Environmental variables

Forest aboveground carbon stocks have been proven to be linked to environmental variables such as climate and soil characteristics (Muller-Landau et al. 2020). Topography can impact soil properties and water availability and also plays a role in the distribution of carbon stocks (Muscarella et al. 2020). Due to the variation of soil characteristics at fine spatial scales and the lack of local soil data, we do not expect global soil databases to provide much information about local soil characteristics. For this reason, we focus only on climate and topographic variables as predictors of aboveground carbon stocks.

Muller-Landau, Helene C., K. C. Cushman, Eva E. Arroyo, Isabel Martinez Cano, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Bogumila Backiel, Authors Helene C Muller-landau, et al. 2020. “Patterns and mechanisms of spatial variation in tropical forest productivity, woody residence time, and biomass.” New Physiologist.

Muscarella, Robert, Samira Kolyaie, Douglas C. Morton, Jess K. Zimmerman, and María Uriarte. 2020. “Effects of topography on tropical forest structure depend on climate context.” Edited by Tommaso Jucker. Journal of Ecology 108 (1): 145–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13261.