TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal drought limits tree species across the Neotropics
AU - Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane
AU - Baker, Timothy R.
AU - Dexter, Kyle G.
AU - Lewis, Simon L.
AU - ter Steege, Hans
AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela
AU - Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel
AU - Brienen, Roel
AU - Feldpausch, Ted R.
AU - Pitman, Nigel
AU - Alonso, Alfonso
AU - van der Heijden, Geertje
AU - Peña-Claros, Marielos
AU - Ahuite, Manuel
AU - Alexiaides, Miguel
AU - Álvarez Dávila, Esteban
AU - Murakami, Alejandro Araujo
AU - Arroyo, Luzmila
AU - Aulestia, Milton
AU - Balslev, Henrik
AU - Barroso, Jorcely
AU - Boot, Rene
AU - Cano, Angela
AU - Chama Moscoso, Victor
AU - Comiskey, James A.
AU - Cornejo, Fernando
AU - Dallmeier, Francisco
AU - Daly, Douglas C.
AU - Dávila, Nallarett
AU - Duivenvoorden, Joost F.
AU - Duque Montoya, Alvaro Javier
AU - Erwin, Terry
AU - Di Fiore, Anthony
AU - Fredericksen, Todd
AU - Fuentes, Alfredo
AU - García-Villacorta, Roosevelt
AU - Gonzales, Therany
AU - Guevara Andino, Juan Ernesto
AU - Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.
AU - Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau
AU - Killeen, Timothy J.
AU - Malhi, Yadvinder
AU - Mendoza, Casimiro
AU - Mogollón, Hugo
AU - Jørgensen, Peter Møller
AU - Montero, Juan Carlos
AU - Mostacedo, Bonifacio
AU - Nauray, William
AU - Neill, David
AU - Vargas, Percy Núñez
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is a product of the RAINFOR and ATDN networks and of ForestPlots.net researchers (< www.forestplots.net >). RAINFOR and ForestPlots have been supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (283080, ?GEOCARBON?; 282664, ?AMAZALERT?); European Research Council (ERC) grant ?Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System? (T-FORCES), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency Grant and NERC Consortium Grants ?AMAZONICA? (NE/F005806/1) and ?TROBIT? (NE/D005590/1). Additional funding for fieldwork was provided by Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a collaboration among Conservation International, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Inst., and the Wildlife Conservation Society. AEM receives a PhD scholarship from the T-FORCES ERC grant. OLP is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. We thank Jon J. Lloyd, Chronis Tzedakis and David Galbraith for helpful comments and Dylan Young for helping with the analyses. This study would not be possible without the extensive contributions of numerous field assistants and rural communities in the Neotropical forests. Alfredo Alarc?n, Patricia Alvarez Loayza, Pl?nio Barbosa Camargo, Juan Carlos Licona, Alvaro Cogollo, Massiel Corrales Medina, Jose Daniel Soto, Gloria Gutierrez, Nestor Jaramillo Jarama, Laura Jessica Viscarra, Irina Mendoza Polo, Alexander Parada Gutierrez, Guido Pardo, Lourens Poorter, Adriana Prieto, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Agust?n Rudas, Rebeca Sibler and Javier Silva Espejo additionally contributed data to this study though their RAINFOR participations. We further thank those colleagues no longer with us, Jean Pierre Veillon, Samuel Almeida, Sandra Pati?o and Raimundo Saraiva. Many data come from Alwyn Gentry, whose example has inspired new generations to investigate the diversity of the Neotropics.
Funding Information:
This paper is a product of the RAINFOR and ATDN networks and of ForestPlots.net researchers (< www.forestplots.net >). RAINFOR and ForestPlots have been supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant, the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (283080, ‘GEOCARBON’; 282664, ‘AMAZALERT’); European Research Council (ERC) grant ‘Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System’ (T-FORCES), and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Urgency Grant and NERC Consortium Grants ‘AMAZONICA’ (NE/F005806/1) and ‘TROBIT’ (NE/D005590/1). Additional funding for fieldwork was provided by Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a collaboration among Conservation International, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Inst., and the Wildlife Conservation Society. AEM receives a PhD scholarship from the T-FORCES ERC grant. OLP is supported by an ERC Advanced Grant and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. We thank Jon J. Lloyd, Chronis Tzedakis and David Galbraith for helpful comments and Dylan Young for helping with the analyses. This study would not be possible without the extensive contributions of numerous field assistants and rural communities in the Neotropical forests. Alfredo Alarcón, Patricia Alvarez Loayza, Plínio Barbosa Camargo, Juan Carlos Licona, Alvaro Cogollo, Massiel Corrales Medina, Jose Daniel Soto, Gloria Gutierrez, Nestor Jaramillo Jarama, Laura Jessica Viscarra, Irina Mendoza Polo, Alexander Parada Gutierrez, Guido Pardo, Lourens Poorter, Adriana Prieto, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Agustín Rudas, Rebeca Sibler and Javier Silva Espejo additionally contributed data to this study though their RAINFOR participations. We further thank those colleagues no longer with us, Jean Pierre Veillon, Samuel Almeida, Sandra Patiño and Raimundo Saraiva. Many data come from Alwyn Gentry, whose example has inspired new generations to investigate the diversity of the Neotropics.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors
PY - 2017/5
Y1 - 2017/5
N2 - Within the tropics, the species richness of tree communities is strongly and positively associated with precipitation. Previous research has suggested that this macroecological pattern is driven by the negative effect of water-stress on the physiological processes of most tree species. This implies that the range limits of taxa are defined by their ability to occur under dry conditions, and thus in terms of species distributions predicts a nested pattern of taxa distribution from wet to dry areas. However, this ‘dry-tolerance’ hypothesis has yet to be adequately tested at large spatial and taxonomic scales. Here, using a dataset of 531 inventory plots of closed canopy forest distributed across the western Neotropics we investigated how precipitation, evaluated both as mean annual precipitation and as the maximum climatological water deficit, influences the distribution of tropical tree species, genera and families. We find that the distributions of tree taxa are indeed nested along precipitation gradients in the western Neotropics. Taxa tolerant to seasonal drought are disproportionally widespread across the precipitation gradient, with most reaching even the wettest climates sampled; however, most taxa analysed are restricted to wet areas. Our results suggest that the ‘dry tolerance' hypothesis has broad applicability in the world's most species-rich forests. In addition, the large number of species restricted to wetter conditions strongly indicates that an increased frequency of drought could severely threaten biodiversity in this region. Overall, this study establishes a baseline for exploring how tropical forest tree composition may change in response to current and future environmental changes in this region.
AB - Within the tropics, the species richness of tree communities is strongly and positively associated with precipitation. Previous research has suggested that this macroecological pattern is driven by the negative effect of water-stress on the physiological processes of most tree species. This implies that the range limits of taxa are defined by their ability to occur under dry conditions, and thus in terms of species distributions predicts a nested pattern of taxa distribution from wet to dry areas. However, this ‘dry-tolerance’ hypothesis has yet to be adequately tested at large spatial and taxonomic scales. Here, using a dataset of 531 inventory plots of closed canopy forest distributed across the western Neotropics we investigated how precipitation, evaluated both as mean annual precipitation and as the maximum climatological water deficit, influences the distribution of tropical tree species, genera and families. We find that the distributions of tree taxa are indeed nested along precipitation gradients in the western Neotropics. Taxa tolerant to seasonal drought are disproportionally widespread across the precipitation gradient, with most reaching even the wettest climates sampled; however, most taxa analysed are restricted to wet areas. Our results suggest that the ‘dry tolerance' hypothesis has broad applicability in the world's most species-rich forests. In addition, the large number of species restricted to wetter conditions strongly indicates that an increased frequency of drought could severely threaten biodiversity in this region. Overall, this study establishes a baseline for exploring how tropical forest tree composition may change in response to current and future environmental changes in this region.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84973572544&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/ecog.01904
DO - 10.1111/ecog.01904
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84973572544
SN - 0906-7590
VL - 40
SP - 618
EP - 629
JO - Ecography
JF - Ecography
IS - 5
ER -