TY - JOUR
T1 - An estimate of the number of tropical tree species
AU - Slik, J. W. Ferry
AU - Arroyo-rodríguez, Víctor
AU - Aiba, Shin-ichiro
AU - Alvarez-loayza, Patricia
AU - Alves, Luciana F.
AU - Ashton, Peter
AU - Balvanera, Patricia
AU - Bastian, Meredith L.
AU - Bellingham, Peter J.
AU - Van Den Berg, Eduardo
AU - Bernacci, Luis
AU - Da Conceição Bispo, Polyanna
AU - Blanc, Lilian
AU - Böhning-gaese, Katrin
AU - Boeckx, Pascal
AU - Bongers, Frans
AU - Boyle, Brad
AU - Bradford, Matt
AU - Brearley, Francis Q.
AU - Breuer-ndoundou Hockemba, Mireille
AU - Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh
AU - Calderado Leal Matos, Darley
AU - Castillo-santiago, Miguel
AU - Catharino, Eduardo L. M.
AU - Chai, Shauna-lee
AU - Chen, Yukai
AU - Colwell, Robert K.
AU - Chazdon, Robin L.
AU - Clark, Connie
AU - Clark, David B.
AU - Clark, Deborah A.
AU - Culmsee, Heike
AU - Damas, Kipiro
AU - Dattaraja, Handanakere S.
AU - Dauby, Gilles
AU - Davidar, Priya
AU - Dewalt, Saara J.
AU - Doucet, Jean-louis
AU - Duque, Alvaro
AU - Durigan, Giselda
AU - Eichhorn, Karl A. O.
AU - Eisenlohr, Pedro V.
AU - Eler, Eduardo
AU - Ewango, Corneille
AU - Farwig, Nina
AU - Harris, David
AU - Thomas, Duncan W.
AU - Williams, John
PY - 2015/6/16
Y1 - 2015/6/16
N2 - he 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.
AB - he 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.
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1423147112
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1423147112
M3 - Article
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 112
SP - 7472
EP - 7477
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
IS - 24
ER -