Data and code for the paper: Natural forest expansion is a larger carbon sink than secondary forests in moist tropics

This repository contains the data and matlab code produced for the following paper: Title: Natural forest expansion is a larger carbon sink than secondary forests in moist tropics The GeoTiff images, matlab codes (.m) and excel data (.xlsx) are used to generate Figs. 1-5 of the main text. Fig.1: The GeoTiff image named as "JRC_TMF_Fraction_natural_FE(b1)_SF(b2)_DF(b3)_11100m_2022.tif" was used to generate the fraction maps of natural forest expansion (band 1), secondary forest (band 2) and degraded forest (band 3) in Fig. 1a. The Boxplot_DTO.m matlab code was used to generate the boxplot in Fig. 1e, and the Excel file "DTO.xlsx" contains the corresponding source data. Fig.2: The Importance_plot.m matlab code was used to generate the bar charts in Fig. 2a–c, and the Excel file "importance_values.xlsx" contains the corresponding source data. Moreover, the FourDrivers_boxplot.m matlab code was used to generate the boxplots in Fig. 2d-g, and the Excel file "Four_drivers.xlsx" contains the source data for the drivers of TMAX, PREC, HAND and SOC. Fig. 3: The AGC_accumulation_DriverZones.m matlab code was used to generate the AGC accumulation cruves in the lower and upper 50% TMAX zones for Fig. 3a-i, and the Excel file "AGC_accumulation_in_TMAX_zones.xlsx" contains the source data. Fig. 4: The AGC_accumulation_Region_I_II.m matlab code was used to generate the AGC accumulation cruves in climate region I and II for Fig. 4 b-c, e-f and h-i, and the Excel file "AGC_accumulation_in_ClimateRegion_I_II.xlsx" contains the source data. Fig. 5: The GeoTiff images named as "JRC_TMF_carbonsink_natural_forestexpansion_2022.tif", "JRC_TMF_carbonsink_natural_secondaryforests_2022.tif", and "JRC_TMF_carbonsink_natural_degradedforests_2022.tif" were used to generate the carbon sink maps in Fig. 5 a-c. Further source data in .xlsx format were also submitted with the main manuscript. Data and Code usage: When using any code or data in this repository or another related to this study please cite the original paper as well as the DOI of this repository. Yihang Zhang, Viola H. A. Heinrich, Clément Bourgoin, Xia Wang, Xiaodong Li, Yun Du & Peter M. Atkinson. “Natural forest expansion is a larger carbon sink than secondary forests in moist tropics,” Nature Geoscience, 2026. (Acceptance in principle, and we will update the statue in the future)