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, 19, 1072–1081 (2026). (DOI:   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01984-5)