Carbon Balance and Forest Dynamics in an Old-growth Amazonian Forest

Forests contain 80% of live aboveground biomass in the world with over 59% of total live biomass residing in tropical forests (Dixon et al., 1994). Tropical forests not only store large amounts of carbon, but over a period of 25 years they cycle a volume of carbon dioxide equal to the total amount in the atmosphere (Mahli & Grace, 2000) and account for as much as 35% of global net primary production (Mellilo et al., 1993). Due to their tremendous capacity for storage and cycling of carbon, small changes in net carbon balance or land use change in tropical forests can result in significant storage or release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.