January 25, 2016Open Access
Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests
Key Points
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Abstract
Significance A standardized network of wildlife surveys across 166 Amazonian hunted and nonhunted forests, combined with basin-wide spatial modeling of central-place hunting pressure, reveal the degree to which arboreal frugivores have been extirpated by hunters and the spatial extent of overhunting for harvest-sensitive frugivore species across the Brazilian Amazon. Simulations based on data from 2,345 1-ha tree plots inventoried throughout Brazilian Amazonia then show widespread erosion of forest carbon stocks in the world’s largest tropical forest region.