Phylogenetic classification of the world’s tropical forests

Abstract

Knowledge about the biogeographic affinities of the world’s tropical forests helps to better understand regional differences in forest structure, diversity, composition, and dynamics. Such understanding will enable anticipation of region-specific responses to global environmental change. Modern phylogenies, in combination with broad coverage of species inventory data, now allow for global biogeographic analyses that take species evolutionary distance into account. Here we present a classification of the world’s tropical forests based on their phylogenetic similarity. We identify five principal floristic regions and their floristic relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. Our results do not support the traditional neo- versus paleotropical forest division but instead separate the combined American and African forests from their Indo-Pacific counterparts. We also find indications for the existence of a global dry forest region, with representatives in America, Africa, Madagascar, and India. Additionally, a northern-hemisphere Subtropical forest region was identified with representatives in Asia and America, providing support for a link between Asian and American northern-hemisphere forests.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Slik, JWF Franklin, J Arroyo-Rodriguez, V Field, R Aguilar, S Aguirre, N Ahumada, J Aiba, SI Alves, LF Anitha, K Avella, A Mora, F Aymard C, GA Báez, S Balvanera, P Bastian, ML Bastin, JF Bellingham, PJ van den Berg, E da Conceição Bispo, P Boeckx, P Boehning-Gaese, K Bongers, F Boyle, B Brambach, F Brearley, FQ Brown, S Chai, SL Chazdon, RL Chen, S Chhang, P Chuyong, G Corneille, E Coronado, IM Cristóbal-Azkarate, J Culmsee, H Damas, K Dattaraja, HS Davidar, P DeWalt, SJ Din, H Drake, DR Duque, A Durigan, G Eichhorn, K Eler, ES Enoki, T Ensslin, A Fandohan, AB Farwig, N Feeley, KJ Fischer, M Forshed, O Souza Garcia, Q Garkoti, SC Gillespie, TW Gillet, JF Gonmadje, C Granzow-de la Cerda, I Griffith, DM Grogan, J Hakeem, KR Harris, DJ Harrison, RD Hector, A Hemp, A Homeier, J Hussain, MS Ibarra-Manríquez, G Faridah Hanum, I Imai, N Jansen, PA Joly, CA Joseph, S Kartawinata, K Kearsley, E Kelly, DL Kessler, M Killeen, TJ Kooyman, R Laumonier, Y Laurance, SG Laurance, WF Lawes, MJ Letcher, SG Lindsell, J Lovett, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5839-3770 Lozada, J Lu, X Lykke, AM Mahmud, KB Mahayani, NPD Mansor, A Marshall, AR Martin, EH Calderado Leal Matos, D Meave, JA Melo, FPL Mendoza, ZHA Metali, F Medjibe, VP Metzger, JP Metzker, T Mohandass, D Munguía-Rosas, MA Muñoz, R Nurtjahy, E de Oliveira, EL Onrizal Parolin, P Parren, M Parthasarathy, N Paudel, E Perez, R Pérez-García, EA Pommer, U Poorter, L Qie, L Piedade, MTF Pinto, JRR Poulsen, AD Poulsen, JR Powers, JS Prasad, RC Puyravaud, JP Rangel, O Reitsma, J Rocha, DSB Rolim, S Rovero, F Rozak, A Ruokolainen, K Rutishauser, E Rutten, G Said, MNM Saiter, FZ Saner, P Santos, B dos Santos, JR Sarker, SK Schmitt, CB Schoegart, J Schulze, M Sheil, D Sist, P Souza, AF Spironello, WR Sposito, T Steinmetz, R Stevart, T Suganuma, MS Sukri, R Sultana, A Sukumar, R Sunderland, T Supriyadi Suresh, HS Suzuki, E Tabarelli, M Tang, J Tanner, EVJ Targhetta, N Theilade, I Thomas, D Timberlake, J de Morrison Valeriano, M van Valkenburg, J Van Do, T Van Sam, H Vandermeer, JH Verbeeck, H Vetaas, OR Adekunle, V Vieira, SA Webb, C Webb, E Whitfield, T Wich, S Williams, J Wiser, S Wittman, F Yang, X Yao, CYA Yap, SL Zahawi, RA Zakaria, R Zang, R
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Copyright (c) 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords:	biogeographic legacies; forest classification; forest functional; similarity; phylogenetic community distance; tropical forests
Dates:	Accepted: 22 December 2017 Published (online): 5 February 2018 Published: 20 February 2018
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Publications
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2018 14:35
Last Modified:	23 Jun 2023 22:41
Status:	Published
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
Identification Number:	10.1073/pnas.1714977115
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:125722