Title
Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities
Author(s)
Cooper, Declan L. M.;Lewis, Simon L.;Sullivan, Martin J. P.;Prado, Paulo I.;ter Steege, Hans;Barbier, Nicolas;Slik, Ferry;Sonké, Bonaventure;Ewango, Corneille E. N.;Adu-Bredu, Stephen;Affum-Baffoe, Kofi;de Aguiar, Daniel P. P.;Ahuite Reategui, Manuel Augusto;Aiba, Shin-Ichiro;Albuquerque, Bianca Weiss;de Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionízia;Alonso, Alfonso;Amani, Christian A.;do Amaral, Dário Dantas;do Amaral, Iêda Leão;Andrade, Ana;de Andrade Miranda, Ires Paula;Angoboy, Ilondea B.;Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro;Arboleda, Nicolás Castaño;Arroyo, Luzmila;Ashton, Peter;Aymard C, Gerardo A.;Baider, Cláudia;Baker, Timothy R.;Balinga, Michael Philippe Bessike;Balslev, Henrik;Banin, Lindsay F.;Bánki, Olaf S.;Baraloto, Chris;Barbosa, Edelcilio Marques;Barbosa, Flávia Rodrigues;Barlow, Jos;Bastin, Jean-Francois;Beeckman, Hans;Begne, Serge;Bengone, Natacha Nssi;Berenguer, Erika;Berry, Nicholas;Bitariho, Robert;Boeckx, Pascal;Bogaert, Jan;Bonyoma, Bernard;Boundja, Patrick;Bourland, Nils;Boyemba Bosela, Faustin;Brambach, Fabian;Brienen, Roel;Burslem, David F. R. P.;Camargo, José Luís;Campelo, Wegliane;Cano, Angela;Cárdenas, Sasha;Cárdenas López, Dairon;de Sá Carpanedo, Rainiellen;Carrero Márquez, Yrma Andreina;Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes;Casas, Luisa Fernanda;Castellanos, Hernán;Castilho, Carolina V.;Cerón, Carlos;Chapman, Colin A.;Chave, Jerome;Chhang, Phourin;Chutipong, Wanlop;Chuyong, George B.;Cintra, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat;Clark, Connie J.;Coelho de Souza, Fernanda;Comiskey, James A.;Coomes, David A.;Cornejo Valverde, Fernando;Correa, Diego F.;Costa, Flávia R. C.;Costa, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa;Couteron, Pierre;Culmsee, Heike;Cuni-Sanchez, Aida;Dallmeier, Francisco;Damasco, Gabriel;Dauby, Gilles;Dávila, Nállarett;Dávila Doza, Hilda Paulette;De Alban, Jose Don T.;de Assis, Rafael L.;De Canniere, Charles;De Haulleville, Thales;de Jesus Veiga Carim, Marcelo;Demarchi, Layon O.;Dexter, Kyle G.;Di Fiore, Anthony;Din, Hazimah Haji Mohammad;Disney, Mathias I.;Djiofack, Brice Yannick;Djuikouo, Marie-Noël K.;Do, Tran Van;Doucet, Jean-Louis;Draper, Freddie C.;Droissart, Vincent;Duivenvoorden, Joost F.;Engel, Julien;Estienne, Vittoria;Farfan-Rios, William;Fauset, Sophie;Feeley, Kenneth J.;Feitosa, Yuri Oliveira;Feldpausch, Ted R.;Ferreira, Cid;Ferreira, Joice;Ferreira, Leandro Valle;Fletcher, Christine D.;Flores, Bernardo Monteiro;Fofanah, Alusine;Foli, Ernest G.;Fonty, Émile;Fredriksson, Gabriella M.;Fuentes, Alfredo;Galbraith, David;Gallardo Gonzales, George Pepe;Garcia-Cabrera, Karina;García-Villacorta, Roosevelt;Gomes, Vitor H. F.;Gómez, Ricardo Zárate;Gonzales, Therany;Gribel, Rogerio;Guedes, Marcelino Carneiro;Guevara, Juan Ernesto;Hakeem, Khalid Rehman;Hall, Jefferson S.;Hamer, Keith C.;Hamilton, Alan C.;Harris, David J.;Harrison, Rhett D.;Hart, Terese B.;Hector, Andy;Henkel, Terry W.;Herbohn, John;Hockemba, Mireille B. N.;Hoffman, Bruce;Holmgren, Milena;Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.;Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau;Hubau, Wannes;Imai, Nobuo;Irume, Mariana Victória;Jansen, Patrick A.;Jeffery, Kathryn J.;Jimenez, Eliana M.;Jucker, Tommaso;Junqueira, André Braga;Kalamandeen, Michelle;Kamdem, Narcisse G.;Kartawinata, Kuswata;Kasongo Yakusu, Emmanuel;Katembo, John M.;Kearsley, Elizabeth;Kenfack, David;Kessler, Michael;Khaing, Thiri Toe;Killeen, Timothy J.;Kitayama, Kanehiro;Klitgaard, Bente;Labrière, Nicolas;Laumonier, Yves;Laurance, Susan G. W.;Laurance, William F.;Laurent, Félix;Le, Tinh Cong;Le, Trai Trong;Leal, Miguel E.;Leão de Moraes Novo, Evlyn Márcia;Levesley, Aurora;Libalah, Moses B.;Licona, Juan Carlos;Lima Filho, Diógenes de Andrade;Lindsell, Jeremy A.;Lopes, Aline;Lopes, Maria Aparecida;Lovett, Jon C.;Lowe, Richard;Lozada, José Rafael;Lu, Xinghui;Luambua, Nestor K.;Luize, Bruno Garcia;Maas, Paul;Magalhães, José Leonardo Lima;Magnusson, William E.;Mahayani, Ni Putu Diana;Makana, Jean-Remy;Malhi, Yadvinder;Maniguaje Rincón, Lorena;Mansor, Asyraf;Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto;Marimon, Beatriz S.;Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur;Marshall, Andrew R.;Martins, Maria Pires;Mbayu, Faustin M.;de Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante;Mesones, Italo;Metali, Faizah;Mihindou, Vianet;Millet, Jerome;Milliken, William;Mogollón, Hugo F.;Molino, Jean-François;Mohd. Said, Mohd. Nizam;Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel;Montero, Juan Carlos;Moore, Sam;Mostacedo, Bonifacio;Mozombite Pinto, Linder Felipe;Mukul, Sharif Ahmed;Munishi, Pantaleo K. T.;Nagamasu, Hidetoshi;Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça;Nascimento, Marcelo Trindade;Neill, David;Nilus, Reuben;Noronha, Janaína Costa;Nsenga, Laurent;Núñez Vargas, Percy;Ojo, Lucas;Oliveira, Alexandre A.;de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida;Ondo, Fidèle Evouna;Palacios Cuenca, Walter;Pansini, Susamar;Pansonato, Marcelo Petratti;Paredes, Marcos Ríos;Paudel, Ekananda;Pauletto, Daniela;Pearson, Richard G.;Pena, José Luis Marcelo;Pennington, R. Toby;Peres, Carlos A.;Permana, Andrea;Petronelli, Pascal;Peñuela Mora, Maria Cristina;Phillips, Juan Fernando;Phillips, Oliver L.;Pickavance, Georgia;Piedade, Maria Teresa Fernandez;Pitman, Nigel C. A.;Ploton, Pierre;Popelier, Andreas;Poulsen, John R.;Prieto, Adriana;Primack, Richard B.;Priyadi, Hari;Qie, Lan;Quaresma, Adriano Costa;de Queiroz, Helder Lima;Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma;Ramos, José Ferreira;Reis, Neidiane Farias Costa;Reitsma, Jan;Revilla, Juan David Cardenas;Riutta, Terhi;Rivas-Torres, Gonzalo;Robiansyah, Iyan;Rocha, Maira;Rodrigues, Domingos de Jesus;Rodriguez-Ronderos, M. Elizabeth;Rovero, Francesco;Rozak, Andes H.;Rudas, Agustín;Rutishauser, Ervan;Sabatier, Daniel;Sagang, Le Bienfaiteur;Sampaio, Adeilza Felipe;Samsoedin, Ismayadi;Satdichanh, Manichanh;Schietti, Juliana;Schöngart, Jochen;Scudeller, Veridiana Vizoni;Seuaturien, Naret;Sheil, Douglas;Sierra, Rodrigo;Silman, Miles R.;Silva, Thiago Sanna Freire;da Silva Guimarães, José Renan;Simo-Droissart, Murielle;Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni;Sist, Plinio;Sousa, Thaiane R.;de Sousa Farias, Emanuelle;de Souza Coelho, Luiz;Spracklen, Dominick V.;Stas, Suzanne M.;Steinmetz, Robert;Stevenson, Pablo R.;Stropp, Juliana;Sukri, Rahayu S.;Sunderland, Terry C. H.
Published
2024
Publisher
Nature
Abstract
Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1–6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.
Keywords
biodiversity; ecosystem ecology; forest ecology; macroecology; tropical ecology

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PUB36299