Disruption of animal seed dispersal reduces carbon accumulation during tropical forest regrowth

E.C. FRICKE, C. TERRER

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

Over two thirds of aboveground carbon in tropical forests is contained in plant species that rely on animal seed dispersers for regeneration. Animal biodiversity declines and movement restrictions due to human activities including land use change may therefore negatively affect natural forest regrowth and carbon storage following deforestation or degradation. We estimated the effect of seed dispersal disruption on aboveground carbon accumulation in tropical forests. We modelled land use-dependent seed dispersal using data from thousands of field studies, and then used records of forest growth over time to assess whether variation in seed dispersal is related to differences in carbon accumulation among sites. We found that sites with high seed dispersal integrity accumulated more carbon more quickly than did sites where seed dispersal is strongly disrupted. Differences in seed dispersal integrity explained >3-fold variation in carbon accumulation rates. Our findings identify areas with greatest potential for natural regrowth as an alternative to tree planting and highlight the potential for the restoration of vertebrate biodiversity to act as a natural climate solution by amplifying carbon storage during natural forest regrowth. Overall, the analysis highlights a strong relationship between animal biodiversity and carbon storage in tropical forests.