Mendes et al. (2025): High carbon sink efficiency of the Brazilian dry tropical forest Caatinga under varying climatic conditions

Keila R. Mendes, Pablo E.S. Oliveira, José Romualdo S. Lima, Magna S.B. Moura, Eduardo S. Souza, Aldrin M. Perez-Marin, John Elton B.L. Cunha, Pedro R. Mutti, Gabriel B. Costa, Thales N. Martins de Sá, Paula A.A. Araujo, Rosaria R. Ferreira, Thiago V. Marques, Daniele T. Rodrigues, Suany Campos, Mariana M.L.V. Melo, Israel V.H. Silva, Leonardo F. Morais, Fábio S. Nascimento, Iara B. Silva, Rômulo S.C. Menezes IN: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110573

Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs) may act as considerable carbon sinks, regulating the atmospheric and terrestrial carbon storage and fluxes with implications for local, regional and global climates. In the Caatinga, an endemic Brazilian SDTF, the research on the magnitude of the CO₂ sink is still incipient. To address this gap, the authors conducted a comprehensive analysis of observed CO₂ fluxes using the Eddy Covariance technique across the Caatinga, quantifying and assessing the seasonal and interannual variations in CO₂ exchange under contrasting soil and climatic conditions. In this study they estimated whether the Caatinga functioned as a net source or sink of carbon at five sites during years with varying rates of rainfall.

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