IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pbio00/0060045.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing Evidence for a Pervasive Alteration in Tropical Tree Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Jérôme Chave
  • Richard Condit
  • Helene C Muller-Landau
  • Sean C Thomas
  • Peter S Ashton
  • Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin
  • Leonardo L Co
  • Handanakere S Dattaraja
  • Stuart J Davies
  • Shameema Esufali
  • Corneille E N Ewango
  • Kenneth J Feeley
  • Robin B Foster
  • Nimal Gunatilleke
  • Savitri Gunatilleke
  • Pamela Hall
  • Terese B Hart
  • Consuelo Hernández
  • Stephen P Hubbell
  • Akira Itoh
  • Somboon Kiratiprayoon
  • James V LaFrankie
  • Suzanne Loo de Lao
  • Jean-Rémy Makana
  • Md Nur Supardi Noor
  • Abdul Rahman Kassim
  • Cristián Samper
  • Raman Sukumar
  • Hebbalalu S Suresh
  • Sylvester Tan
  • Jill Thompson
  • Ma Dolores C Tongco
  • Renato Valencia
  • Martha Vallejo
  • Gorky Villa
  • Takuo Yamakura
  • Jess K Zimmerman
  • Elizabeth C Losos

Abstract

In Amazonian tropical forests, recent studies have reported increases in aboveground biomass and in primary productivity, as well as shifts in plant species composition favouring fast-growing species over slow-growing ones. This pervasive alteration of mature tropical forests was attributed to global environmental change, such as an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, nutrient deposition, temperature, drought frequency, and/or irradiance. We used standardized, repeated measurements of over 2 million trees in ten large (16–52 ha each) forest plots on three continents to evaluate the generality of these findings across tropical forests. Aboveground biomass increased at seven of our ten plots, significantly so at four plots, and showed a large decrease at a single plot. Carbon accumulation pooled across sites was significant (+0.24 MgC ha−1 y−1, 95% confidence intervals [0.07, 0.39] MgC ha−1 y−1), but lower than reported previously for Amazonia. At three sites for which we had data for multiple census intervals, we found no concerted increase in biomass gain, in conflict with the increased productivity hypothesis. Over all ten plots, the fastest-growing quartile of species gained biomass (+0.33 [0.09, 0.55] % y−1) compared with the tree community as a whole (+0.15 % y−1); however, this significant trend was due to a single plot. Biomass of slow-growing species increased significantly when calculated over all plots (+0.21 [0.02, 0.37] % y−1), and in half of our plots when calculated individually. Our results do not support the hypothesis that fast-growing species are consistently increasing in dominance in tropical tree communities. Instead, they suggest that our plots may be simultaneously recovering from past disturbances and affected by changes in resource availability. More long-term studies are necessary to clarify the contribution of global change to the functioning of tropical forests. : Recent studies have reported major changes in mature tropical forests, with increases in both forest biomass and net primary productivity, as well as shifts in plant species composition that favour fast-growing species over slow-growing ones. These pervasive alterations were attributed to global environmental change, and may result in dramatic shifts in the functioning of tropical forest ecosystems. We reassessed these findings using a dataset of large permanent forest plots on three continents. We found that tree biomass increased at seven of our ten plots, and showed a large decrease at a single plot. Overall, this increase was significant, albeit lower than reported previously for Amazonian forests. At three sites for which we had data for multiple census intervals, we found no concerted increase in biomass gain, in conflict with the increased productivity hypothesis. With the exception of one plot, slow-growing species gained more biomass than either fast-growing species or the tree community as a whole. Hence, our results do not support the hypothesis that fast-growing species are consistently increasing in dominance in tropical tree communities. Overall, our results suggest that our plots may be simultaneously recovering from past disturbances and affected by changes in resource availability. An analysis of changes in biomass and primary productivity across ten large tropical forest plots revealed that aboveground biomass increased significantly, fast-growing species increased significantly in dominance at a single site, and slow-growing species increased significantly at half of our sites.

Suggested Citation

  • Jérôme Chave & Richard Condit & Helene C Muller-Landau & Sean C Thomas & Peter S Ashton & Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin & Leonardo L Co & Handanakere S Dattaraja & Stuart J Davies & Shameema Esufali & Corne, 2008. "Assessing Evidence for a Pervasive Alteration in Tropical Tree Communities," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(3), pages 1-8, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pbio00:0060045
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060045
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0060045&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Federico Magnani & Maurizio Mencuccini & Marco Borghetti & Paul Berbigier & Frank Berninger & Sylvain Delzon & Achim Grelle & Pertti Hari & Paul G. Jarvis & Pasi Kolari & Andrew S. Kowalski & Harry La, 2007. "The human footprint in the carbon cycle of temperate and boreal forests," Nature, Nature, vol. 447(7146), pages 849-851, June.
    2. William F. Laurance & Alexandre A. Oliveira & Susan G. Laurance & Richard Condit & Henrique E. M. Nascimento & Ana C. Sanchez-Thorin & Thomas E. Lovejoy & Ana Andrade & Sammya D'Angelo & José E. Ribei, 2004. "Pervasive alteration of tree communities in undisturbed Amazonian forests," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6979), pages 171-175, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David B Clark & Deborah A Clark & Steven F Oberbauer & James R Kellner, 2017. "Multidecadal stability in tropical rain forest structure and dynamics across an old-growth landscape," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Govind, Ajit & Chen, Jing Ming & Bernier, Pierre & Margolis, Hank & Guindon, Luc & Beaudoin, Andre, 2011. "Spatially distributed modeling of the long-term carbon balance of a boreal landscape," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(15), pages 2780-2795.
    2. Saah, David & Patterson, Trista & Buchholz, Thomas & Ganz, David & Albert, David & Rush, Keith, 2014. "Modeling economic and carbon consequences of a shift to wood-based energy in a rural ‘cluster’; a network analysis in southeast Alaska," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 287-298.
    3. Ueyama, Masahito & Kai, Atsushi & Ichii, Kazuhito & Hamotani, Ken & Kosugi, Yoshiko & Monji, Nobutaka, 2011. "The sensitivity of carbon sequestration to harvesting and climate conditions in a temperate cypress forest: Observations and modeling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(17), pages 3216-3225.
    4. Erickson, Adam & Nitschke, Craig & Coops, Nicholas & Cumming, Steven & Stenhouse, Gordon, 2015. "Past-century decline in forest regeneration potential across a latitudinal and elevational gradient in Canada," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 313(C), pages 94-102.
    5. Xenakis, Georgios & Ray, Duncan & Mencuccini, Maurizio, 2008. "Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis from a coupled 3-PG and soil organic matter decomposition model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 1-16.
    6. Collalti, Alessio & Perugini, Lucia & Santini, Monia & Chiti, Tommaso & Nolè, Angelo & Matteucci, Giorgio & Valentini, Riccardo, 2014. "A process-based model to simulate growth in forests with complex structure: Evaluation and use of 3D-CMCC Forest Ecosystem Model in a deciduous forest in Central Italy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 272(C), pages 362-378.
    7. Rondon, Xanic J. & Gorchov, David L. & Elliott, Steve R., 2010. "Assessment of economic sustainability of the strip clear-cutting system in the Peruvian Amazon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 340-348, June.
    8. Wang, Weile & Ichii, Kazuhito & Hashimoto, Hirofumi & Michaelis, Andrew R. & Thornton, Peter E. & Law, Beverly E. & Nemani, Ramakrishna R., 2009. "A hierarchical analysis of terrestrial ecosystem model Biome-BGC: Equilibrium analysis and model calibration," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(17), pages 2009-2023.
    9. Lessa Derci Augustynczik, Andrey & Yousefpour, Rasoul, 2021. "Assessing the synergistic value of ecosystem services in European beech forests," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    10. Rakan A Zahawi & Federico Oviedo-Brenes & Chris J Peterson, 2017. "A degradation debt? Large-scale shifts in community composition and loss of biomass in a tropical forest fragment after 40 years of isolation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, August.
    11. Chave, Jérôme & Norden, Natalia, 2007. "Changes of species diversity in a simulated fragmented neutral landscape," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 3-10.
    12. Gianfranco Fabbio & Paolo Cantiani & Fabrizio Ferretti & Umberto Di Salvatore & Giada Bertini & Claudia Becagli & Ugo Chiavetta & Maurizio Marchi & Luca Salvati, 2018. "Sustainable Land Management, Adaptive Silviculture, and New Forest Challenges: Evidence from a Latitudinal Gradient in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    13. Felzer, Benjamin S., 2012. "Carbon, nitrogen, and water response to climate and land use changes in Pennsylvania during the 20th and 21st centuries," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 49-63.
    14. Manuel Guariguata & Jonathan Cornelius & Bruno Locatelli & Claudio Forner & G. Sánchez-Azofeifa, 2008. "Mitigation needs adaptation: Tropical forestry and climate change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 13(8), pages 793-808, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pbio00:0060045. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosbiology (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.