Tropical forests represent one of the planet's most active biogeochemical engines. Although only 15 % of the planet's terrestrial surface is comprised of tropical forests, they account for over 2/3 of live terrestrial plant biomass (Pan et al., 2013), nearly 1/3 of all soil carbon (C) (Jobbagy & Jackson, 2000, Tarnocai et al., 2009), and exchange more carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere than any other biome (Beer et al., 2010, Foley et al., 2003).This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.