S{\~a}o Paulo (USP)} and {Embrapa Amazonia 
                         Oriental} and {Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi} and {University of 
                         Lancaster}",
                title = "Developing cost-effective field assessments of carbon stocks in 
                         human-modified tropical forests",
              journal = "PLoS One",
                 year = "2015",
               volume = "10",
               number = "8",
                pages = "e0133139",
                month = "Aug.",
             abstract = "Across the tropics, there is a growing financial investment in 
                         activities that aim to reduce emissions from deforestation and 
                         forest degradation, such as REDD+. However, most tropical 
                         countries lack on-the-ground capacity to conduct reliable and 
                         replicable assessments of forest carbon stocks, undermining their 
                         ability to secure long-term carbon finance for forest conservation 
                         programs. Clear guidance on how to reduce the monetary and time 
                         costs of field assessments of forest carbon can help tropical 
                         countries to overcome this capacity gap. Here we provide such 
                         guidance for cost-effective one-off field assessments of forest 
                         carbon stocks. We sampled a total of eight components from four 
                         different carbon pools (i.e. aboveground, dead wood, litter and 
                         soil) in 224 study plots distributed across two regions of eastern 
                         Amazon. For each component we estimated survey costs, contribution 
                         to total forest carbon stocks and sensitivity to disturbance. 
                         Sampling costs varied thirty-one-fold between the most expensive 
                         component, soil, and the least, leaf litter. Large live stems (>= 
                         10 cm DBH), which represented only 15% of the overall sampling 
                         costs, was by far the most important component to be assessed, as 
                         it stores the largest amount of carbon and is highly sensitive to 
                         disturbance. If large stems are not taxonomically identified, 
                         costs can be reduced by a further 51%, while incurring an error in 
                         aboveground carbon estimates of only 5% in primary forests, but 
                         31% in secondary forests. For rapid assessments, necessary to help 
                         prioritize locations for carbon-conservation activities, sampling 
                         of stems >= 20cm DBH without taxonomic identification can predict 
                         with confidence (R-2 = 0.85) whether an area is relatively 
                         carbon-rich or carbon-poor-an approach that is 74% cheaper than 
                         sampling and identifying all the stems >= 10cm DBH. We use these 
                         results to evaluate the reliability of forest carbon stock 
                         estimates provided by the IPCC and FAO when applied to 
                         human-modified forests, and to highlight areas where cost savings 
                         in carbon stock assessments could be most easily made.",
                  doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0133139",
                  url = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133139",
                 issn = "1932-6203",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "berenguer_developing.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "27 abr. 2024"
}