An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

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Slik, J. W. Ferry ; Arroyo-Rodriguez, Victor ; Aiba, Shin-Ichiro ; Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia ; Alves, Luciana F. ; Ashton, Peter ; Balvanera, Patricia ; Bastiang, Meredith L. ; Bellingham, Peter J. ; van den Berg, Eduardo ; Bernacci, Luis ; Bispo, Polyanna da Conceicao ; Blanc, Lilian ; Boehning-Gaese, Katrin ; Boeckx, Pascal ; Bongers, Frans ; Boyle, Brad ; Bradford, Matt ; Brearley, Francis Q. ; Hockemba, Mireille Breuer-Ndoundou ; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh ; Leal Matos, Darley Calderado ; Castillo-Santiago, Miguel ; Catharino, Eduardo L. M. ; Chai, Shauna-Lee ; Chen, Yukai ; Colwell, Robert K. ; Robin, Chazdon L. ; Clark, Connie ; Clark, David B. ; Clark, Deborah A. ; Culmsee, Heike ; Damas, Kipiro ; Dattaraja, Handanakere S. ; Dauby, Gilles ; Davidar, Priya ; DeWalt, Saara J. ; Doucet, Jean-Louis ; Duque, Alvaro ; Durigan, Giselda ; Eichhorn, Karl A. O. ; Eisenlohr, Pedro V. ; Eler, Eduardo ; Ewango, Corneille ; Farwig, Nina ; Feeley, Kenneth J. ; Ferreira, Leandro ; Field, Richard ; de Oliveira Filho, Ary T. ; Fletcher, Christine ; Forshed, Olle ; Franco, Geraldo ; Fredriksson, Gabriella ; Gillespie, Thomas ; Gillet, Jean-Francois ; Amarnath, Giriraj ; Griffith, Daniel M. ; Grogan, James ; Gunatilleke, Nimal ; Harris, David ; Harrison, Rhett ; Hector, Andy ; Homeier, Juergen ; Imai, Nobuo ; Itoh, Akira ; Jansen, Patrick A. ; Joly, Carlos A. ; de Jong, Bernardus H. J. ; Kartawinata, Kuswata ; Kearsley, Elizabeth ; Kelly, Daniel L. ; Kenfack, David ; Kessler, Michael ; Kitayama, Kanehiro ; Kooyman, Robert ; Larney, Eileen ; Laumonier, Yves ; Laurance, Susan ; Laurance, William F. ; Lawes, Michael J. ; do Amaral, Ieda Leao ; Letche, Susan G. ; Lindsell, Jeremy ; Lu, Xinghui ; Mansor, Asyraf ; Marjokorpi, Antti ; Martin, Emanuel H. ; Meilby, Henrik ; Melo, Felipe P. L. ; Metcalfe, Daniel J. ; Medjibe, Vincent P. ; Metzger, Jean Paul ; Millet, Jerome ; Mohandass, D. ; Montero, Juan C. ; Valeriano, Marcio de Morisson ; Mugerwa, Badru ; Nagamasu, Hidetoshi ; Nilus, Reuben ; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana ; Onrizal ; Page, Navendu ; Parolin, Pia ; Parren, Marc ; Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy ; Paudel, Ekananda ; Permana, Andrea ; Piedade, Maria T. F. ; Pitman, Nigel C. A. ; Poorter, Lourens ; Poulsen, Axel D. ; Poulsen, John ; Powers, Jennifer ; Prasad, Rama C. ; Puyravaud, Jean-Philippe ; Razafimahaimodiso, Jean-Claude ; Reitsma, Jan ; dos Santos, Joao Roberto ; Spironello, Wilson Roberto ; Romero-Saltos, Hugo ; Rovero, Francesco ; Rozak, Andes Hamuraby ; Ruokolainen, Kalle ; Rutishauser, Ervan ; Saiter, Felipe ; Saner, Philippe ; Santos, Braulio A. ; Santos, Fernanda ; Sarker, Swapan K. ; Satdichanh, Manichanh ; Schmitt, Christine B. ; Schoengart, Jochen ; Schulze, Mark ; Suganuma, Marcio S. ; Sheil, Douglas ; Pinheiro, Eduardo da Silva ; Sist, Plinio ; Stevart, Tariq ; Sukumar, Raman ; Sun, I. -Fang ; Sunderand, Terry ; Suresh, H. S. ; Suzuki, Eizi ; Tabarelli, Marcelo ; Tang, Jangwei ; Targhetta, Natuelia ; Theilade, Ida ; Thomas, Duncan W. ; Tchouto, Peguy ; Hurtado, Johanna ; Valencia, Renato ; van Valkenburg, Johan L. C. H. ; Tran Van Do ; Vasquez, Rodolfo ; Verbeeck, Hans ; Adekunle, Victor ; Vieira, Simone A. ; Webb, Campbell O. ; Whitfeld, Timothy ; Wich, Serge A. ; Williams, John ; Wittmann, Florian ; Woell, Hannsjoerg ; Yang, Xiaobo ; Yao, C. Yves Adou ; Yap, Sandra L. ; Yoneda, Tsuyoshi ; Zahawi, Rakan A. ; Zakaria, Rahmad ; Zang, Runguo ; de Assis, Rafael L. ; Luize, Bruno Garcia ; Venticinque, Eduardo M.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; v. 112, n. 24, p. 6-pg., 2015-06-16.

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 similar to 40,000 and similar to 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 similar to 19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of similar to 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. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 03/12595-7 - Floristic composition, structure and functioning of the Dense Rainforest nuclei of Picinguaba and Santa Virgínia of Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, State of São Paulo, Brazil
• Grantee: Carlos Alfredo Joly
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants