Climate and Human-Driven Impacts on Tropical Rainforests

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 7615

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Department of Earth Sciences, University of South Alabama, 5871 USA Drive North, LSCB Room 342, Mobile, AL 36688, USA
Interests: vegetation dynamics; biosphere–atmosphere interactions; water and carbon cycling; remote sensing/GIS; land use and land cover changes (LULCC); Amazonia
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Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division, Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Sao Jose dos Campos 12227-010, SP, Brazil
Interests: remote sensing; fires; biomass burning; fire drivers; LULC changes; spatial analysis
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Institute of Physics, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil
Interests: meteorology; climatology; geochemistry; aerosol science; precipitation
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1. Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division, Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Sao Jose dos Campos 12227-010, SP, Brazil
2. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK
Interests: drought; vegetation phenology; land use; biodiversity and conservation
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Academic Unity of Atmospheric Sciences, Federal University of Campina Grande, Campina Grande, Brazil
Interests: climate change; remote sensing; irrigation; precipitation; meteorology; evapotranspiration
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Department of Biology, University of West Virginia, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Interests: forest management; forest ecology; plant physiology; drought stress; photosynthesis
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Division of Behavioral and Social Science and Education, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, DC 20001, USA
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tropical rainforests are a treasure trove of biodiversity. However, intensifying anthropic pressure and associated land cover changes have led to large-scale forest loss. These rainforests influence the terrestrial climate system through exchanges of energy, carbon dioxide, and water between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. In addition to providing water vapor to the environment through evapotranspiration, influencing general circulation in the tropics, and contributing to regional precipitation, tropical rainforests play an important role in the global carbon cycle.

Climate-change-induced increases in temperature and reductions in precipitation are triggering forest degradation, with some parts of tropical rainforests already becoming a carbon source.  Additionally, climate extremes are also impacting these forests, which are losing resilience. To develop a comprehensive understanding of the complex forest–climate extremes interactions, it is necessary to focus on different processes affecting biodiversity loss and ecosystem services.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to our joint Special Issue, “Climate and Human-Driven Impacts on Tropical Rainforests”,  in Climate and Fire. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

New satellite data and tools to assess deforestation; forest fragmentation and natural recovery; belowground biogeochemistry; plant demography and ecophysiology; plant functional traits; aquifer-to-canopy hydrology; forest–atmosphere interactions; impacts of severe events such as droughts and fire; tolerance and resilience of tropical rainforests to extreme events, taking into consideration the drivers of land degradation and deforestation and further transitions under a climate change scenario.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Fire.

Dr. Gabriel de Oliveira
Dr. Guilherme A. V. Mataveli
Prof. Dr. Paulo Artaxo
Dr. Luiz E. O. C. Aragão
Dr. Carlos A. C. dos Santos
Dr. Maquelle Garcia
Guest Editors

Hannah Stewart
Guest Editor Assistant

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Keywords

  • land cover changes
  • forest degradation
  • ecophysiology
  • fire and droughts
  • remote sensing
  • ground-based observations
  • belowground biogeochemistry
  • forest-atmosphere interactions
  • water and carbon cycling
  • greenhouse gas emissions

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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20 pages, 3693 KiB  
Article
Assessing Potential Links between Climate Variability and Sea Levels along the Coasts of North America
by Jason Giovannettone, Franklin Paredes-Trejo, Venerando Eustáquio Amaro and Carlos Antonio Costa dos Santos
Climate 2023, 11(4), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11040080 - 3 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2169
Abstract
In order to better understand the extent to which global climate variability is linked to long-term mean and extreme sea level patterns, correlations between average sea levels at coastal sites throughout North America and low-frequency oscillations of several climate indices (CIs) were analyzed [...] Read more.
In order to better understand the extent to which global climate variability is linked to long-term mean and extreme sea level patterns, correlations between average sea levels at coastal sites throughout North America and low-frequency oscillations of several climate indices (CIs) were analyzed for the entire period of 1948–2018 as well as three equal-length sub-periods using correlation analysis. Correlation strength was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, while significance was estimated using Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation and a bootstrapping technique (p-value). The sliding window size, lag time, and beginning month were varied for optimal correlation; 60-month sliding windows, along with 0 lag time, resulted in the strongest correlations. Strong (r >= 0.60) and significant (p-value <= 0.05) correlations were identified. The Western Hemisphere Warm Pool Eastern Asia/Western Russia index and ENSO exhibited the strongest and most widespread correlation with coastal sea levels. Further analysis was performed to identify and quantify the magnitude of any sea level trends using the Theil–Sen estimator, while the Mann–Kendall (MK) test was used to estimate the significance of said trends. The results revealed that a complex set of ocean–atmosphere interactions govern long-term coastal sea level variability in large coastal regions of North America. The final results of this study allow a greater understanding of potential links between climate variability and long-term sea levels along the coasts of North America, as well as insights into sudden shifts in these relationships, which will contribute toward more accurate long-term forecasts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate and Human-Driven Impacts on Tropical Rainforests)
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14 pages, 3585 KiB  
Review
Scientific Evidence for the Effectiveness of Mangrove Forests in Reducing Floods and Associated Hazards in Coastal Areas
by Christopher Ihinegbu, Stefan Mönnich and Thecla Akukwe
Climate 2023, 11(4), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11040079 - 2 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4592
Abstract
The evidence for the capacity of mangrove forests for coastal protection gained more importance within the recent decade because of important international agreements, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. However, the degree to which researchers agree [...] Read more.
The evidence for the capacity of mangrove forests for coastal protection gained more importance within the recent decade because of important international agreements, such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. However, the degree to which researchers agree on the capacity of mangroves to reduce coastal hazards is not fully established. This study employed a multilevel review process that selected 45 peer-reviewed articles for detailed analysis. Significant findings revealed a strong agreement amongst scientific literature on the benefits of mangrove forests in reducing coastal hazards. However, findings also revealed the dominance of single-discipline research, and less representation of countries in Africa and South America. Limitations in sampled studies highlight the limited number of global studies conducted on mangrove forests’ effectiveness in attenuating coastal hazards, and the limited representation of development and disaster studies. It is recommended that future research on mangrove forests and their coastal hazard reduction capacity should explore multidisciplinary approaches, and synergies in fieldwork and simulation methods while considering possible future climate change situations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate and Human-Driven Impacts on Tropical Rainforests)
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