ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Correction for “Light-driven growth in Amazon evergreen forests explained by seasonal variations of vertical canopy structure,” by Hao Tang and Ralph Dubayah, which was first published February 21, 2017; 10.1073/pnas.1616943114 (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:2640–2644).
The authors wish to note the following: “It has come to our attention that an error occurred during the processing of our lidar data. This error took place at the metadata level and thus affected many reported numbers in the Results section including Table 1, Figs. 1 and 2, and corresponding SI. The major impact is on the interaction between canopy and understory leaf area index (LAI) (i.e., Fig. 1 D–F and Fig. 2). Previously we reported a strong negative correlation across the entire Amazon forest. Now we find a more complicated pattern, with synchronous changes in the southern Amazon and the opposing variations in the central Amazon.
“The conclusions on the light-driven growth phenomenon in the Amazon forests and the existence of a negative correlation between canopy and understory LAI changes have not changed. However, the error in the original version overstated the influence of canopy LAI on the understory changes. We now conclude that the canopy LAI dynamics can contribute a nonnegligible influence on understory LAI with a magnitude similar to climatic variables.”
Updated versions of the article and supporting information with changes to address these errors are included with this Correction. The online versions of the article and supporting information remain as originally published.