While Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, the abundance of trees is skewed strongly towards relatively few ‘hyperdominant' species. In addition to their diversity, Amazonian trees are a key component of the global carbon cycle, assimilating and storing more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Here we ask, using a unique data set of 530 forest plots, if the functions of storing and producing woody carbon are concentrated in a small number of tree species, whether the most abundant species also dominate carbon cycling, and whether dominant species are characterized by specific functional traits. We find that dominance of forest function is even more concentrated in a few species than is dominance of tree abundance, with only ≈1% of Amazon tree species responsible for 50% of carbon storage and productivity. Although those species that contribute most to biomass and productivity are often abundant, species maximum size is also influential, while the identity and ranking of dominant species varies by function and by region.

The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate.

Analyses of forest loss and protected areas suggest that 36 to 57% of Amazonian tree flora may qualify as “globally threatened.”

The carbon sink capacity of tropical forests is substantially affected by tree mortality. However, the main drivers of tropical tree death remain largely unknown. Here we present a pan-Amazonian assessment of how and why trees die, analysing over 120,000 trees representing > 3800 species from 189 long-term RAINFOR forest plots. While tree mortality rates vary greatly Amazon-wide, on average trees are as likely to die standing as they are broken or uprooted—modes of death with different ecological consequences. Species-level growth rate is the single most important predictor of tree death in Amazonia, with faster-growing species being at higher risk. Within species, however, the slowest-growing trees are at greatest risk while the effect of tree size varies across the basin. In the driest Amazonian region species-level bioclimatic distributional patterns also predict the risk of death, suggesting that these forests are experiencing climatic conditions beyond their adaptative limits. These results provide not only a holistic pan-Amazonian picture of tree death but large-scale evidence for the overarching importance of the growth–survival trade-off in driving tropical tree mortality.

Lineages tend to retain ecological characteristics of their ancestors through time. However, for some traits, selection during evolutionary history may have also played a role in determining trait values. To address the relative importance of these processes requires large-scale quantification of traits and evolutionary relationships among species. The Amazonian tree flora comprises a high diversity of angiosperm lineages and species with widely differing life-history characteristics, providing an excellent system to investigate the combined influences of evolutionary heritage and selection in determining trait variation. We used trait data related to the major axes of life-history variation among tropical trees (e.g. growth and mortality rates) from 577 inventory plots in closed-canopy forest, mapped onto a phylogenetic hypothesis spanning more than 300 genera including all major angiosperm clades to test for evolutionary constraints on traits. We found significant phylogenetic signal (PS) for all traits, consistent with evolutionarily related genera having more similar characteristics than expected by chance. Although there is also evidence for repeated evolution of pioneer and shade tolerant life-history strategies within independent lineages, the existence of significant PS allows clearer predictions of the links between evolutionary diversity, ecosystem function and the response of tropical forests to global change.

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia is best approximated by a logseries with aggregated individuals, where aggregation increases with rarity. By averaging several methods to estimate total richness, we confirm that over 15,000 tree species are expected to occur in Amazonia. We also show that using ten times the number of plots would result in an increase to just ~50% of those 15,000 estimated species. To get a more complete sample of all tree species, rigorous field campaigns may be needed but the number of trees in Amazonia will remain an estimate for years to come.

Comparações fl orísticas e estruturais entre duas comunidades lenhosas de cerrado típico e cerrado rupestre, Mato Grosso, Brasil RESUMO (Comparações fl orísticas e estruturais entre duas comunidades lenhosas de cerrado típico e cerrado rupestre, Mato Grosso, Brasil). Comparou-se a riqueza, a composição fl orística e a estrutura da vegetação lenhosa entre um hectare de cerrado rupestre (CR) e um de cerrado típico (CT) no leste Mato-grossense. A riqueza registrada (CT = 79 e CR = 71) e estimada pelo método de bootstrap (CT = 86,7 ± 2,3 e CR = 75,8 ± 1,8) foi maior no CT, mas o índice de diversidade foi igual entre as duas fi sionomias (3,58 no CT e 3,56 no CR; teste t de Hutcheson = t 2;0,05 = 0,43, p > 0,05). Apesar da elevada similaridade fl orística (Sørensen = 0,75 e Morisita = 0,73), a análise de ordenação (DCA) separou as parcelas do CT e do CR, indicando a seleção de espécies nas duas fi sionomias. Foram registradas altas porcentagens de indivíduos mortos no CT (28,1%) e no CR (17,3%), devido à ocorrência de uma queimada quatro meses antes da amostragem da vegetação. A área basal por parcela foi maior no CR, enquanto as densidades por parcela, as alturas e os diâmetros medianos dos indivíduos, não diferiram entre as duas fi sionomias, sugerindo que o solo raso e o afl oramento rochoso no CR não limitaram o estabelecimento e o desenvolvimento da fl ora lenhosa.Palavras-chave: diversidade, fogo, savana, substrato rochoso Letícia Gomes 1,2 , Eddie Lenza 1 , Leandro Maracahipes 1 , Beatriz Schwantes Marimon 1 e Edmar Almeida de Oliveira 1 ABSTRACT (Floristic and structural comparisons of two woody communities of typical and rocky cerrado in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil). In this work, the vegetation richness, fl oristic composition and the structure of woody plants of 1 hectare of rocky cerrado ("cerrado rupestre") (CR) and 1 hectare of typical cerrado (CT), in eastern Mato Grosso, were compared. Th e observed (CT = 79 and CR = 71) and the estimated richness (CT = 86.7 ± 2.3 and CR = 75.8 ± 1.8), using bootstrap analysis, were higher in the CT, but the diversity index was the same for both physiognomies (3.58 in CT and 3.56 in CR; Hutcheson t test = t 2;0.05 = 0.43, p > 0.05). Despite high fl oristic similarity (Sørensen = 0.75 and Morisita = 0.73), the ordination analysis (DCA) separated the CT and CR plots, which indicated species selection in both physiognomies. A percentage of dead individuals in CT (28.1%) and CR (17.3%), due to fi res four months before sampling took place, was also found. Th e CR basal area per plot was higher, and densities per plot, heights and mean diameters of individuals did not diff er between both physiognomies, which suggests that the shallow soil and rocky outcrop of CR have not limited the establishment and development of the woody fl ora.

2020. Competition influences tree growth, but not mortality, across environmental gradients in Amazonia and tropical Africa. Ecology 101(7): e03052.