Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere's most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy<sup>1,2</sup>. However, in most Earth System Models, the diverse and heterogeneous tropical forest biome is represented as a largely uniform ecosystem with either a singular or a small number of fixed canopy ecophysiological properties<sup>3</sup>. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically<sup>4</sup>. Here, by combining field-collected data from more than 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate and soil data, we predict variation across 13 morphological, structural and chemical functional traits of trees, and use this to compute and map the functional diversity of tropical forests. Our findings reveal that the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. Tropical American forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical African and Asian forests. Meanwhile, African forests have the highest functional divergence-32% and 7% higher than that of tropical American and Asian forests, respectively. An uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. Our predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature
Published
2025-03-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2
Citations
19
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
43.95

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article

Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

Kauane Maiara Bordin, Danilo Roberti Alves de Almeida, Sandra Cristina Müller, Miles R. Silman et al.
19 citations
Nature
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
43.95
article

Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

Kauane Maiara Bordin, Danilo Roberti Alves de Almeida, Sandra Cristina Müller, Miles R. Silman, Queila Souza Garcia, Lisa Patrick Bentley, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Pablo José Francisco Pena Rodrigues, Samuel de Pádua Chaves e Carvalho, Ricardo José da Silva, Lucas A. Cernusak, Aretha Franklin Guimarães, Tereza Cristina Souza Spósito, William Frederick Laurance, Clarissa Rosa, Etienne Zibera, Jos Barlow, Yit Arn Teh, Bente Klitgaard, H. Zhang, Yadvinder Singh Malhi, William Milliken, José Javier Corral‐Rivas, Marcos Silveira, Joeri A. Zwerts, Tomas F. Domingues, Brian Joseph Enquist, Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues, Joice Klipel, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, Sami W. Rifai, Bruno Hérault, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Lee White, Gonzalo Rivas‐Torres, Imma Oliveras Menor, Roberta E. Martin, David F. R. P. Burslem, Oliver Lawrence Phillips, William E. Magnusson, Jhonathan O. Silva, Gregory P. Asner, Irié C. Zo‐Bi, Maíra Benchimol, Stephen Adu‐Bredu, Carlos A. Peres, Daniel Luís Mascia Vieira, Norma Salinas, Larissa Cavalheiro, Angélica Faria de Resende, Róbson Borges de Lima, Mário M. Espírito‐Santo, Robson Dos Santos Alves da Silva, Eduardo Malta Campos‐Filho, Celice Alexandre Silva, María Guadalupe Nava‐Miranda, Jesús Aguirre‐Gutiérrez, Priscyla Maria Silva Rodrigues, Nayane Cristina Candida dos Santos Prestes, Marina Maria Moraes de Seixas, Thiago Metzker, Martin Svátek, Marco Patacca, Jérôme Chave, Lucas Pereira Zanzini, Esteban Álvarez‐Dávila, Soulemane Traoré, Antônio Carlos da Silva Zanzini, Brigitte Nyirambangutse, Katharine Abernethy, Axa Emanuelle Simões Figueiredo, Carlos Alfredo Joly, Peter W. Moonlight, Rodrigo Scarton Bergamin, Benjamin Dechant, Wagner Tadeu Vieira Santiago, Xiongjie Deng, Kyle Graham Dexter, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Marie Ruth Dago, Eleanor R. Thomson, Maurício Lima Dan, Danielle Storck‐Tonon, Joice Ferreira, Alexander Shenkin, Sabine Both, Géraldine Derroire, Mariana de Andrade Iguatemy, Elmar Veenendaal, Paulo S. Morandi, Maxime Réjou‐Méchain, Rubens Manoel dos Santos, Hans ter Steege, Érika Berenguer, Ângelo Gilberto Manzatto, Robert Muscarella, Göran Wallin, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Terhi Riutta, Martin J. P. Sullivan, Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira, K. A. Sreejith, Damien Bonal, David A. Coomes, Haroldo C. de Lima, Lilian Blanc, Vincyane Badouard, Letícia Fernandes da Silva, Tony César de Sousa Oliveira, Domingos Cardoso, Timothy R. Baker, Carlos A. Quesada, Sophie Fauset, Cécile A. J. Girardin, Jaime Cabezas Duarte, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Arunkumar Kavidapadinjattathil Sivadasan, Vignesh Punjayil, Prasad Theruvil Parambil Sivan
article en
19 citations

Abstract

Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere's most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy<sup>1,2</sup>. However, in most Earth System Models, the diverse and heterogeneous tropical forest biome is represented as a largely uniform ecosystem with either a singular or a small number of fixed canopy ecophysiological properties<sup>3</sup>. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically<sup>4</sup>. Here, by combining field-collected data from more than 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate and soil data, we predict variation across 13 morphological, structural and chemical functional traits of trees, and use this to compute and map the functional diversity of tropical forests. Our findings reveal that the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. Tropical American forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical African and Asian forests. Meanwhile, African forests have the highest functional divergence-32% and 7% higher than that of tropical American and Asian forests, respectively. An uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. Our predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.

NatureVol. 641(8061)
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR), University of East Anglia (GB), Leuphana University of Lüneburg (DE), Manchester Metropolitan University (GB), University of Stirling (GB), Universidade Federal de Rondônia (BR), Uppsala University (SE), Universidade Federal da Bahia (BR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR), University of Leeds (GB), Santa Fe Institute (US), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (FR), Universidade Federal de Lavras (BR), Universidade Federal do Acre (BR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), University of Arizona (US), Universidade de Brasília (BR), Sonoma State University (US), Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (BR), Universidad de Los Andes (CO), Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (GB), Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (BR), Utrecht University (NL), University of Aberdeen (GB), Université de Montpellier (FR), Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (BR), Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (MX), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES), Northern Arizona University (US), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (FR), AgroParisTech (FR), University of Exeter (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GB), University of French Guiana (GF), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Leverhulme Trust (GB), Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (BR), Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (BR), State University of Norte Fluminense (BR), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (BR), University of Oxford (GB), University of Rwanda (RW), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Amazon Research Foundation (BR), Silva (FR), Institut Africain d'Informatique (GA), Universidade Paulista (BR), Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (BR), Société de Développement des Forêts (CI), Forests and Societies (FR), Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (BR), Instituto Sócioambiental (BR), Forest Research (GB), Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (CI), SUPERA Park of Innovation and Technology of Ribeirão Preto (BR), Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (CO), Conservation Leadership Programme (GB), The Forestry Commission of Ghana (GH), International Institute for Sustainability (BR), Universidade Estadual do Amapá (BR), Jenner Institute (GB), Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural (BR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros (BR), Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Wake Forest University (US), University of Turin (IT), Arizona State University (US), Mendel University in Brno (CZ), The University of Adelaide (AU), Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (BR), University of Aveiro (PT), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PE), Lancaster University (GB), Universidad San Francisco de Quito (EC), Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (DE), University of Birmingham (GB), Newcastle University (GB), James Cook University (AU), University of Gothenburg (SE), University of Plymouth (GB), Université de Lorraine (FR), University of New England (AU), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Leipzig University (DE), University of Edinburgh (GB), Kerala Forest Research Institute (IN)
Sight Research UK, University of Oxford, European Commission, Natural Environment Research Council
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
43.95
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