Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Nature, Jahrgang 641, Nr. 8061, 16024, 01.05.2025, S. 129-136.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests
AU - Author collaboration for "Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests"
AU - Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
AU - Rifai, Sami W.
AU - Deng, Xiongjie
AU - ter Steege, Hans
AU - Thomson, Eleanor
AU - Corral-Rivas, Jose Javier
AU - Guimaraes, Aretha Franklin
AU - Muller, Sandra
AU - Klipel, Joice
AU - Fauset, Sophie
AU - Resende, Angelica F.
AU - Wallin, Göran
AU - Joly, Carlos A.
AU - Abernethy, Katharine
AU - Adu-Bredu, Stephen
AU - Alexandre Silva, Celice
AU - de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida
AU - Almeida, Danilo R.A.
AU - Alvarez-Davila, Esteban
AU - Asner, Gregory P.
AU - Baker, Timothy R.
AU - Benchimol, Maíra
AU - Bentley, Lisa Patrick
AU - Berenguer, Erika
AU - Blanc, Lilian
AU - Bonal, Damien
AU - Bordin, Kauane
AU - Borges de Lima, Robson
AU - Both, Sabine
AU - Cabezas Duarte, Jaime
AU - Cardoso, Domingos
AU - de Lima, Haroldo C.
AU - Cavalheiro, Larissa
AU - Cernusak, Lucas A.
AU - dos Santos Prestes, Nayane Cristina C.
AU - da Silva Zanzini, Antonio Carlos
AU - da Silva, Ricardo José
AU - dos Santos Alves da Silva, Robson
AU - de Andrade Iguatemy, Mariana
AU - De Sousa Oliveira, Tony César
AU - Dechant, Benjamin
AU - Derroire, Géraldine
AU - Dexter, Kyle G.
AU - Rodrigues, Domingos J.
AU - Espírito-Santo, Mário
AU - Silva, Letícia Fernandes
AU - Domingues, Tomas Ferreira
AU - Ferreira, Joice
AU - Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni
AU - Girardin, Cécile A.J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025/5/1
Y1 - 2025/5/1
N2 - Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere’s most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy1,2. However, in most Earth System Models, the diverse and heterogeneous tropical forest biome is represented as a largely uniform ecosystem with either a singular or a small number of fixed canopy ecophysiological properties3. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically4. Here, by combining field-collected data from more than 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate and soil data, we predict variation across 13 morphological, structural and chemical functional traits of trees, and use this to compute and map the functional diversity of tropical forests. Our findings reveal that the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. Tropical American forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical African and Asian forests. Meanwhile, African forests have the highest functional divergence—32% and 7% higher than that of tropical American and Asian forests, respectively. An uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. Our predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.
AB - Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere’s most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy1,2. However, in most Earth System Models, the diverse and heterogeneous tropical forest biome is represented as a largely uniform ecosystem with either a singular or a small number of fixed canopy ecophysiological properties3. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically4. Here, by combining field-collected data from more than 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate and soil data, we predict variation across 13 morphological, structural and chemical functional traits of trees, and use this to compute and map the functional diversity of tropical forests. Our findings reveal that the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. Tropical American forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical African and Asian forests. Meanwhile, African forests have the highest functional divergence—32% and 7% higher than that of tropical American and Asian forests, respectively. An uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. Our predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.
KW - Biology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105004072043&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2
DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 40044867
AN - SCOPUS:105004072043
VL - 641
SP - 129
EP - 136
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 8061
M1 - 16024
ER -