Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

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

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2

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Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

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Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests

Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Sami W Rifai, Xiongjie Deng, Hans ter Steege, Eleanor Thomson, Jose Javier Corral-Rivas, Aretha Franklin Guimaraes, Sandra Muller, Joice Klipel, Sophie Fauset, …

Nature, Vol.640

05/03/2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2

PMID: 40044867

Abstract

Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere’s most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy1,2. 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 properties3. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically4. 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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Title: Canopy functional trait variation across Earth’s tropical forests
Creators - without role: Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez - University of Oxford
Sami W Rifai - University of Adelaide
Xiongjie Deng - University of Oxford
Hans ter Steege - Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Eleanor Thomson - University of Oxford
Jose Javier Corral-Rivas - Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango
Aretha Franklin Guimaraes - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Sandra Muller - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Joice Klipel - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Sophie Fauset - University of Plymouth
Angelica F Resende - Universidade de São Paulo
Göran Wallin - University of Oxford
Carlos A Joly - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Katharine Abernethy - University of Stirling
Stephen Adu-Bredu - The Forestry Commission of Ghana
Celice Alexandre Silva
Edmar Almeida de Oliveira - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Danilo R A Almeida
Esteban Alvarez-Davila - Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia
Gregory P Asner - Arizona State University
Timothy R Baker - University of Leeds
Maíra Benchimol - Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz
Lisa Patrick Bentley - Sonoma State University
Erika Berenguer - University of Oxford
Lilian Blanc - Forests and Societies
Damien Bonal - AgroParisTech
Kauane Bordin - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Robson Borges de Lima
Sabine Both - University of New England
Jaime Cabezas Duarte
Domingos Cardoso - Universidade Federal da Bahia
Haroldo C de Lima - Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
Larissa Cavalheiro - Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
Lucas A Cernusak - James Cook University
Nayane Cristina C dos Santos Prestes - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Antonio Carlos da Silva Zanzini - Universidade Federal de Lavras
Ricardo José da Silva - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Robson dos Santos Alves da Silva - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Mariana de Andrade Iguatemy - Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro
Tony César de Sousa Oliveira - Forschungszentrum Jülich
Benjamin Dechant - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
Géraldine Derroire - Forests and Societies
Kyle G Dexter - Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Domingos J Rodrigues
Mário Espírito-Santo - Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros
Letícia Fernandes Silva
Tomas Ferreira Domingues - SUPERA Park of Innovation and Technology of Ribeirão Preto
Joice Ferreira
Marcelo Fragomeni Simon - Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation
Cécile A J Girardin - University of Oxford
Bruno Hérault - Forests and Societies
Kathryn J Jeffery - University of Stirling
Sreejith Kalpuzha Ashtamoorthy
Arunkumar Kavidapadinjattathil Sivadasan
Bente Klitgaard - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
William F Laurance - James Cook University
Maurício Lima Dan - Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural
William E Magnusson - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Eduardo Malta Campos-Filho - Instituto Sócioambiental
Rubens Manoel dos Santos
Angelo Gilberto Manzatto - Universidade Federal de Rondônia
Marcos Silveira - Universidade Federal do Acre
Ben Hur Marimon-Junior
Roberta E Martin - Arizona State University
Daniel Luis Mascia Vieira - Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation
Thiago Metzker - Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia
William Milliken - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Peter Moonlight - Trinity College Dublin
Marina Maria Moraes de Seixas
Paulo S Morandi - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Robert Muscarella - Uppsala University
María Guadalupe Nava-Miranda - Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango
Brigitte Nyirambangutse - University of Rwanda
Jhonathan Oliveira Silva - Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco
Imma Oliveras Menor - Université de Montpellier, BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Pablo José Francisco Pena Rodrigues
Cinthia Pereira de Oliveira
Lucas Pereira Zanzini
Carlos A Peres - University of East Anglia
Vignesh Punjayil - Kerala Forest Research Institute
Carlos A Quesada - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Maxime Réjou-Méchain - Université de Montpellier, BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Terhi Riutta - University of Oxford
Gonzalo Rivas-Torres - Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Clarissa Rosa - National Institute of Amazonian Research
Norma Salinas - Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Rodrigo Scarton Bergamin - University of Birmingham
Beatriz Schwantes Marimon - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Alexander Shenkin - Northern Arizona University
Priscyla Maria Silva Rodrigues
Axa Emanuelle Simões Figueiredo - Universidade de Brasília
Queila Souza Garcia - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Tereza Spósito
Danielle Storck-Tonon - Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
Martin J P Sullivan - Manchester Metropolitan University
Martin Svátek - Mendel University in Brno
Wagner Tadeu Vieira Santiago
Yit Arn Teh
Prasad Theruvil Parambil Sivan
Marcelo Trindade Nascimento - State University of Norte Fluminense
Elmar Veenendaal - Wageningen University & Research
Irie Casimir Zo-Bi - Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Marie Ruth Dago - Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Soulemane Traoré - Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Marco Patacca - Wageningen University & Research
Vincyane Badouard - Université de Montpellier, BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Samuel de Padua Chaves E Carvalho - Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro
Lee J T White
Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng
Etienne Zibera - University of Gothenburg
Joeri Alexander Zwerts - Utrecht University
David F R P Burslem - University of Aberdeen
Miles Silman - Wake Forest University
Jérôme Chave - Université de Toulouse
Brian J Enquist - University of Arizona
Jos Barlow - Lancaster University
Oliver L Phillips - University of Leeds
David A Coomes - University of Cambridge
Yadvinder Malhi - University of Oxford
Publication Details: Nature, Vol.640
Identifiers: 9935008709311
Academic Unit: BotAnique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des végétations - AMAP
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Local Fields: hal-04979333