Biodiversity and climate determine the functioning of Neotropical forests

Poorter, Lourens; Sande, Masha T. van der; Arets, E.J.M.M.; Ascarrunz, Nataly; Enquist, Brian J.; Finegan, Bryan; Licona, Juan Carlos; Martı́nez-Ramos, Miguel; Mazzei, Lucas; Meave, Jorge A.; Muñoz, Rodrigo; Nytch, Christopher J.; Oliveira, Alexandre Adalardo de; Pérez‐García, Eduardo A.; Prado-Júnior, Jamir; Rodríguez-Velázques, Jorge; Ruschel, Ademir Roberto; Salgado‐Negret, Beatriz; Schiavini, Ivan; Swenson, Nathan G.; Tenorio, Elkin A.; Thompson, Jill; Toledo, Marisol; Uriarte, María; Hout, P. van der; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Peña-Claros, Marielos

doi:10.1111/geb.12668

Cited by 222 publications

(269 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…For example, it would be very interesting to explore the underlying ecological mechanisms (in one integrative SEM) for the "big-sized trees effect" on initial biomass stock, and then on biomass growth, recruitment, and mortality (or considering net biomass change only), while accounting for the effects of abiotic factors as well as multiple metrics of species diversity and stand structure (Poorter et al, 2017;Rozendaal et al, 2017;Yuan et al, 2019). For example, it would be very interesting to explore the underlying ecological mechanisms (in one integrative SEM) for the "big-sized trees effect" on initial biomass stock, and then on biomass growth, recruitment, and mortality (or considering net biomass change only), while accounting for the effects of abiotic factors as well as multiple metrics of species diversity and stand structure (Poorter et al, 2017;Rozendaal et al, 2017;Yuan et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climatic moisture index (CMI; mean annual precipitation − mean annual potential evapotranspiration) was used as an indicator for climatic water availability Poorter et al, 2017),…”

Section: Climatic Water Availability and Soil Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surprisingly, the effect of big-sized trees is not clearly tested on diversity-structure-biomass relationships in forest ecosystems (e.g., Ali et al, 2019a;Ali, Lohbeck, et al, 2018;Paquette & Messier, 2011;Poorter et al, 2017). Yet, the following four main research aspects are crucial to advance our understanding in this research field: (a) effect of big-sized trees relative to species richness on aboveground biomass; (b) considering the effects of multiple attributes of bigsized trees (e.g., large-diameter, tall-stature, and big-crown trees);…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Big‐sized trees overrule remaining trees' attributes and species richness as determinants of aboveground biomass in tropical forests

Ali

Lin

Kong³

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Large‐diameter, tall‐stature, and big‐crown trees are the main stand structures of forests, generally contributing a large fraction of aboveground biomass, and hence play an important role in climate change mitigation strategies. Here, we hypothesized that the effects of large‐diameter, tall‐stature, and big‐crown trees overrule the effects of species richness and remaining trees attributes on aboveground biomass in tropical forests (i.e., we term the “big‐sized trees hypothesis”). Specifically, we assessed the importance of: (a) the “top 1% big‐sized trees effect” relative to species richness; (b) the “99% remaining trees effect” relative to species richness; and (c) the “top 1% big‐sized trees effect” relative to the “99% remaining trees effect” and species richness on aboveground biomass. Using environmental factor and forest inventory datasets from 712 tropical forest plots in Hainan Island of southern China, we tested several structural equation models for disentangling the relative effects of big‐sized trees, remaining trees attributes, and species richness on aboveground biomass, while considering for the full (indirect effects only) and partial (direct and indirect effects) mediation effects of climatic and soil conditions, as well as interactions between species richness and trees attributes. We found that top 1% big‐sized trees attributes strongly increased aboveground biomass (i.e., explained 55%–70% of the accounted variation) compared to species richness (2%–18%) and 99% remaining trees attributes (6%–10%). In addition, species richness increased aboveground biomass indirectly via increasing big‐sized trees but via decreasing remaining trees. Hence, we show that the “big‐sized trees effect” overrides the effects of remaining trees attributes and species richness on aboveground biomass in tropical forests. This study also indicates that big‐sized trees may be more susceptible to atmospheric drought. We argue that the effects of big‐sized trees on species richness and aboveground biomass should be tested for better understanding of the ecological mechanisms underlying forest functioning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climatic moisture index (CMI; mean annual precipitation − mean annual potential evapotranspiration) was used as an indicator for climatic water availability Poorter et al, 2017),…”

Section: Climatic Water Availability and Soil Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Big‐sized trees overrule remaining trees' attributes and species richness as determinants of aboveground biomass in tropical forests

Ali

Lin

Kong³

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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“…Many moist forests also experience seasonality in water availability (e.g., in the southern and eastern Amazon), but the dry season is three months or less and subsurface water remains available to trees (Guan et al, 2015). The systems also differ in the rate at which they accrue and cycle carbon, with trees in moist forests growing more quickly and storing more total carbon (Murphy and Lugo, 1986;Poorter et al, 2017). There are often differences in soil fertility, with dry forests occurring on more fertile soils, which facilitates their ability to shed their leaves as they can readily afford to grow new ones.…”

Section: Transitions Between Moist Forest and Dry Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inserting Tropical Dry Forests Into the Discussion on Biome Transitions in the Tropics

et al. 2018

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Tropical moist forests and savannas are iconic biomes. There is, however, a third principal biome in the lowland tropics that is less well known: tropical dry forest. Discussions on responses of vegetation in the tropics to climate and land-use change often focus on shifts between forests and savannas, but ignore dry forests. Tropical dry forests are distinct from moist forests in their seasonal drought stress and consequent deciduousness and differ from savannas in rarely experiencing fire. These factors lead tropical dry forests to have unique ecosystem function. Here, we discuss the underlying environmental drivers of transitions among tropical dry forests, moist forests and savannas, and demonstrate how incorporating tropical dry forests into our understanding of tropical biome transitions is critical to understanding the future of tropical vegetation under global environmental change.

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“…Forest dynamics can be measured by changes in tree community biomass and density, variables which are mediated by tree growth, recruitment and mortality processes. These processes are directly influenced by both biotic and abiotic conditions, and in turn affect net community biomass changes and ecosystem functions (Lohbeck, Poorter, Martínez‐Ramos, & Bongers, ; Poorter et al., ; Prado‐Junior et al., ; van der Sande, Peña‐Claros, et al., ). Reliable estimations of biomass changes are lacking for Brazilian Atlantic forest (Rolim, Jesus, Nascimento, do Couto, & Chambers, ), and also for the subtropical portion of this region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of subtropical forest dynamics: The role of functional traits, forest structure and soil variables

Bordin

Müller

2019

J Vegetation Science

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Question How do biotic forest conditions, in terms of plant functional traits and tree basal area, and soil variables influence old‐growth forest dynamics? Location A subtropical old‐growth forest in Southern Brazil. Methods Forest inventories were conducted in 1999 and 2017, in 24 permanent plots of 500 m2. All trees with a circumference at breast height of ≥ 30 cm were measured, identified to the species level, and tagged. We fitted linear models to evaluate the effect of the biotic variables of initial forest communities (tree basal area, trait community‐weighted mean [CWM] and both species and functional diversity metrics) and of soil variables on forest dynamics. These models included biomass dynamics (annual rate of biomass increment and mortality) and demographic rates (recruitment and mortality rates). Furthermore, linear models were used to evaluate the effect of tree survival, recruitment and mortality and biomass increment on the net biomass change. Results We observed a positive effect of species diversity and a negative effect of CWM leaf phosphorus content on the biomass increment. Biomass loss was positively related to basal area and negatively related to the CWM of leaf nitrogen content. Overall, net biomass change was negatively influenced by biomass loss due to mortality. Recruitment rates were negatively affected by soil potassium content and were positively affected by soil pH and functional evenness of the community. Mortality rates were positively predicted by soil clay content and negatively predicted by species diversity. Conclusions Community functional traits, basal area and soil variables predicted growth, mortality and recruitment dynamics of this subtropical old‐growth forest. This work provides important information about the biomass and demographic dynamics of subtropical forests, showing that initial community characteristics influence the gain and loss of biomass and individuals over a period of almost two decades.

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Biodiversity and climate determine the functioning of Neotropical forests

Cited by 222 publications

References 49 publications

Big‐sized trees overrule remaining trees' attributes and species richness as determinants of aboveground biomass in tropical forests

Big‐sized trees overrule remaining trees' attributes and species richness as determinants of aboveground biomass in tropical forests

Inserting Tropical Dry Forests Into the Discussion on Biome Transitions in the Tropics

Drivers of subtropical forest dynamics: The role of functional traits, forest structure and soil variables

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