An ecosystem context for global gross forest cover loss estimates

摘要

Fundamental questions remain about the contributions of forests to the global carbon cycle and how these are affected by natural and anthropogenic drivers. Deforestation, the human-induced conversion of forests to non-forest land, currently accounts for an estimated 12% of anthropogenic carbon emissions (1). The future response offorests to global climate change could result in substantial positive or negative feedback to the carbon cycle, and this forest feedback will in turn affect the mitigation efforts required to reach stabilization targets for atmospheric CO_2 concentrations (2, 3). Accurate quantification of land-use.