@Article{ReisJGSJNOARC:2022:FoDiGr,
               author = "Reis, Cristiano Rodrigues and Jackson, Toby D. and Gorgens, Eric 
                         Bastos and Silva, Ricardo Dalagnol da and Jucker, Tommaso and 
                         Nunes, Matheus Henrique and Ometto, Jean Pierre Henry Balbaud and 
                         Arag{\~a}o, Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de and Rodriguez, Luiz 
                         Carlos Estraviz and Coomes, David A.",
          affiliation = "{Universidade de S{\~a}o Paulo (USP)} and {University of 
                         Cambridge} and {Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e 
                         Mucuri} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and 
                         {University of Bristol} and {University of Helsinki} and 
                         {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Universidade de 
                         S{\~a}o Paulo (USP)} and {University of Cambridge}",
                title = "Forest disturbance and growth processes are reflected in the 
                         geographical distribution of large canopy gaps across the 
                         Brazilian Amazon",
              journal = "Journal of Ecology",
                 year = "2022",
               volume = "110",
                pages = "2971--2983",
             keywords = "canopy height, environmental gradients, forest dynamics, gap size 
                         distribution, landscape, ecology, power law, tropical forest.",
             abstract = "Canopy gaps are openings in the forest canopy resulting from 
                         branch fall and tree mortality events. The geographical 
                         distribution of large canopy gaps may reflect underlying variation 
                         in mortality and growth processes. However, a lack of data at the 
                         appropriate scale has limited our ability to study this 
                         relationship until now. We detected canopy gaps using a unique 
                         LiDAR dataset consisting of 650 transects randomly distributed 
                         across 2500\ km2 of the Brazilian Amazon. We characterized 
                         the size distribution of canopy gaps using a power law and we 
                         explore the variation in the exponent, \α. We evaluated how 
                         the \α varies across the Amazon, in response to disturbance 
                         by humans and natural environmental processes that influence tree 
                         mortality rates. We observed that South-eastern forests contained 
                         a higher proportion of large gaps than North-western, which is 
                         consistent with recent work showing greater tree mortality rates 
                         in the Southeast than the Northwest. Regions characterized by 
                         strong wind gust speeds, frequent lightning and greater water 
                         shortage also had a high proportion of large gaps, indicating that 
                         geographical variation in \α is a reflection of underlying 
                         disturbance processes. Forests on fertile soils were also found to 
                         contain a high proportion of large gaps, in part because trees 
                         grow tall on these sites and create large gaps when they fall; 
                         thus, canopy gap analysis picked up differences in growth as well 
                         as mortality processes. Finally, we found that human-modified 
                         forests had a higher proportion of large gaps than intact forests, 
                         as we would expect given that these forests have been disturbed. 
                         Synthesis. The proportion of large gaps in the forest canopy 
                         varied substantially over the Brazilian Amazon. We have shown that 
                         the trends can be explained by geographical variation in 
                         disturbance and growth. The frequency of extreme weather events is 
                         predicted to increase under climate change, and changes could lead 
                         to greater forest disturbance, which should be detectable as an 
                         increased proportion of large gaps in intact forests.",
                  doi = "10.1111/1365-2745.14003",
                  url = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14003",
                 issn = "0022-0477",
                label = "lattes: 1325667605623244 7 ReisJGDJNOARC:2022:FoDiGr",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "Journal of Ecology - 2022 - Reis - Forest disturbance and growth 
                         processes are reflected in the geographical distribution.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "09 maio 2024"
}