Hyperdominance in Amazonian forest carbon cycling

Abstract

While Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, the abundance of trees is skewed strongly towards relatively few â € hyperdominantâ €™ species. In addition to their diversity, Amazonian trees are a key component of the global carbon cycle, assimilating and storing more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Here we ask, using a unique data set of 530 forest plots, if the functions of storing and producing woody carbon are concentrated in a small number of tree species, whether the most abundant species also dominate carbon cycling, and whether dominant species are characterized by specific functional traits. We find that dominance of forest function is even more concentrated in a few species than is dominance of tree abundance, with only â ‰1% of Amazon tree species responsible for 50% of carbon storage and productivity. Although those species that contribute most to biomass and productivity are often abundant, species maximum size is also influential, while the identity and ranking of dominant species varies by function and by region.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Fauset, S Johnson, MO https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2608-501X Gloor, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9384-6341 Baker, TR https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3251-1679 Monteagudo M, A Brienen, RJW https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5397-5755 Feldpausch, TR Lopez-Gonzalez, G https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-8830 Malhi, Y Ter Steege, H Pitman, NCA Baraloto, C Engel, J Pétronelli, P Andrade, A Camargo, JLC Laurance, SGW Laurance, WF Chave, J Allie, E Vargas, PN Terborgh, JW Ruokolainen, K Silveira, M Aymard C, GA Arroyo, L Bonal, D Ramirez-Angulo, H Araujo-Murakami, A Neill, D Hérault, B Dourdain, A Torres-Lezama, A Marimon, BS Salomão, RP Comiskey, JA Réjou-Méchain, M Toledo, M Licona, JC Alarcón, A Prieto, A Rudas, A Van Der Meer, PJ Killeen, TJ Marimon Junior, BH Poorter, L Boot, RGA Stergios, B Torre, EV Costa, FRC Levis, C Schietti, J Souza, P Groot, N Arets, E Moscoso, VC Castro, W Coronado, ENH Peña-Claros, M Stahl, C Barroso, J Talbot, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6520-4560 Vieira, ICG Van Der Heijden, G Thomas, R Vos, VA Almeida, EC Davila, E Aragão, LEOC Erwin, TL Morandi, PS De Oliveira, EA Valadão, MBX Zagt, RJ Van Der Hout, P Loayza, PA Pipoly, JJ Wang, O Alexiades, M Cerón, CE Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, I Di Fiore, A Peacock, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1344-4335 Camacho, NCP Umetsu, RK De Camargo, PB Burnham, RJ Herrera, R Quesada, CA Stropp, J Vieira, SA Steininger, M Rodríguez, CR Restrepo, Z Muelbert, AE Lewis, SL Pickavance, GC Phillips, OL https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8993-6168
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2015, Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Dates:	Published: 28 April 2015 Accepted: 4 March 2015
Institution:	The University of Leeds
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Transport Studies (Leeds) > ITS: Sustainable Transport Policy (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > Ecology & Global Change (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) > River Basin Processes & Management (Leeds) > SOG: water@leeds
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number EU - European Union 291585 (ERC 2011 ADG)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Publications
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2015 11:24
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2020 17:40
Published Version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7857
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Identification Number:	10.1038/ncomms7857
Related URLs:	Author
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:87384

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Hyperdominance in Amazonian forest carbon cycling

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