Data from: Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

Tropical forests store nearly 30% of global terrestrial carbon and contribute to 40% of the global terrestrial carbon sink. By affecting tree growth and survival, lianas impact the carbon balance of these forests. Here we demonstrate with a 3-y experiment that lianas substantially reduce forest-level carbon uptake and storage. This study is, to our knowledge, the first direct demonstration of liana effects at the ecosystem scale and illustrates the important role of lianas in tropical forests, particularly with respect to carbon budgets. Lianas are increasing in biomass and productivity throughout the tropics, and thus our findings have even greater relevance in terms of the fate of the tropical carbon balance, as well as for global atmospheric CO2 levels, in a changing climate.

热带森林储存了全球近30%的陆地碳储量，并贡献了全球40%的陆地碳汇。藤本植物（lianas）通过影响树木的生长与存活，进而影响这类森林的碳平衡。本研究依托一项为期3年的野外实验，证实藤本植物会显著降低森林整体的碳吸收与碳储存能力。据我们所知，本研究首次在生态系统尺度上直接验证了藤本植物的生态效应，并阐明了藤本植物在热带森林中发挥的重要作用，尤其体现在碳收支维度。当前全球热带区域的藤本植物生物量与生产力均呈上升趋势，因此在气候变化的背景下，本研究结果对于解析热带森林碳平衡的演变轨迹，乃至全球大气CO₂浓度，都具备更为重要的学术参考价值。