Susan G. W. Laurance

James Cook University

H-index: 70

Oceania-Australia

About Susan G. W. Laurance

Susan G. W. Laurance, With an exceptional h-index of 70 and a recent h-index of 53 (since 2020), a distinguished researcher at James Cook University, specializes in the field of Tropical Forest Ecology and Conservation Science.

His recent articles reflect a diverse array of research interests and contributions to the field:

One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Occupancy of urban roosts by spectacled flying‐foxes (Pteropus conspicillatus) is not affected by diurnal microclimate

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography

A comprehensive framework for vegetation succession

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Edge effects on tree architecture exacerbate biomass loss of fragmented Amazonian forests

Susan G. W. Laurance Information

University	James Cook University
Position	Associate Professor
Citations(all)	29758
Citations(since 2020)	12221
Cited By	23434
hIndex(all)	70
hIndex(since 2020)	53
i10Index(all)	132
i10Index(since 2020)	118
Email	Access Email
University Profile Page	James Cook University

Susan G. W. Laurance Skills & Research Interests

Tropical Forest Ecology and Conservation Science

Top articles of Susan G. W. Laurance

One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

Authors

John Ethan Householder,Florian Wittmann,Jochen Schöngart,Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade,Wolfgang J Junk,Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse,Adriano Costa Quaresma,Layon O Demarchi,Guilherme de S. Lobo,Daniel PP de Aguiar,Rafael L Assis,Aline Lopes,Pia Parolin,Iêda Leão do Amaral,Luiz de Souza Coelho,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Diógenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Rafael P Salomão,Carolina V Castilho,Juan Ernesto Guevara-Andino,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Oliver L Phillips,Dairon Cárdenas López,William E Magnusson,Daniel Sabatier,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Jean-François Molino,Mariana Victória Irume,Maria Pires Martins,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,José Ferreira Ramos,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Olaf S Bánki,Carlos A Peres,Nigel CA Pitman,Joseph E Hawes,Everton José Almeida,Luciane Ferreira Barbosa,Larissa Cavalheiro,Márcia Cléia Vilela Dos Santos,Bruno Garcia Luize,Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo,Percy Núñez Vargas,Thiago Sanna Freire Silva,Eduardo Martins Venticinque,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,John Terborgh,Katia Regina Casula,Flávia RC Costa,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,Juan Carlos Montero,Ted R Feldpausch,Gerardo A Aymard C,Chris Baraloto,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Julien Engel,Pascal Petronelli,Charles Eugene Zartman,Timothy J Killeen,Lorena Maniguaje Rincón,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon-Junior,Juliana Schietti,Thaiane R Sousa,Rodolfo Vasquez,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Dário Dantas do Amaral,Hernán Castellanos,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,William F Laurance,Susan GW Laurance,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,Maria Aparecida Lopes,José Leonardo Lima Magalhães,Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento,Helder Lima de Queiroz,Roel Brienen,Pablo R Stevenson,Alejandro Araujo-Murakami,Tim R Baker,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Hugo F Mogollón,Janaína Costa Noronha,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Miles R Silman,Leandro Valle Ferreira,Carolina Levis,José Rafael Lozada,James A Comiskey,Freddie C Draper,José Julio de Toledo,Gabriel Damasco,Nállarett Dávila,Roosevelt García-Villacorta,Alberto Vicentini,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Alfonso Alonso,Luzmila Arroyo,Francisco Dallmeier,Vitor HF Gomes,Eliana M Jimenez,David Neill,Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Kenneth J Feeley,Rogerio Gribel,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Jos Barlow,Erika Berenguer,Kyle G Dexter,Joice Ferreira,Paul VA Fine,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco,Juan Carlos Licona,Toby Pennington,Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra,Vincent Antoine Vos,Carlos Cerón,Émile Fonty,Terry W Henkel,Paul Maas,Edwin Pos,Marcos Silveira,Juliana Stropp,Raquel Thomas,Doug Daly,William Milliken,Guido Pardo Molina,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Bianca Weiss Albuquerque,Wegliane Campelo,Thaise Emilio,Alfredo Fuentes,Bente Klitgaard,José Luis Marcelo Pena,Priscila F Souza,J Sebastián Tello,Corine Vriesendorp,Jerome Chave

Journal

Nature ecology & evolution

Published Date

2024/3/11

Amazonia’s floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region’s floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within …

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Authors

Bruno Garcia Luize,David Bauman,Hans ter Steege,Clarisse Palma‐Silva,Iêda Leão Do Amaral,Luiz de Souza Coelho,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Diógenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Rafael P Salomão,Florian Wittmann,Carolina V Castilho,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Oliver L Phillips,William E Magnusson,Daniel Sabatier,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Jean‐François Molino,Mariana Victória Irume,Maria Pires Martins,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,José Ferreira Ramos,Olaf S Bánki,Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade,Dairon Cárdenas López,Nigel CA Pitman,Layon O Demarchi,Jochen Schöngart,Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo,Percy Núñez Vargas,Thiago Sanna Freire Silva,Eduardo Martins Venticinque,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,John Terborgh,Katia Regina Casula,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,Juan Carlos Montero,Flávia RC Costa,Ted R Feldpausch,Adriano Costa Quaresma,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Charles Eugene Zartman,Timothy J Killeen,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon‐Junior,Rodolfo Vasquez,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Rafael L Assis,Chris Baraloto,Dário Dantas Do Amaral,Julien Engel,Pascal Petronelli,Hernán Castellanos,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,William F Laurance,Susan GW Laurance,Lorena Maniguaje Rincón,Juliana Schietti,Thaiane R Sousa,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,Maria Aparecida Lopes,José Leonardo Lima Magalhães,Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento,Helder Lima de Queiroz,Gerardo A Aymard C,Roel Brienen,Pablo R Stevenson,Alejandro Araujo‐Murakami,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Tim R Baker,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Hugo F Mogollón,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Carlos A Peres,Miles R Silman,Leandro Valle Ferreira,José Rafael Lozada,James A Comiskey,José Julio de Toledo,Gabriel Damasco,Nállarett Dávila,Freddie C Draper,Roosevelt García‐Villacorta,Aline Lopes,Alberto Vicentini,Fernando Cornejo Valverd,Alfonso Alonso,Luzmila Arroyo,Francisco Dallmeier,Vitor HF Gomes,Eliana M Jimenez,David Neill,Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora,Janaína Costa Noronha,Daniel PP de Aguiar,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Yennie K Bredin,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Kenneth J Feeley,Rogerio Gribel,Torbjørn Haugaasen,Joseph E Hawes,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Jos Barlow,Erika Berenguer,Izaias Brasil da Silva,Maria Julia Ferreira,Joice Ferreira,Paul VA Fine,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Carolina Levis,Juan Carlos Licona,Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra,Vincent Antoine Vos,Carlos Cerón,Flávia Machado Durgante,Émile Fonty,Terry W Henkel,John Ethan Householder,Isau Huamantupa‐Chuquimaco,Marcos Silveira,Juliana Stropp,Raquel Thomas,Doug Daly,William Millike,Guido Pardo Molina,Toby Pennington,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Bianca Weiss Albuquerque,Wegliane Campelo,Alfredo Fuentes,Bente Klitgaard,José Luis Marcelo Pena,J Sebastián Tello,Corine Vriesendorp,Jerome Chave,Anthony Di Fiore,Renato Richard Hilário,Luciana de Oliveira Pereira,Juan Fernando Phillips,Gonzalo Rivas‐Torres

Journal

Journal of Biogeography

Published Date

2024/2/17

Aim Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types. Location Amazonia. Taxon Angiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots). Methods Data for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega‐phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran's eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We …

Occupancy of urban roosts by spectacled flying‐foxes (Pteropus conspicillatus) is not affected by diurnal microclimate

Authors

Camila Lopes,Cadhla Firth,Susan GW Laurance

Journal

Austral Ecology

Published Date

2024/2

One of the most significant changes to Earth's climate in recent decades has been an increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves. During heatwaves, animal's thermal window can be exceeded, and in extreme cases, mass mortality events have been observed. In 2018, a heatwave in north‐eastern Australia resulted in the death of approximately one‐third of the spectacled flying‐fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) population at urban roosts in Cairns. The species has now been listed as endangered with future heatwaves considered the greatest threat to its survival. In this study, we investigated long‐term climatic trends for Cairns, paying particular attention to the frequency of extreme heat events from 1943 to 2022. We then characterized the microclimate of urban flying‐fox roosts during the Austral summers of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 across Cairns to assess the long‐term feasibility of urban …

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Authors

Declan LM Cooper,Simon L Lewis,Martin JP Sullivan,Paulo I Prado,Hans Ter Steege,Nicolas Barbier,Ferry Slik,Bonaventure Sonké,Corneille EN Ewango,Stephen Adu-Bredu,Kofi Affum-Baffoe,Daniel PP de Aguiar,Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui,Shin-Ichiro Aiba,Bianca Weiss Albuquerque,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Alfonso Alonso,Christian A Amani,Dário Dantas Do Amaral,Iêda Leão Do Amaral,Ana Andrade,Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda,Ilondea B Angoboy,Alejandro Araujo-Murakami,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Luzmila Arroyo,Peter Ashton,Gerardo A Aymard C,Cláudia Baider,Timothy R Baker,Michael Philippe Bessike Balinga,Henrik Balslev,Lindsay F Banin,Olaf S Bánki,Chris Baraloto,Edelcilio Marques Barbosa,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Jos Barlow,Jean-Francois Bastin,Hans Beeckman,Serge Begne,Natacha Nssi Bengone,Erika Berenguer,Nicholas Berry,Robert Bitariho,Pascal Boeckx,Jan Bogaert,Bernard Bonyoma,Patrick Boundja,Nils Bourland,Faustin Boyemba Bosela,Fabian Brambach,Roel Brienen,David FRP Burslem,José Luís Camargo,Wegliane Campelo,Angela Cano,Sasha Cárdenas,Dairon Cárdenas López,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Yrma Andreina Carrero Márquez,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Luisa Fernanda Casas,Hernán Castellanos,Carolina V Castilho,Carlos Cerón,Colin A Chapman,Jerome Chave,Phourin Chhang,Wanlop Chutipong,George B Chuyong,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Connie J Clark,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,James A Comiskey,David A Coomes,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Diego F Correa,Flávia RC Costa,Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa,Pierre Couteron,Heike Culmsee,Aida Cuni-Sanchez,Francisco Dallmeier,Gabriel Damasco,Gilles Dauby,Nállarett Dávila,Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza,Jose Don T De Alban,Rafael L de Assis,Charles De Canniere,Thales De Haulleville,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Layon O Demarchi,Kyle G Dexter,Anthony Di Fiore,Hazimah Haji Mohammad Din,Mathias I Disney,Brice Yannick Djiofack,Marie-Noël K Djuikouo,Tran Van Do,Jean-Louis Doucet,Freddie C Draper,Vincent Droissart,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Julien Engel,Vittoria Estienne,William Farfan-Rios,Sophie Fauset,Kenneth J Feeley,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Ted R Feldpausch,Cid Ferreira,Joice Ferreira,Leandro Valle Ferreira,Christine D Fletcher,Bernardo Monteiro Flores,Alusine Fofanah,Ernest G Foli,Émile Fonty,Gabriella M Fredriksson,Alfredo Fuentes,David Galbraith,George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales,Karina Garcia-Cabrera,Roosevelt García-Villacorta,Vitor HF Gomes,Ricardo Zárate Gómez,Therany Gonzales,Rogerio Gribel,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Khalid Rehman Hakeem,Jefferson S Hall,Keith C Hamer,Alan C Hamilton,David J Harris,Rhett D Harrison,Terese B Hart,Andy Hector,Terry W Henkel,John Herbohn,Mireille BN Hockemba,Bruce Hoffman,Milena Holmgren,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco,Wannes Hubau,Nobuo Imai,Mariana Victória Irume

Journal

Nature

Published Date

2024/1/10

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 locations, , , , – 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 …

Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography

Authors

Alain Senghor K Ngute,David S Schoeman,Marion Pfeifer,Geertje MF van Der Heijden,Oliver L Phillips,Michiel van Breugel,Mason J Campbell,Chris J Chandler,Brian J Enquist,Rachael V Gallagher,Christoph Gehring,Jefferson S Hall,Susan Laurance,William F Laurance,Susan G Letcher,Wenyao Liu,Martin JP Sullivan,S Joseph Wright,Chunming Yuan,Andrew R Marshall

Journal

Global Change Biology

Published Date

2024/1

Growing evidence suggests that liana competition with trees is threatening the global carbon sink by slowing the recovery of forests following disturbance. A recent theory based on local and regional evidence further proposes that the competitive success of lianas over trees is driven by interactions between forest disturbance and climate. We present the first global assessment of liana–tree relative performance in response to forest disturbance and climate drivers. Using an unprecedented dataset, we analysed 651 vegetation samples representing 26,538 lianas and 82,802 trees from 556 unique locations worldwide, derived from 83 publications. Results show that lianas perform better relative to trees (increasing liana‐to‐tree ratio) when forests are disturbed, under warmer temperatures and lower precipitation and towards the tropical lowlands. We also found that lianas can be a critical factor hindering forest …

A comprehensive framework for vegetation succession

Authors

Lourens Poorter,Masha T van Der Sande,Lucy Amissah,Frans Bongers,Iris Hordijk,Jazz Kok,Susan GW Laurance,Miguel Martínez‐Ramos,Tomonari Matsuo,Jorge A Meave,Rodrigo Muñoz,Marielos Peña‐Claros,Michiel Van Breugel,Bruno Herault,Catarina C Jakovac,Edwin Lebrija‐Trejos,Natalia Norden,Madelon Lohbeck

Journal

Ecosphere

Published Date

2024/4

Succession is defined as a directional change in species populations, the community, and the ecosystem at a site following a disturbance. Succession is a fundamental concept in ecology as it links different disciplines. An improved understanding of succession is urgently needed in the Anthropocene to predict the widespread effects of global change on succession and ecosystem recovery, but a comprehensive successional framework (CSF) is lacking. A CSF is needed to synthesize results, draw generalizations, advance successional theory, and make improved decisions for ecosystem restoration. We first show that succession is an integral part of socio‐ecological system dynamics and that it is driven by social and ecological factors operating at different spatial scales, ranging from the patch to the globe. We then present a CSF at the local scale (patch and landscape) at which succession takes place and explain …

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Authors

JN FERREIRA,PVA FINE,MC GUEDES,EM JIMENEZ,JC LICONA,MC PEÑUELA MORA,BEV ZEGARRA,C CERÓN,E FONTY,TW HENKEL,JE HOUSEHOLDER,P MAAS,M SILVEIRA,J STROPP,R THOMAS,FM DURGANTE,TR BAKER,D DALY,I HUAMANTUPA-CHUQUIMACO,W MILLIKEN,T PENNINGTON,M RÍOS PAREDES,P MOLINA,A FUENTES,B KLITGAARD,JLM PEÑA,CA PERES,MR SILMAN,JS TELLO,W CAMPELO,J CHAVE,A DI FIORE,RR HILÁRIO,JF PHILLIPS,G RIVAS-TORRES,TR van ANDEL,P von HILDEBRAND,L de O PEREIRA,EM BARBOSA,FR BARBOSA,LC de M BONATES,R de S CARPANEDO,HPD DOZA,R ZÁRATE GÓMEZ,T GONZALES,GP GALLARDO GONZALES,B HOFFMAN,AB JUNQUEIRA,Y MALHI,IP de A MIRANDA,LFM PINTO,A PRIETO,D de J RODRIGUES,A RUDAS,AR RUSCHEL,N SILVA,CIA VELA,VA VOS,S ZENT,EL ZENT,JC NORONHA,BW ALBUQUERUQUE,A CANO,YA CARRERO MÁRQUEZ,JBP COSTA,BM FLORES,D GALBRAITH,M HOLMGREN,M KALAMANDEEN,MT NASCIMENTO,AA OLIVEIRA,H RAMIREZ-ANGULO,M ROCHA,VV SCUDELLER,R SIERRA,M TIRADO,G HEIJDEN,EV TORRE,C VRIESENDORP,MM POMBO,MAA REATEGUI,C BAIDER,H BALSLEV,S CÁRDENAS,LF CASAS,W FARFAN-RIOS,C FERREIRA,R LINARES-PALOMINO,C MENDONZA,I MESONES,A TORRES-LEZAMA,LEU GIRALDO,D VILLARROEL,R ZAGT,GA PARADA,MN ALEXIADES,EA de OLIVEIRA,K GARCIA-CABRERA,L HERNANDEZ,WP CUENCA,S PANSINI,D PAULETTO,FR AREVALO,AF SAMPAIO,EHV SANDOVAL,LV GAMARRA,H ter STEEGE,DF CORREA,PR STEVENSON,MN UMAÑA,L de S COELHO,D de A LIMA FILHO,RP SALOMÃO,IL do AMARAL,F WITTMANN,FD de A MATOS,CV de CASTILHO,OL PHILLIPS,JE GUEVARA,M CARIM,WE MAGNUSSON,D SABATIER,J-F MOLINO,MV IRUME,MP MARTINS,JR da S GUIMARÃES,OS BÁNKI,MTF PIEDADE,NCA PITMAN,A MONTEAGUDO MENDOZA,JF RAMOS,BG LUIZE,EMM de L NOVO,P NÚÑEZ VARGAS,TSF SILVA,EM VENTICINQUE,AG MANZATTO,NFC REIS,JW TERBORGH,KR CASULA,ENH CORONADO,JC MONTERO,J SCHÖNGART,D CÁRDENAS LÓPEZ,FRC COSTA,AC QUARESMA,CE ZARTMAN,TJ KILLEEN,BS MARIMON,BH MARIMON-JUNIOR

Published Date

2022

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by th...

Edge effects on tree architecture exacerbate biomass loss of fragmented Amazonian forests

Authors

Matheus Henrique Nunes,Marcel Caritá Vaz,José Luís Campana Camargo,William F Laurance,Ana de Andrade,Alberto Vicentini,Susan Laurance,Pasi Raumonen,Toby Jackson,Gabriela Zuquim,Jin Wu,Josep Peñuelas,Jérôme Chave,Eduardo Eiji Maeda

Journal

Nature Communications

Published Date

2023/12/14

Habitat fragmentation could potentially affect tree architecture and allometry. Here, we use ground surveys of terrestrial LiDAR in Central Amazonia to explore the influence of forest edge effects on tree architecture and allometry, as well as forest biomass, 40 years after fragmentation. We find that young trees colonising the forest fragments have thicker branches and architectural traits that optimise for light capture, which result in 50% more woody volume than their counterparts of similar stem size and height in the forest interior. However, we observe a disproportionately lower height in some large trees, leading to a 30% decline in their woody volume. Despite the substantial wood production of colonising trees, the lower height of some large trees has resulted in a net loss of 6.0 Mg ha−1 of aboveground biomass – representing 2.3% of the aboveground biomass of edge forests. Our findings indicate a strong …

Successional theories

Authors

Lourens Poorter,Lucy Amissah,Frans Bongers,Iris Hordijk,Jazz Kok,Susan GW Laurance,Madelon Lohbeck,Miguel Martínez‐Ramos,Tomonari Matsuo,Jorge A Meave,Rodrigo Muñoz,Marielos Peña‐Claros,Masha T van der Sande

Published Date

2023/12

Succession is a fundamental concept in ecology because it indicates how species populations, communities, and ecosystems change over time on new substrate or after a disturbance. A mechanistic understanding of succession is needed to predict how ecosystems will respond to land‐use change and to design effective ecosystem restoration strategies. Yet, despite a century of conceptual advances a comprehensive successional theory is lacking. Here we provide an overview of 19 successional theories (‘models’) and their key points, group them based on conceptual similarity, explain conceptual development in successional ideas and provide suggestions how to move forward. Four groups of models can be recognised. The first group (patch & plants) focuses on plants at the patch level and consists of three subgroups that originated in the early 20th century. One subgroup focuses on the processes (dispersal …

The influence of forest structure on the abundance, biomass, and composition of lianas in tropical forest fragments

Authors

Marinho NdT,RJ Burnham,EE Maeda,MH Nunes,WF Laurance,SG Laurance,ACS de Andrade,JLC Camargo

Published Date

2023/11/20

Deforestation in the Amazon creates fragmented landscapes and increases the exposure of forest remnants to altered microclimates, leading to forest structural changes that can alter vegetation density and the forest's vertical profile. Trees are crucial to defining tropical forest structure, but lianas contribute as much as 25% of species and can intercept 10–20% of the total light in forest. While much is known about the effects of forest fragmentation on trees, much less is known about lianas. Our study aimed to understand how the liana structure and composition community respond to forest fragmentation, especially forest-structural changes and distance to forest edge, in Central Amazonia. We used data from 1,336 individuals (diameter-at-breast-height≥ 2 cm) of 172 liana species recorded in 2 ha of forest. Then, we tested the relationship of abundance, biomass, number of species and species composition as a function of forest structural parameters obtained through Terrestrial LiDAR, a 3D-remote-sensing technique, and distance to forest edge. At sites with a lower density of canopy vegetation, liana abundance and species richness both increased. However, increases in liana biomass and changes in liana species composition occurred only near forest edges. We conclude that unanalyzed factors, such as microclimatic variation and intrinsic characteristics of lianas, may be affecting liana community composition. In the long term, the effect of reduced canopy density on liana abundance and climate change may cause further changes in liana species composition in forest fragments.

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora

Authors

Hans Ter Steege,Nigel CA Pitman,Iêda Leão Do Amaral,Luiz de Souza Coelho,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Diógenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Rafael P Salomão,Florian Wittmann,Carolina V Castilho,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Oliver L Phillips,William E Magnusson,Daniel Sabatier,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Jean-François Molino,Mariana Victória Irume,Maria Pires Martins,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,José Ferreira Ramos,Olaf S Bánki,Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade,Dairon Cárdenas López,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Layon O Demarchi,Jochen Schöngart,Everton José Almeida,Luciane Ferreira Barbosa,Larissa Cavalheiro,Márcia Cléia Vilela Dos Santos,Bruno Garcia Luize,Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo,Percy Núñez Vargas,Thiago Sanna Freire Silva,Eduardo Martins Venticinque,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,John Terborgh,Katia Regina Casula,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,Juan Carlos Montero,Flávia RC Costa,Ted R Feldpausch,Adriano Costa Quaresma,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Charles Eugene Zartman,Timothy J Killeen,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon-Junior,Rodolfo Vasquez,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Rafael L Assis,Chris Baraloto,Dário Dantas Do Amaral,Julien Engel,Pascal Petronelli,Hernán Castellanos,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,William F Laurance,Susan GW Laurance,Lorena Maniguaje Rincón,Juliana Schietti,Thaiane R Sousa,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,Maria Aparecida Lopes,José Leonardo Lima Magalhães,Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento,Helder Lima de Queiroz,Gerardo A Aymard C,Roel Brienen,Pablo R Stevenson,Alejandro Araujo-Murakami,Tim R Baker,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Hugo F Mogollón,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Carlos A Peres,Miles R Silman,Leandro Valle Ferreira,José Rafael Lozada,James A Comiskey,Freddie C Draper,José Julio de Toledo,Gabriel Damasco,Roosevelt García-Villacorta,Aline Lopes,Alberto Vicentini,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Alfonso Alonso,Luzmila Arroyo,Francisco Dallmeier,Vitor HF Gomes,Eliana M Jimenez,David Neill,Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora,Janaína Costa Noronha,Daniel PP de Aguiar,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Yennie K Bredin,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Kenneth J Feeley,Rogerio Gribel,Torbjørn Haugaasen,Joseph E Hawes,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Jos Barlow,Erika Berenguer,Izaias Brasil da Silva,Maria Julia Ferreira,Joice Ferreira,Paul VA Fine,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Carolina Levis,Juan Carlos Licona,Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra,Vincent Antoine Vos,Carlos Cerón,Flávia Machado Durgante,Émile Fonty,Terry W Henkel,John Ethan Householder,Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco,Edwin Pos,Marcos Silveira,Juliana Stropp,Raquel Thomas,Doug Daly,Kyle G Dexter,William Milliken,Guido Pardo Molina,Toby Pennington,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Bianca Weiss Albuquerque,Wegliane Campelo,Alfredo Fuentes,Bente Klitgaard,José Luis Marcelo Pena,J Sebastián Tello,Corine Vriesendorp,Jerome Chave,Anthony Di Fiore,Renato Richard Hilário

Journal

Communications biology

Published Date

2023/11/8

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by forest type, as predictor, our spatial model, to the best of our knowledge, provides the most accurate map of tree diversity in Amazonia to date, explaining approximately 70% of the tree diversity and species-richness. Large soil-forest combinations determine a significant percentage of the variation in tree species-richness and tree alpha-diversity in Amazonian forest-plots. We suggest that the size and fragmentation of these systems drive their large-scale diversity patterns and hence local diversity. A model not using location but cumulative water deficit, tree density, and temperature seasonality explains 47% of the tree species-richness in the terra-firme forest in …

Vapour pressure deficit modulates hydraulic function and structure of tropical rainforests under nonlimiting soil water supply

Authors

Oliver Binks,Lucas A Cernusak,Michael Liddell,Matt Bradford,Ingrid Coughlin,Callum Bryant,Ana C Palma,Luke Hoffmann,Iftakharul Alam,Hannah J Carle,Lucy Rowland,Rafael S Oliveira,Susan GW Laurance,Maurizio Mencuccini,Patrick Meir

Journal

New Phytologist

Published Date

2023/11

Atmospheric conditions are expected to become warmer and drier in the future, but little is known about how evaporative demand influences forest structure and function independently from soil moisture availability, and how fast‐response variables (such as canopy water potential and stomatal conductance) may mediate longer‐term changes in forest structure and function in response to climate change. We used two tropical rainforest sites with different temperatures and vapour pressure deficits (VPD), but nonlimiting soil water supply, to assess the impact of evaporative demand on ecophysiological function and forest structure. Common species between sites allowed us to test the extent to which species composition, relative abundance and intraspecific variability contributed to site‐level differences. The highest VPD site had lower midday canopy water potentials, canopy conductance (gc), annual …

More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia

Authors

Vinicius Peripato,Carolina Levis,Guido A Moreira,Dani Gamerman,Hans Ter Steege,Nigel CA Pitman,Jonas G De Souza,José Iriarte,Mark Robinson,André Braga Junqueira,Thiago B Trindade,Fernando O De Almeida,Claide de Paula Moraes,Umberto Lombardo,Eduardo K Tamanaha,Shira Y Maezumi,Jean PHB Ometto,José RG Braga,Wesley A Campanharo,Henrique LG Cassol,Philipe R Leal,Mauro LR De Assis,Adriana M Da Silva,Oliver L Phillips,Flávia RC Costa,Bernardo Monteiro Flores,Bruce Hoffman,Terry W Henkel,Maria Natalia Umaña,William E Magnusson,Elvis H Valderrama Sandoval,Jos Barlow,William Milliken,Maria Aparecida Lopes,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Tinde R Van Andel,Susan GW Laurance,William F Laurance,Armando Torres-Lezama,Rafael L Assis,Jean-François Molino,Mickaël Mestre,Michelle Hamblin,Luiz de Souza Coelho,Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Florian Wittmann,Rafael P Salomão,Iêda Leão Amaral,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Carolina V Castilho,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Dairon Cárdenas López,Daniel Sabatier,Mariana Victória Irume,Maria Pires Martins,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,Olaf S Bánki,Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade,José Ferreira Ramos,Bruno Garcia Luize,Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo,Percy Núñez Vargas,Thiago Sanna Freire Silva,Eduardo Martins Venticinque,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,John Terborgh,Katia Regina Casula,Layon O Demarchi,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,Juan Carlos Montero,Jochen Schöngart,Ted R Feldpausch,Adriano Costa Quaresma,Gerardo A Aymard C,Chris Baraloto,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Julien Engel,Pascal Petronelli,Charles Eugene Zartman,Timothy J Killeen,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon-Junior,Juliana Schietti,Thaiane R Sousa,Rodolfo Vasquez,Lorena M Rincón,Erika Berenguer,Joice Ferreira,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Dário Dantas Do Amaral,Hernán Castellanos,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,José Leonardo Lima Magalhães,Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento,Helder Lima de Queiroz,Roel Brienen,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Pablo R Stevenson,Alejandro Araujo-Murakami,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Janaína da Costa de Noronha,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Hugo F Mogollón,Leandro Valle Ferreira,John Ethan Householder,José Rafael Lozada,James A Comiskey,Freddie C Draper,José Julio De Toledo,Gabriel Damasco,Nállarett Dávila,Roosevelt García-Villacorta,Aline Lopes,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Alfonso Alonso,Francisco Dallmeier,Vitor HF Gomes,Eliana M Jimenez,David Neill,Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora,Daniel PP De Aguiar,Luzmila Arroyo,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Kenneth J Feeley,Rogerio Gribel,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Izaias Brasil da Silva,Maria Julia Ferreira,Paul VA Fine,Émile Fonty,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Juan Carlos Licona,Toby Pennington,Carlos A Peres,Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra,Germaine Alexander Parada,Guido Pardo Molina,Vincent Antoine Vos

Journal

Science

Published Date

2023/10/6

Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years, but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from across the basin, of 24 previously undetected pre-Columbian earthworks beneath the forest canopy. Modeled distribution and abundance of large-scale archaeological sites across Amazonia suggest that between 10,272 and 23,648 sites remain to be discovered and that most will be found in the southwest. We also identified 53 domesticated tree species significantly associated with earthwork occurrence probability, likely suggesting past management practices. Closed-canopy forests across Amazonia are likely to contain thousands of undiscovered archaeological sites around which pre-Columbian societies actively modified forests, a discovery that opens …

Shoot flammability differences between forest and savanna trees are driven by leaf dry matter content

Authors

Alejandro Ortiz,Henry Maxwell Marinace,Joseph J Fisk,Lexi Hankenson,Ashley S Pacheco,Hannah D Goodman,Ebony Potts,Susan GW Laurance,Emily A Bischoff,Victoria F Holman,Sophia M Love,David YP Tng,Deborah MG Apgaua

Journal

Flora

Published Date

2023/10/1

Climate change has led to increased fire risk in many tropical regions, with concerning implications for fire-sensitive forests. Understanding the comparative fire ecology of co-occurring fire-prone and fire sensitive habitats and the drivers of canopy fires is paramount for recognizing fire risk and for selecting plants that may be planted in green firebreaks that could mitigate wildfire damage to these habitats. However, baseline plant flammability data is needed from both habitats. To accomplish this, we compared three flammability measures (maximum temperature, total burn time and burnt biomass) by burning branches of 35 species in a fire-protected forest and fire-prone savanna in tropical northeast Australia. We also measured a set of leaf functional traits (leaf area, leaf mass per unit area and leaf dry matter content) on these species and examined their relationship with shoot flammability. We found that maximum …

Giants of the Amazon: How does environmental variation drive the diversity patterns of large trees?

Authors

Robson Borges de Lima,Eric Bastos Görgens,Diego Armando S da Silva,Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira,Anderson Pedro B Batista,Rinaldo L Caraciolo Ferreira,Flavia RC Costa,Renato A Ferreira de Lima,Perseu da Silva Aparício,Jadson Coelho de Abreu,José Antônio Aleixo da Silva,Aretha Franklin Guimaraes,Philip M Fearnside,Thaiane R Sousa,Ricardo Perdiz,Niro Higuchi,Erika Berenguer,Angélica F Resende,Fernando Elias,Carolina Volkmer de Castilho,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,João Ramos de Matos Filho,Maurício Alves Sardinha,Márcio André Furtado Freitas,José Jussian da Silva,Aldemir Pereira da Cunha,Renan Mendes Santos,Adriane Esquivel Muelbert,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Reinaldo Imbrózio,Carla Samara Campelo de Sousa,Wegliane Campelo da Silva Aparício,Breno Marques da Silva e Silva,Celice Alexandre Silva,Beatriz Schwantes Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon Junior,Paulo S Morandi,Danielle Storck‐Tonon,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Juliana Schietti,Fernanda Coelho,Danilo R Alves de Almeida,Wendeson Castro,Samuel PC Carvalho,Robson dos Santos A da Silva,Juliana Silveira,José Luís Camargo,Karina Melgaço,Lucas Jose Mazzei de Freitas,Laura Vedovato,Maíra Benchimol,Gabriel de Oliveira de Almeida,Ghillean Prance,Alan Bernardes da Silveira,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Marcos Leandro Garcia,Marcos Silveira,Marcos Vital,Maryane BT Andrade,Natalino Silva,Raimunda Oliveira de Araújo,Larissa Cavalheiro,Rainiellen Carpanedo,Letícia Fernandes,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Ricardo TG de Andrade,William E Magnusson,Bill Laurance,Bruce Walker Nelson,Carlos Peres,Douglas C Daly,Domingos Rodrigues,Ana Paula Zopeletto,Edmar Almeida de Oliveira,Estelle Dugachard,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Flavia Santana,Iêda Leão do Amaral,Leandro V Ferreira,Leandro S Charão,Joice Ferreira,Jos Barlow,Lilian Blanc,Luiz Aragão,Plinio Sist,Rafael de Paiva Salomão,Antônio Sérgio Lima da Silva,Susan Laurance,Ted R Feldpausch,Toby Gardner,Wagner Santiago,William Balee,William F Laurance,Yadvinder Malhi,Oliver L Phillips,Antônio Carlos da Silva Zanzini,Clarissa Rosa,Wagner Tadeu Oliveira,Lucas Pereira Zanzini,Ricardo José Silva,Ana Luisa Mangabeira Albernaz

Journal

Global Change Biology

Published Date

2023/9

For more than three decades, major efforts in sampling and analyzing tree diversity in South America have focused almost exclusively on trees with stems of at least 10 and 2.5 cm diameter, showing highest species diversity in the wetter western and northern Amazon forests. By contrast, little attention has been paid to patterns and drivers of diversity in the largest canopy and emergent trees, which is surprising given these have dominant ecological functions. Here, we use a machine learning approach to quantify the importance of environmental factors and apply it to generate spatial predictions of the species diversity of all trees (dbh ≥ 10 cm) and for very large trees (dbh ≥ 70 cm) using data from 243 forest plots (108,450 trees and 2832 species) distributed across different forest types and biogeographic regions of the Brazilian Amazon. The diversity of large trees and of all trees was significantly …

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Authors

Raquel L Carvalho,Angelica F Resende,Jos Barlow,Filipe M França,Mario R Moura,Rafaella Maciel,Fernanda Alves-Martins,Jack Shutt,Cassio A Nunes,Fernando Elias,Juliana M Silveira,Lis Stegmann,Fabricio B Baccaro,Leandro Juen,Juliana Schietti,Luiz Aragão,Erika Berenguer,Leandro Castello,Flavia RC Costa,Matheus L Guedes,Cecilia G Leal,Alexander C Lees,Victoria Isaac,Rodrigo O Nascimento,Oliver L Phillips,Fernando Augusto Schmidt,Hans Ter Steege,Fernando Vaz-de-Mello,Eduardo M Venticinque,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Jansen Zuanon,Filipe França,Joice Ferreira,Adem Nagibe dos Santos Geber Filho,Ademir Ruschel,Adolfo Ricardo Calor,Adriana de Lima Alves,Adriane Esquivel Muelbert,Adriano Quaresma,Alberto Vicentini,Alexandra Rocha da Piedade,Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira,Alexandre Aleixo,Alexandre Casadei-Ferreira,Alexandre Gontijo,Alexandre Hercos,Aline Andriolo,Aline Lopes,Aline Pontes-Lopes,Allan Paulo Moreira dos Santos,Amanda Batista da Silva de Oliveira,Amanda Frederico Mortati,Ana Karina Moreyra Salcedo,Ana Luisa Albernaz,Ana Luisa Fares,Ana Luiza Andrade,Ana Maria Oliveira Pes,Ana Paula Justino Faria,Anderson Pedro Bernadina Batista,Anderson Puker,Anderson S Bueno,André Braga Junqueira,André Luiz Ramos Holanda de Andrade,André Ricardo Ghidini,André V Galuch,Andressa Silvana Oliveira de Menezes,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Anne Sthephane AS Correa,Antonio CM Queiroz,Antonio Carlos da Silva Zanzini,Antonio Miguel Olivo Neto,Antonio Willian Flores de Melo,Aretha Franklin Guimaraes,Arlison Bezerra Castro,Augusto Borges,Aurélia Bentes Ferreira,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon-Junior,Bernardo M Flores,Bethânia Oliveira de Resende,Bianca Weiss Albuquerque,Boris Villa,Bradley Davis,Bruce Nelson,Bruce Williamson,Bruna Santos Bitencourt de Melo,Bruno BL Cintra,Bruno Borges Santos,Bruno da Silveira Prudente,Bruno Garcia Luize,Bruno Spacek Godoy,Cameron L Rutt,Camila Duarte Ritter,Camila VJ Silva,Carla Rodrigues Ribas,Carlos A Peres,Carlos Augusto Silva de Azevêdo,Carlos Freitas,Carlos Leandro Cordeiro,Carlos Rodrigo Brocardo,Carolina Castilho,Carolina Levis,Carolina Rodrigues da Costa Doria,Caroline C Arantes,Cássia Anicá dos Santos,Catarina C Jakovac,Celice Alexandre Silva,Cesar João Benetti,Chaim Lasmar,Charles J Marsh,Christian Borges Andretti,Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira,Cintia Cornelius,Clarissa Alves da Rosa,Cláudia Baider,Cláudia G Gualberto,Claudia Pereira de Deus,Cláudio da Silva Monteiro Jr,Cláudio Rabelo dos Santos Neto,Cleonice Maria Cardoso Lobato,Cleverson Rannieri Meira dos Santos,Cristian Camilo Mendoza Penagos,Daniel da Silva Costa,Daniel Luis Mascia Vieira,Daniel Praia Portela de Aguiar,Daniel Silas Veras,Daniela Pauletto,Danielle de Lima Braga,Danielle Storck-Tonon,Daniely da Frota Almeida,Danyhelton Douglas,Dário Dantas do Amaral,Darlene Gris,David Luther,David P Edwards,David Pedroza Guimarães,Deane Cabral dos Santos,Débora Rodrigues de Souza Campana,Denis Silva Nogueira,Dennis Rodrigues da Silva,Dhâmyla Bruna de Souza Dutra,Dian Carlos Pinheiro Rosa,Diego Armando Silva da Silva,Diego Pedroza,Diego V Anjos,Diego Viana Melo Lima,Divino V Silvério,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Douglas Bastos,Douglas Daly

Journal

Current Biology

Published Date

2023/8/21

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase …

Economics and optics influence funding for ecological restoration in a nation-wide program

Authors

Jayden E Engert,Susan GW Laurance

Journal

Environmental Research Letters

Published Date

2023/5/9

Australia is a world leader in habitat loss and species extinction, and for many species, ecological restoration will be necessary for continued persistence. Between 2014 and 2018, the Australian federal government allocated a substantial portion of funding for threatened species recovery to a nation-wide ecological restoration program called'20 Million Trees Land-care Program', which included a competitive grant round. By comparing successful and unsuccessful grant applications, we were able to identify factors associated with restoration funding allocation. We then assessed the Program's ability to provide benefits to threatened species by analyzing the overlap between restoration projects and threatened species habitat. We found that funding allocation under the 20 Million Trees Program was primarily driven by'value for money'factors, specifically'cost per tree'and number of trees planted. Additionally, projects …

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

Authors

Edwin Pos,Luiz de Souza Coelho,Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Rafael P Salomão,Iêda Leão Amaral,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Carolina V Castilho,Oliver L Phillips,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,Dairon Cárdenas López,William E Magnusson,Florian Wittmann,Mariana Victória Irume,Maria Pires Martins,Daniel Sabatier,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,Jean-François Molino,Olaf S Bánki,Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade,Nigel CA Pitman,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,José Ferreira Ramos,Joseph E Hawes,Everton José Almeida,Luciane Ferreira Barbosa,Larissa Cavalheiro,Márcia Cléia Vilela Dos Santos,Bruno Garcia Luize,Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo,Percy Núñez Vargas,Thiago Sanna Freire Silva,Eduardo Martins Venticinque,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,John Terborgh,Katia Regina Casula,Euridice N Honorio Coronado,Juan Carlos Montero,Beatriz S Marimon,Ben Hur Marimon-Junior,Ted R Feldpausch,Alvaro Duque,Chris Baraloto,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Julien Engel,Pascal Petronelli,Charles Eugene Zartman,Timothy J Killeen,Rodolfo Vasquez,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Rafael L Assis,Jochen Schöngart,Hernán Castellanos,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,Layon O Demarchi,William F Laurance,Susan GW Laurance,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,Maria Aparecida Lopes,José Leonardo Lima Magalhães,Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento,Helder Lima de Queiroz,Gerardo AC Aymard,Roel Brienen,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Flávia RC Costa,Adriano Quaresma,Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira,Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra,Pablo R Stevenson,Yuri Oliveira Feitosa,Joost F Duivenvoorden,Hugo F Mogollón,Leandro Valle Ferreira,James A Comiskey,Freddie Draper,José Julio de Toledo,Gabriel Damasco,Nállarett Dávila,Roosevelt García-Villacorta,Aline Lopes,Alberto Vicentini,Janaína Costa Noronha,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Thaise Emilio,Carolina Levis,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Juliana Schietti,Priscila Souza,Alfonso Alonso,Francisco Dallmeier,Vitor HF Gomes,Jon Lloyd,David Neill,Daniel Praia Portela de Aguiar,Alejandro Araujo-Murakami,Luzmila Arroyo,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Dário Dantas do Amaral,Kenneth J Feeley,Rogerio Gribel,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Jos Barlow,Erika Berenguer,Joice Ferreira,Paul VA Fine,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Eliana M Jimenez,Juan Carlos Licona,Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora,Carlos A Peres,Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra,Carlos Cerón,Terry W Henkel,Paul Maas,Marcos Silveira,Juliana Stropp,Raquel Thomas-Caesar,Tim R Baker,Doug Daly,Kyle G Dexter,John Ethan Householder,Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco,Toby Pennington,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Alfredo Fuentes,José Luis Marcelo Pena,Miles R Silman,J Sebastián Tello,Jerome Chave,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Anthony Di Fiore,Renato Richard Hilário,Juan Fernando Phillips,Gonzalo Rivas-Torres,Tinde R van Andel,Patricio von Hildebrand,Edelcilio Marques Barbosa,Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates,Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza,Émile Fonty,Ricardo Zárate Gómez,Therany Gonzales,George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales

Journal

Scientific reports

Published Date

2023/2/17

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative …

Assessing the effects of a drought experiment on the reproductive phenology and ecophysiology of a wet tropical rainforest community

Authors

Nara Vogado,Susan G Laurance,Michael J Liddell,Jayden E Engert,Christopher M Wurster,Michele Schiffer,Andrew Thompson,Cassandra Nichols,Lucas A Cernusak

Journal

Conservation Physiology

Published Date

2023

Climate change is expected to increase the intensity and occurrence of drought in tropical regions, potentially affecting the phenology and physiology of tree species. Phenological activity may respond to a drying and warming environment by advancing reproductive timing and/or diminishing the production of flowers and fruits. These changes have the potential to disrupt important ecological processes, with potentially wide-ranging effects on tropical forest function. Here, we analysed the monthly flowering and fruiting phenology of a tree community (337 individuals from 30 species) over 7 years in a lowland tropical rainforest in northeastern Australia and its response to a throughfall exclusion drought experiment (TFE) that was carried out from 2016 to 2018 (3 years), excluding approximately 30% of rainfall. We further examined the ecophysiological effects of the TFE on the elemental (C:N) and stable isotope …

Local hydrological conditions influence tree diversity and composition across the Amazon basin

Authors

Manuel J Marca‐Zevallos,Gabriel M Moulatlet,Thaiane R Sousa,Juliana Schietti,Luiz de Souza Coelho,José Ferreira Ramos,Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho,Iêda Leão Amaral,Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos,Lorena M Rincón,Juan David Cardenas Revilla,Marcelo Petratti Pansonato,Rogério Gribel,Edelcilio Marques Barbosa,Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda,Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates,Juan Ernesto Guevara,Rafael P Salomão,Leandro Valle Ferreira,Dário Dantas do Amaral,Nigel CA Pitman,Corine Vriesendorp,Tim R Baker,Roel Brienen,Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim,José Renan da Silva Guimarães,Percy Núñez Vargas,Isau Huamantupa‐Chuquimaco,William F Laurance,Susan GW Laurance,Ana Andrade,José Luís Camargo,Abel Monteagudo Mendoza,Rodolfo Vasquez,Luis Valenzuela Gamarra,Hugo F Mogollón,Ben Hur Marimon‐Junior,Beatriz S Marimon,Timothy J Killeen,Emanuelle de Sousa Farias,David Neill,Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros,Marcelo Fragomeni Simon,John Terborgh,Juan Carlos Montero,Juan Carlos Licona,Bonifacio Mostacedo,Roosevelt García‐Villacorta,Alejandro Araujo‐Murakami,Luzmila Arroyo,Daniel Villarroel,Nállarett Dávila,Fernanda Coelho de Souza,Fernanda Antunes Carvalho,James A Comiskey,Alfonso Alonso,Francisco Dallmeier,Alexandre A Oliveira,Carolina V Castilho,Jon Lloyd,Ted R Feldpausch,Marcos Ríos Paredes,Nicolás Castaño Arboleda,Dairon Cárdenas López,Gerardo A Aymard Corredor,Anthony Di Fiore,Agustín Rudas,Adriana Prieto,Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa,Janaína Costa Noronha,Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues,Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo,Eurídice N Honorio Coronado,Carlos A Peres,William Milliken,Alfredo Fuentes,J Sebastián Tello,Carlos Cerón,Bente Klitgaard,Milton Tirado,Rodrigo Sierra,Kenneth R Young,Gonzalo Francisco Rivas‐Torres,Pablo R Stevenson,Angela Cano,Ophelia Wang,Cláudia Baider,Jos Barlow,Joice Ferreira,Erika Berenguer,Juliana Stropp,Henrik Balslev,Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui,Italo Mesones,Elvis H Valderrama Sandoval,Therany Gonzales,Susamar Pansini,Neidiane Farias Costa Reis,Adeilza Felipe Sampaio,Vincent Antoine Vos,Walter Palacios Cuenca,Angelo Gilberto Manzatto,William Farfan‐Rios,Miles R Silman,Karina Garcia‐Cabrera,Patricio von Hildebrand,Marcelino Carneiro Guedes,Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa,Juan Fernando Phillips,César IA Vela,José Julio de Toledo,Daniela Pauletto,Fernando Cornejo Valverde,Maria Natalia Umaña,Oliver L Phillips,William E Magnusson,Hans Ter Steege,Flávia RC Costa

Journal

Ecography

Published Date

2022/11

Tree diversity and composition in Amazonia are known to be strongly determined by the water supplied by precipitation. Nevertheless, within the same climatic regime, water availability is modulated by local topography and soil characteristics (hereafter referred to as local hydrological conditions), varying from saturated and poorly drained to well‐drained and potentially dry areas. While these conditions may be expected to influence species distribution, the impacts of local hydrological conditions on tree diversity and composition remain poorly understood at the whole Amazon basin scale. Using a dataset of 443 1‐ha non‐flooded forest plots distributed across the basin, we investigate how local hydrological conditions influence 1) tree alpha diversity, 2) the community‐weighted wood density mean (CWM‐wd) – a proxy for hydraulic resistance and 3) tree species composition. We find that the effect of local …

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