In a study recently published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international group of researchers sought to understand which aspects of the functioning of tropical forests can guarantee greater or lesser resilience to global climate change.
As the authors explain, in an ecosystem all organisms interact with each other and with different environmental factors, such as temperature and water availability, for example. These interactions are influenced both by the diversity of species and by the diversity of groups of species with specific functions within the same ecosystem, that is, by functional diversity.
Another important concept for understanding the research is functional redundancy – which occurs when in the same ecosystem there are several species that perform the same function. In this case, if one of them disappears, its ecological function will not be lost.
In the work, the researchers analyzed the relationships between the functional diversity and functional redundancy of tropical forests with their ability to adapt to change. The analysis took into account a dataset on 16 morphological, chemical and photosynthetic characteristics of 2,461 individual trees sampled at 74 sites, spread over four continents. Climatic data recorded in these same locations in the last 50 years were also evaluated.
For the Atlantic Forest and Amazon region, information collected in three projects linked to the Biota-FAPESP Program was used.
The findings suggest that areas with high functional diversity and high functional redundancy tend to better maintain ecosystem functioning after extreme weather events, that is, are more resilient to climate change. Drier tropical forests have less functional diversity and less functional redundancy compared to wetter forests, which can put them at risk in the face of declines in water availability that have been identified in tropical regions.
For the professor at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) Carlos Joly, one of the authors of the article, the results highlight the importance of conserving deciduous forests (characterized by the climate with two well-marked seasons: one dry and the other rainy) and semi-deciduous forests in the interior. from the country.
“These forests are part of the Atlantic Forest, occupy the space between the coastal humid zone and the drier interior and are characterized by the loss of leaves or part of the leaves in the driest period”, explains the researcher.
Joly also highlights the recently launched Climate Action Plan 2050 of the State of São Paulo, which provides for the restoration of semideciduous forest areas and the connection between these areas to increase resilience to climate change. “The results found in this article reinforce the importance of this action”, he says.
The authors point out that climate change is altering the conditions of the Earth, affecting the regional climate and, in the near future, global warming is likely to cause the emergence of unprecedented climatic conditions in tropical regions. Therefore, determining the distribution of tropical forests that are more or less resilient to a changing climate and understanding the mechanisms involved is fundamental for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.