Hyperdominance in the Amazonian Tree Flora

Abstract

The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 tree species, of which just 227 (1.4%) account for half of all trees. Most of these are habitat specialists and only dominant in one or two regions of the basin. We discuss some implications of the finding that a small group of species-less diverse than the North American tree flora-accounts for half of the world's most diverse tree community

The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation

“…Accordingly, scholarly assumptions about the timing of significant anthropogenic impacts on tropical forests generally point to the post-industrial era or, at the earliest, the colonial era of European 'discovery' [26][27] . Clearly, the accumulating database of archaeological and palaeoecological evidence for pre-industrial and pre-colonial tropical forest occupation and transformation has not been effectively communicated beyond a restricted set of sub-disciplines (though see [28][29][30][31] ). As a consequence, this evidence has only played a small role in discussions about the start date or characteristics of the Anthropocene (e.g.…”

Rivers shape population genetic structure in Mauritia flexuosa (Arecaceae)

“…This palm is also used for raw material for construction and for different handicrafts (Santos & Coelho‐Ferreira, 2011) and its fruits, leaves, and seeds are sold widely in markets (Gilmore, Endress, & Horn, 2013). Mauritia flexuosa has been termed a “hyperdominant” species (Steege et al., 2013), in which population densities are five times higher than expected by chance, and that has recently been attributed to human use and tending practices associated to its use (Levis et al., 2017; Rull & Montoya, 2014). …”

Palm community transitions along a topographic gradient from floodplain to terra firme in the eastern Amazon

“…Socratea exorrhiza, the third palm species in our proposed rank of association at the 51 st BIS forest is also a hyperdominant species, the 9 th most abundant tree in the Amazonian flora (ter Steege et al 2013). Within our studied palm community, it is the species with the largest distribution area across the Amazon basin and Central America (Henderson et al 1995).…”

“…It is a predominant species in the palm forests of the Amazon estuary floodplains, dominating an area of more than 10,000 km 2 (Anderson 1988). It was described as a "hyperdominant" species, the 6th in abundance in the Amazonian tree flora (ter Steege et al 2013). Nevertheless, few studies document the transition of this species distribution from floodplain to terra fime forests.…”