The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼ 40,000 and ∼ 53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼ 19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼ 4,500-6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa.

Much of the world's tropical forests have been affected by anthropogenic disturbance. These forests are important biodiversity reservoirs whose diversity, structure and function must be characterized across the successional sequence. We examined changes in structure and diversity along a successional gradient in the lowlands of New Guinea. To do this, we measured and identified all stems ≥5 cm diameter in 19 0.25 ha plots ranging in age from 3 to >50 yr since disturbance. We also measured plant functional traits related to establishment, performance, and competitive ability. In addition, we examined change in forest structure, composition, species diversity, and functional diversity through succession. By using rarefaction to estimate functional diversity, we compared changes in functional diversity while controlling for associated differences in stem and species density. Basal area and species density increased with stand age while stem density was highest in intermediate secondary forests. Species composition differed strongly between mature and secondary forests. As forests increased in basal area, community-weighted mean wood density and foliar carbon increased, whereas specific leaf area and proportion of stems with exudate decreased. Foliar nitrogen peaked in medium-aged forests. Functional diversity was highest in mature forests, even after accounting for differences in stem and species diversity. Our study represents one of the first attempts to document successional changes in New Guinea's lowland forest. We found robust evidence that as succession proceeds, communities occupy a greater range of functional trait space even after controlling for stem and species density. High functional diversity is important for ecological resiliency in the face of global change.Abstract in Melanesian pidgin is available in the online version of this article.

SignificanceIdentifying and explaining regional differences in tropical forest dynamics, structure, diversity, and composition are critical for anticipating region-specific responses to global environmental change. Floristic classifications are of fundamental importance for these efforts. Here we provide a global tropical forest classification that is explicitly based on community evolutionary similarity, resulting in identification of five major tropical forest regions and their relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. African and American forests are grouped, reflecting their former western Gondwanan connection, while Indo-Pacific forests range from eastern Africa and Madagascar to Australia and the Pacific. The connection between northern-hemisphere Asian and American forests is confirmed, while Dry forests are identified as a single tropical biome.

We characterized a plant•caterpillar food web from secondary vegetation in a New Guiñean rain forest that included 63 plant species (87.5% of the total basal area), 546 Lepidoptera species and 1679 trophic links between them. The strongest 14 associations involved 50% of all individual caterpillars while some links were extremely rare. A caterpillar randomly picked from the vegetation will, with > 50% probability, (1) feed on one to three host plants (of the 63 studied), (2) feed on < 20% of local plant biomass and (3) have > 90% of population concentrated on a single host plant species. Generalist species were quantitatively unimportant. Caterpillar assemblages on locally monotypic plant genera were distinct, while sympatric congeneric hosts shared many caterpillar species. The partitioning of the plant-caterpillar food web thus depends on the composition of the vegetation. In secondary forest the predominant plant genera were locally monotypic and supported locally isolated caterpillar assemblages.

Abbreviations g(r) or PCF = pair correlation function; j mm (r) = mark correlation function; j id (r) = distance decay (similarity) function; c(r) = mark variogram; NM = null model. NomenclatureFull names of species are in Table S1. AbstractQuestions: How do spatial patterns of tree distribution and species co-occurrence differ between primary and secondary tropical rain forests? What signatures of ecological processes might be discerned by comparing the spatial patterns of trees between primary and secondary forest plots?Location: Tropical rain forest vegetation, lowlands of Papua New Guinea.Methods: All trees over 5 cm DBH were surveyed in two non-replicated 1-ha plots situated in primary and secondary forest. Grid location, DBH, height and species identity were recorded for all surveyed trees. Analysis of the spatial pattern and the autocorrelation of tree sizes and identities were used to assess the structure of the forest found within the plots. Functions combining Ripley's K and the individual species-area relationship were applied to study the spatial distribution of trees and species diversity.Results: The spatial distribution of common species, and all stems collectively, was aggregated in the secondary forest plot but not different from random in the primary forest plot. Diameter and height were also strongly spatially auto-correlated in the secondary forest plot but not in the primary forest plot. Conspecific aggregations were more common in the secondary forest plot. Finally, the secondary forest plot was characterized by the presence of diversity-repelling species and lower diversity than the primary forest plot, where diversityaccumulating species were present. Conclusions:We attribute the weaker autocorrelation of tree size in the primary forest to the development of size hierarchies throughout the course of stand aging. The conspecific aggregation and low local diversity within the secondary forest plot are likely caused by dispersal limitation during a brief period of establishment after disturbance. The higher local diversity of the primary forest can be explained by the reduction of species aggregation through increased mortality of conspecifics. This is caused by strong intraspecific competition, supporting the spatial segregation hypothesis (interspecific spatial segregation).