An estimate of the number of tropical tree species


Abstract:

The 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.

Año de publicación:

2015

Keywords:

  • Pantropical
  • Spatial richness patterns
  • Diversity estimation
  • Tropical tree species richness
  • Fisher's log series

Fuente:

scopusscopus
googlegoogle

Tipo de documento:

Article

Estado:

Acceso abierto

Áreas de conocimiento:

  • Biodiversidad
  • Biodiversidad
  • Biodiversidad

Áreas temáticas de Dewey:

  • Plantas conocidas por sus características y flores
Procesado con IAProcesado con IA

Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible:

  • ODS 15: Vida de ecosistemas terrestres
  • ODS 13: Acción por el clima
  • ODS 17: Alianzas para lograr los objetivos
Procesado con IAProcesado con IA