TY - JOUR

T1 - The global abundance of tree palms

AU - Muscarella, Robert

AU - Emilio, Thaise

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Slik, Ferry

AU - Baker, William J.

AU - Couvreur, Thomas L.P.

AU - Eiserhardt, Wolf L.

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

AU - Affum-Baffoe, Kofi

AU - Aiba, Shin Ichiro

AU - de Almeida, Everton C.

AU - de Almeida, Samuel S.

AU - de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida

AU - Álvarez-Dávila, Esteban

AU - Alves, Luciana F.

AU - Alvez-Valles, Carlos Mariano

AU - Carvalho, Fabrício Alvim

AU - Guarin, Fernando Alzate

AU - Andrade, Ana

AU - Aragão, Luis E.O.C.

AU - Murakami, Alejandro Araujo

AU - Arroyo, Luzmila

AU - Ashton, Peter S.

AU - Corredor, Gerardo A.Aymard

AU - Baker, Timothy R.

AU - de Camargo, Plinio Barbosa

AU - Barlow, Jos

AU - Bastin, Jean François

AU - Bengone, Natacha Nssi

AU - Berenguer, Erika

AU - Berry, Nicholas

AU - Blanc, Lilian

AU - Böhning-Gaese, Katrin

AU - Bonal, Damien

AU - Bongers, Frans

AU - Bradford, Matt

AU - Brambach, Fabian

AU - Brearley, Francis Q.

AU - Brewer, Steven W.

AU - Camargo, Jose L.C.

AU - Campbell, David G.

AU - Castilho, Carolina V.

AU - Castro, Wendeson

AU - Catchpole, Damien

AU - Cerón Martínez, Carlos E.

AU - Chen, Shengbin

AU - Chhang, Phourin

AU - Rozak, Andes

AU - Theilade, Ida

AU - BIOSKETCH

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Aim: Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location: Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae). Methods: We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co-occurring non-palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results: On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long-term climate stability. Life-form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non-tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above-ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions: Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.

AB - Aim: Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location: Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae). Methods: We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co-occurring non-palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results: On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long-term climate stability. Life-form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non-tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above-ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions: Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.

KW - above-ground biomass

KW - abundance patterns

KW - Arecaceae

KW - local abiotic conditions

KW - Neotropics

KW - pantropical biogeography

KW - tropical rainforest

KW - wood density

U2 - 10.1111/geb.13123

DO - 10.1111/geb.13123

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85087650501

VL - 29

SP - 1495

EP - 1514

JO - Global Ecology and Biogeography

JF - Global Ecology and Biogeography

SN - 1466-822X

IS - 9

ER -