Effect of drought on productivity in a Costa Rican tropical dry forest

Castro, Saulo; Sánchez‐Azofeifa, Arturo; Sato, Hiromitsu

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaacbc

Cited by 61 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The SRNP-EMSS covers an area of approximately 495 km 2 . The average annual temperature is 25 • C, and the average annual precipitation is 1575 mm [42], falling in the form of rain over an average of 256.3 days per year. The wet season extends from May to November, and the dry season extends from November to April.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Canopy Temperature Differences between Liana-Infested and Non-Liana Infested Areas in a Neotropical Dry Forest

Yuan

Laakso

Marzahn

et al. 2019

Forests

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Lianas (woody vines) are important non-structural elements of all tropical forests. Current field observations across the Neotropics suggest that liana abundance is rising as a result of forest disturbance, increasing atmospheric CO2, and more frequent extreme climate events. Lianas can cause mechanical stress on their host trees, thus increasing mortality, in addition to potentially reducing carbon storage capacity. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested that liana leaves have an overall higher temperature than tree leaves, which presents the question of whether these differences can be extended from the leaf to the canopy. In this context, the ability to detect these temperature differences from a remote sensing platform has so far not been put into test, despite the importance such knowledge can have in large-scale land surface modeling studies and liana extent monitoring. To partially fill this knowledge gap, we acquired thermal infrared data using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system over an intermediate tropical dry forest in Costa Rica, Central America. Classification results from a previous study in the same area were used to subset the thermal infrared images into liana-infested areas, non-liana infested areas, and forest gaps. The temperature differences between these three image components were then investigated using the Welch and Games–Howell post-hoc statistical tests. Our results suggest that liana-infested areas have, on average, a statistically significant higher temperature than non-liana infested areas. Shadowed forest gaps, used as reference, have a cooler temperature than forest canopies. Our findings on the temperature differences between liana-infested and non-liana infested areas support previous leaf-level observations and open the door to the use of new approaches for the classification and modeling of liana infestation in tropical ecosystems.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Canopy Temperature Differences between Liana-Infested and Non-Liana Infested Areas in a Neotropical Dry Forest

Yuan

Laakso

Marzahn

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…Although the study of the vegetation phenology in the temperate regions using vegetation indices is well documented, this kind of study in tropical dry forests (TDFs) is limited [17,18]. At a regional scale, for example, the application of vegetation indices to study the TDF phenology has been used to characterize vegetation types [19], succession states [18], and the ecosystem productivity [20,21]. At a continental or global scale, however, these types of applications are even scarcer and tend to be focused on characterizing different ecosystems [6,22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MODIS and PROBA-V NDVI Products Differ when Compared with Observations from Phenological Towers at Four Tropical Dry Forests in the Americas

Sánchez‐Azofeifa¹,

Espírito-Santo²

2019

Remote Sensing

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The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is widely used to monitor vegetation phenology and productivity around the world. Over the last few decades, phenology monitoring at large scales has been possible due to the information and metrics derived from satellite sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) or the Project for On-Board Autonomy–Vegetation (PROBA-V). However, due to their temporal and spatial resolution, adequate ground comparison is lacking. In this paper, we analyze how NDVI products from MODIS (Aqua and Terra) and PROBA-V predict vegetation phenology when compared with near-surface observations. We conduct this comparison at four tropical dry forests (TDFs) in the Americas. We undertake this study by comparing the following: (i) Dissimilarities of the standardized NDVI (NDVIS) using dynamic time warping, (ii) the differences of daily NDVIS between seasons and ENSO months using generalized linear models, and (iii) phenometrics derived from NDVI time series. Overall, our results suggest that NDVIS from satellite observations present DTW distances (dissimilarities) between 2.98 and 46.57 (18.91 ± 12.31) when compared with near-surface observations. Furthermore, NDVIS comparisons reveal that overall differences between satellite and near-surface observations are close to zero, but this tends to differ between seasons or when El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is present. Phenometrics comparisons show that metrics derived from satellite observations such as green-up, maturity, and start and end of the wet season strongly correlate with those from near-surface observations. In contrast, phenometrics that describe the day of the highest or lowest NDVI tend to be inconsistent with those from near-surface observations. All findings were observed independently of the NDVI source. Our results suggest that satellite-based NDVI products tend to be inconsistent descriptors of vegetation events on tropical deciduous forests in comparison with near-surface observations. These results reinforce the idea that satellite-based NDVI products should be used and interpreted with great caution and only in ecosystems with well-established knowledge of their vegetation phenology.

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“…Leafing intensity for early successional stages during the dry season and at the beginning of the rainy season is highest away from the equator (Mexico and Brazil), while it is reduced in equatorial regions (Costa Rica) [61]. In Costa Rica, the total phenological cycle varies between 150-358 days, depending on the presence of late-season rains, which extends the forests' maturity period [62]. Leafing intensity between successional stages is not significantly different; however, there are significant differences in the number of species that have 50%-100% of their leaves in the Brazilian and Costa Rican rainy seasons between stages [61].…”

Section: Phenological Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical Dry Forest Diversity, Climatic Response, and Resilience in a Changing Climate

Stan

Sánchez‐Azofeifa

2019

Forests

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Central and South America tropical dry forest (TDF) is a water-limited biome with a high number of endemic species and numerous ecosystem services which has experienced a boom in research in the last decade. Although the number of case studies across these seasonal, water-limited, tropical forests has increased, there has not been a comprehensive review to assess the physiological variability of this biome across the continent and assess how these forests respond to climatic variables. Additionally, understanding forest change and resilience under climatic variability, currently and in the future, is essential for assessing the future extent and health of forests in the future. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a literature review on the variability of TDF diversity and structure across a latitudinal gradient and to assess how these components respond to differences in climatic variables across this geographic area. We first assess the current state of understanding of the structure, biomass, phenological cycles, and successional stages across the latitudinal gradient. We subsequently review the response of these five areas to differences in precipitation, temperature, and extreme weather events, such as droughts and hurricanes. We find that there is a range of adaptability to precipitation, with many areas exhibiting drought tolerance except under the most extreme circumstances, while being susceptible to damage from increased extreme precipitation events. Finally, we use this climatic response to provide a commentary on the projected resilience of TDFs under climatic changes, finding a likelihood of resilience under drying scenarios, although model projections do not agree on the magnitude or direction of precipitation change. This review of quantitative studies will provide more concrete details on the current diversity that encompasses the TDF, the natural climatic ranges under which this ecosystem can survive and thrive, and can help inform future forest management practices under climate change scenarios.

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Effect of drought on productivity in a Costa Rican tropical dry forest

Cited by 61 publications

References 56 publications

Canopy Temperature Differences between Liana-Infested and Non-Liana Infested Areas in a Neotropical Dry Forest

Canopy Temperature Differences between Liana-Infested and Non-Liana Infested Areas in a Neotropical Dry Forest

MODIS and PROBA-V NDVI Products Differ when Compared with Observations from Phenological Towers at Four Tropical Dry Forests in the Americas

Tropical Dry Forest Diversity, Climatic Response, and Resilience in a Changing Climate

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