Luize, B.G., Tuomisto, H., Ekelschot, R. et al. (222 more authors) (2024) The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora. Communications Biology, 7. 1240. ISSN 2399-3642
Abstract
We describe the geographical variation in tree species composition across Amazonian forests and show how environmental conditions are associated with species turnover. Our analyses are based on 2023 forest inventory plots (1 ha) that provide abundance data for a total of 5188 tree species. Within-plot species composition reflected both local environmental conditions (especially soil nutrients and hydrology) and geographical regions. A broader-scale view of species turnover was obtained by interpolating the relative tree species abundances over Amazonia into 47,441 0.1-degree grid cells. Two main dimensions of spatial change in tree species composition were identified. The first was a gradient between western Amazonia at the Andean forelands (with young geology and relatively nutrient-rich soils) and central–eastern Amazonia associated with the Guiana and Brazilian Shields (with more ancient geology and poor soils). The second gradient was between the wet forests of the northwest and the drier forests in southern Amazonia. Isolines linking cells of similar composition crossed major Amazonian rivers, suggesting that tree species distributions are not limited by rivers. Even though some areas of relatively sharp species turnover were identified, mostly the tree species composition changed gradually over large extents, which does not support delimiting clear discrete biogeographic regions within Amazonia.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/B503384/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/F005806/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/I02982X/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/D01025X/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/I028122/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/D005590/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Oct 2024 09:33 |
Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2024 09:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Portfolio |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s42003-024-06937-5 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:217879 |