Pedro H. S. Brancalion

University of São Paulo | USP · Forest Sciences

Large-scale forest restoration is vital for delivering a broad array of ecosystem services benefits to society. However, it is often perceived as an economically noncompetitive land use choice. Integrating economic opportunities into restoration aligns socioeconomic and environmental goals, reducing conflicts between forest production and conservat...

Integrating Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) enhances the assessment of tropical forest degradation and regeneration, which is crucial for conservation and climate mitigation strategies. This study optimized procedures using combined airborne LiDAR, HSI data, and machine learning algorithms across 12 sites in the...

The density of wood is a key indicator of the carbon investment strategies of trees, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here we analyse information from 1.1 mil...

Purpose of review A rapidly changing climate is weakening the resilience of forest ecosystems through vitality loss of major native tree species, which reduces the ability of forests to deliver ecosystem services. Established invasive tree species (EITS) may take over the vacant space potentially preventing the regeneration of the preferred native...

The presence of livestock in riparian areas raises several questions about the conservation and sustainable use of water resources and biodiversity in Brazil. Although the Native Vegetation Protection Law (No. 12,651) focuses on riparian vegetation, protected as Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs), it does not exclude the presence of livestock in t...

Em novo artigo, no âmbito do Projeto REGENERA AMAZÔNIA, coordenado por Catarina Jakovac e Rita Mesquita, analisamos a governança e as dificuldades para implementar a Lei de Proteção da Vegetação Nativa-LPVN em sete estados da Amazônia e discutimos os desafios da restauração, com foco na regeneração natural. Mesmo depois de 12 anos da criação da LP...

Ecosystem restoration, recognized as a critical strategy for climate change adaptation and mitigation, faces significant challenges in achieving widespread implementation. A particular facet of this challenge lies in the active involvement of rural landowners. Our study aimed to understand rural landowners' perspectives, motivations, and characteri...

Applied nucleation and other spatially patterned restoration methods are promising approaches for scaling up projects to meet ambitious international restoration commitments in an ecologically and economically sound manner. Much of the corresponding literature to date, however, has centered around theoretical discussions and small‐scale studies tha...

A distribuição e o armazenamento de carbono nos ecossistemas florestais amazônicos desempenham um papel crucial, especialmente considerando seu impacto nas mudanças climáticas globais. No entanto, o equilíbrio ambiental do bioma amazônico é influenciado por uma interação complexa de padrões e processos. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo quantificar o...

Ecological Corridors (ECs) are proposed as cost-effective solutions to improve ecological connectivity in fragmented landscapes. Planning the implementation of ECs must take into account landscape features as they affect the viability of the endeavor and the ECs associated costs. A novel set of geoprocessing tools were used to analyze i) viability;...

Aim Successional changes in functional diversity provide insights into community assembly by indicating how species are filtered into local communities based on their traits. Here, we assess successional changes in taxonomic and functional richness, evenness and redundancy along gradients of climate, soil pH and forest cover. Location Neotropics....

The emergence of alternative stable states in forest systems has significant implications for the functioning and structure of the terrestrial biosphere, yet empirical evidence remains scarce. Here, we combine global forest biodiversity observations and simulations to test for alternative stable states in the presence of evergreen and deciduous for...

1. Forest restoration has the potential to contribute to climate, biodiversity, and human well-being, responding to multiple global sustainable development goals. Yet, little is known about the factors associated with local actors’ choice to engage in forest restoration, limiting the development of effective scaling strategies. 2. Our study examine...

Esta Nota Técnico-Científica 3 integra a Série Biota Síntese e traz os resultados preliminares do mapeamento da biomassa acima do solo e do potencial de aumento da biomassa no futuro no estado de São Paulo. O objetivo principal deste material é auxiliar o Governo do Estado de São Paulo, parceiro institucional do projeto Biota Síntese, a planejar aç...

The achievement of international forest restoration goals requires economically viable land-use options. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a priority area for ecosystem restoration, as it is widely deforested to make place for intensive agriculture and one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the world. We systematically reviewed existing...

The Atlantic Forest is a global biodiversity hotspot and a significant provider of ecosystem services to 65% of the Brazilian population. Due to being highly threatened, it is protected by federal law 11,428/2006, which establishes forest use restrictions based on native vegetation successional stages in the Atlantic Forest, with more advanced stag...

Tree monocultures constitute an increasing fraction of the global tree cover and are the dominant tree‐growing strategy of forest landscape restoration commitments. Their advantages to produce timber are well known, but their value for biodiversity is highly controversial and context dependent. Therefore, understanding whether, and in which conditi...

The global movement for ecosystem restoration has gained momentum in response to the Bonn Challenge (2010) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER, 2021–2030). While several science‐based guidelines exist to aid in achieving successful restoration outcomes, significant variation remains in the outcomes of restoration projects. Some of thi...

Whilst the importance of fungal primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) has been recognised, few studies have empirically assessed how land-use patterns influence them. Here, we show the impacts of different land-use patterns on fungal PBAPs within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Spanning a distance of ca. 600 km within thi...

Whilst the importance of fungal primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) has been recognised, few studies have empirically assessed how land-use patterns influence them. Here, we show the impacts of different land-use patterns on fungal PBAPs within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Spanning a distance of ca. 600 km within thi...

Substantial global restoration commitments are occurring alongside a rapid expansion in land‐hungry tropical commodities, including to supply increasing demand for wood products. Future commercial tree plantations may deliver high timber yields, shrinking the footprint of production forestry, but there is an as‐yet unquantified risk that plantation...

The density of wood is a key indicator of trees’ carbon investment strategies, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here, we analyze information from 1.1 million...

We need empirical evidence on the impacts of land-use change on hydrological processes to guide policies and land management decisions. Based on a global meta-analysis of 287 primary studies covering 1049 data points in 58 countries and across twelve biomes, we review hydrologic process changes resulting from native forest disturbances and conversi...

Nature-based climate solutions, such as forest landscape restoration, offer a promising approach to mitigate the effects of global climate change, conserve biodiversity, and enhance rural livelihoods. Heinrich et al. (Nature, 2023) used satellite observation products to assess rates and drivers of aboveground carbon accumulation in tropical recover...

Aim To determine the relationships between the functional trait composition of forest communities and environmental gradients across scales and biomes and the role of species relative abundances in these relationships. Location Global. Time period Recent. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We integrated species abundance records from worldw...

Natural Climate Solutions have gained prominence as pivotal strategies for climate change mitigation, with tropical reforestation an important and cost-effective approach. However, despite significant reforestation commitments, the potential of natural forest re-growth remains underutilized, with second-growth forests, akin to the perpetual youth o...

Natural Climate Solutions have gained prominence as pivotal strategies for climate change mitigation, with tropical reforestation an important and cost-effective approach. However, despite significant reforestation commitments, the potential of natural forest re-growth remains underutilized, with second-growth forests, akin to the perpetual youth o...

Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system¹. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these est...

Background Nature-based interventions (NbIs) for climate change mitigation include a diverse set of interventions aimed at conserving, restoring, and/or managing natural and modified ecosystems to improve their ability to store and sequester carbon and avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent projections estimate that terrestrial NbIs can lead...

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, ever...

Forest restoration has never been higher on policymakers' agendas. Complex and multi‐dimensional arrangements across the urban–rural continuum challenge restorationists and require integrative approaches to strengthen environmental protection and increase restoration outcomes. It remains unclear if urban and rural forest restoration are moving towa...

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species1,2. Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies3,4. Here, leveraging global tree databases5-7, we explore how the phy...

Purpose of Review Increasing the diversity of commercial tree plantations is a promising approach to adapt forests to climate change, but it may complicate management. Here, we evaluate stakeholders’ perspectives about tree-species diversity in plantations and explore policy alternatives to make mixed plantations a viable strategy for climate chang...

Understanding the mechanisms driving community assembly has been a major focus of ecological research for nearly a century, yet little is known about these mechanisms in commensal communities, particularly with respect to their historical/evolutionary components. Here, we use a large-scale dataset of 4,440 vascular plant species to explore the rela...

1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all importa...

Forest restoration is crucial to mitigate human impacts on climate, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. However, it is still monetarily non-competitive due to high costs and low economic returns, urging attractive alternatives. Non-timber forest products with a high economic value could provide a way forward, requiring knowledge of options and na...

Forest restoration is crucial to mitigate human impacts on climate, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. However, it is still monetarily non-competitive due to high costs and low economic returns, urging attractive alternatives. Non-timber forest products with a high economic value could provide a way forward, requiring knowledge of options and na...

Forest landscape restoration is a global priority to mitigate negative effects of climate change, conserve biodiversity , and ensure future sustainability of forests, with international pledges concentrated in tropical forest regions. To hold restoration efforts accountable and monitor their outcomes, traditional strategies for monitoring tree cove...

Free access link until April 28, 2023: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1gjBLcZ3WyGWm Ecosystem restoration conventionally focuses on ecological targets. However, while ecological targets are crucial to mobilizing political, social, and financial capital, they do not encapsulate the need to: integrate social, economic, and ecological dimensions and...

Fragmented tropical forest landscapes preserve much of the remaining biodiversity and carbon stocks. Climate change is expected to intensify droughts and increase fire hazard and fire intensities, thereby causing habitat deterioration, and losses of biodiversity and carbon stock losses. Understanding the trajectories that these landscapes may follo...

Although native vegetation is a determinant of aquatic ecosystems’ maintenance, forest restoration has been linked to decreases in water yields worldwide. Here we clarify linkages between forest restoration and water services and identify gaps in the literature critical for evaluating the benefits of forest restoration on water yields. Also, we dis...

Restoring forest ecosystems and effectively conserving remnants is vital to face the global outbreak of deforestation, forest degradation, climate change, social injustice, and the biodiversity crisis. Besides scaling up forest restoration, setting reasonable goals can guide to more successful plantings that provide more ecosystem services that del...

Naturally regenerating forests or secondary forests (SFs) are a promising strategy for restoring large expanses of tropical forests at low cost and with high environmental benefits. This expectation is supported by the high resilience of tropical forests after natural disturbances, yet this resilience can be severely reduced by human impacts. Asses...

Under the UN-Decade of Ecosystem Restoration and Bonn Challenge, second-growth forest is promoted as a global solution to climate change, degradation and associated losses of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Second growth is often invaded by alien tree species and understanding how this impacts carbon stock and biodiversity recovery is key for...

Forest restoration has been proposed as a scalable nature-based solution to achieve global environmental and socio-economic outcomes and is central to many policy initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge. Restored forests contain appreciable biodiversity, improve habitat connectivity and sequester carbon. Incentive mechanisms (e.g. payments for ecos...

i) Existe uma necessidade urgente de restauração em larga escala na Amazônia, região que tem sofrido por décadas com a deterioração de suas condições ecológicas e encontra-se em situação de fragilidade diante das mudanças climáticas. (ii) Restauração engloba um conjunto de estratégias que aumentam a extensão e permanência da cobertura vegetal e que...

i) There is an urgent need for large-scale restoration across the Amazon, which has suffered decades of deteriorating ecological conditions and is fragile in the face of climate change. (ii) Restoration encompasses a mix of strategies that increase the extent and permanence of tree cover and contribute towards the delivery of multiple benefits from...

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) commitments have been established in the past years to restore over 200 million hectares, as part of the global Bonn Challenge goal, mostly through the implementation of several different restorative practices in degraded lands, ranging from commercial tree monocultures to restoration plantings. The potential of s...

Nature-based solutions to enable the transition to a circular sustainable bioeconomy in Latin America: the case of RenovaBio (Cbios), Emission Trade Systems, Science Based Targets, and Voluntary Carbon Markets

p>In this article, the abstract has been revised such that “30% of the total CO₂ increase in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution” now reads “30% of the total CO₂ increase in the atmosphere, or 14% of total emissions, since the Industrial Revolution.” In addition, the second paragraph in the “Priority areas for resto...

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we...

Forests that regrow naturally on abandoned fields are important for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, but can they also preserve the distinct regional tree floras? Using the floristic composition of 1215 early successional forests (≤20 years) in 75 human-modified landscapes across the Neotropic realm, we identified 14 distinct floristi...

The central motivation to restore ecosystems at a planetary scale has been to reverse degradation and provide multiple environmental benefits, but key global players like governments may be more interested in social outcomes from undertaking restoration, such as job creation. Assessing the job opportunities stemming from ongoing restoration program...

Extensive evidence shows that regional (gamma) diversity is often lower across restored landscapes than in reference landscapes, in part due to common restoration practices that favor widespread species through selection of easily-grown species with high survival and propagation practices that reduce genetic diversity. We discuss approaches to coun...

Natural forest regrowth is a cost‐effective, nature‐based solution for biodiversity recovery, yet different socioenvironmental factors can lead to variable outcomes. A critical knowledge gap in forest restoration planning is how to predict where natural forest regrowth is likely to lead to high levels of biodiversity recovery, which is an indicator...

The vast sums of money being spent on planting trees have the potential to transform landscapes and slow global warming but will accomplish little if trees do not survive and grow. We discuss ten key questions to decide which of the numerous tree-growing projects are most likely to succeed.

One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknow...

Forest restoration is being scaled-up globally to deliver critical ecosystem services and biodiversity benefits, yet we lack rigorous comparison of co-benefit delivery across different restoration approaches. In a global synthesis, we use 25,950 matched data pairs from 264 studies in 53 countries to assess how delivery of climate, soil, water, and...

One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknow...

Significance Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large geographic domains still rely heavily on published lists of species descriptions that are geographically uneven in coverage. These limitations have precluded efforts to generate a g...

Natural forest regrowth is considered the most cost-effective strategy to promote large-scale forest restoration, but regrowth trajectories and their consequences for nature and people can be highly variable. This uncertainty may obstruct devoting land, time and resources in promoting this restoration approach. Process-based models allow to simulat...