The extent of forest in dryland biomes

Jean-Francois Bastin; Nora Berrahmouni; Alan Grainger; Danae Maniatis; Danilo Mollicone; Rebecca Moore; Chiara Patriarca; Nicolas Picard; Ben Sparrow; Elena Maria Abraham; Kamel Aloui; Ayhan Atesoglu; Fabio Attore; Caglar Bassullu; Adia Bey; Monica Garzuglia; Luis G. GarcÌa-Montero; Nikee Groot; Greg Guerin; Lars Laestadius; Andrew J. Lowe; Bako Mamane; Giulio Marchi; Paul L. Patterson; Marcelo Rezende; Stefano Ricci; Ignacio Salcedo; Alfonso Sanchez-Paus Diaz; Fred Stolle; Venera Surappaeva; Rene Castro

doi:10.1126/science.aam6527

Treesearch

The extent of forest in dryland biomes

Formally Refereed

Authors:

Jean-Francois Bastin, Nora Berrahmouni, Alan Grainger, Danae Maniatis, Danilo Mollicone, Rebecca Moore, Chiara Patriarca, Nicolas Picard, Ben Sparrow, Elena Maria Abraham, Kamel Aloui, Ayhan Atesoglu, Fabio Attore, Caglar Bassullu, Adia Bey, Monica Garzuglia, Luis G. GarcÌa-Montero, Nikee Groot, Greg Guerin, Lars Laestadius, Andrew J. Lowe, Bako Mamane, Giulio Marchi, Paul L. Patterson, Marcelo Rezende, Stefano Ricci, Ignacio Salcedo, Alfonso Sanchez-Paus Diaz, Fred Stolle, Venera Surappaeva, Rene Castro

Year:

2017

Type:

Scientific Journal

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam6527

Source:

Science. 356(6338): 635-638.

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Download (PDF 2.14 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/54977.pdf

Abstract

Dryland biomes cover two-fifths of Earth’s land surface, but their forest area is poorly known. Here, we report an estimate of global forest extent in dryland biomes, based on analyzing more than 210,000 0.5-hectare sample plots through a photo-interpretation approach using large databases of satellite imagery at (i) very high spatial resolution and (ii) very high temporal resolution, which are available through the Google Earth platform. We show that in 2015, 1327 million hectares of drylands had more than 10% tree-cover, and 1079 million hectares comprised forest. Our estimate is 40 to 47% higher than previous estimates, corresponding to 467 million hectares of forest that have never been reported before. This increases current estimates of global forest cover by at least 9%.

Keywords

dryland biomes, forest cover, ecosystems, climate change

Citation

Bastin, Jean-Francois; Berrahmouni, Nora; Grainger, Alan; Maniatis, Danae; Mollicone, Danilo; Moore, Rebecca; Patriarca, Chiara; Picard, Nicolas; Sparrow, Ben; Abraham, Elena Maria; Aloui, Kamel; Atesoglu, Ayhan; Attore, Fabio; Bassullu, Caglar; Bey, Adia; Garzuglia, Monica; GarcÌa-Montero, Luis G.; Groot, Nikee; Guerin, Greg; Laestadius, Lars; Lowe, Andrew J.; Mamane, Bako; Marchi, Giulio; Patterson, Paul; Rezende, Marcelo; Ricci, Stefano; Salcedo, Ignacio; Diaz, Alfonso Sanchez-Paus; Stolle, Fred; Surappaeva, Venera; Castro, Rene. 2017. The extent of forest in dryland biomes. Science. 356(6338): 635-638.