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An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

Slik JW 1 , Arroyo-Rodríguez V , Aiba S , Alvarez-Loayza P , Alves LF , Ashton P Show all authors , Balvanera P , Bastian ML , Bellingham PJ , van den Berg E , Bernacci L , da Conceição Bispo P , Blanc L , Böhning-Gaese K , Boeckx P , Bongers F , Boyle B , Bradford M , Brearley FQ , Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba M , Bunyavejchewin S , Calderado Leal Matos D , Castillo-Santiago M , Catharino EL , Chai SL , Chen Y , Colwell RK , Chazdon RL , Robin CL , Clark C , Clark DB , Clark DA , Culmsee H , Damas K , Dattaraja HS , Dauby G , Davidar P , DeWalt SJ , Doucet JL , Duque A , Durigan G , Eichhorn KA , Eisenlohr PV , Eler E , Ewango C , Farwig N , Feeley KJ , Ferreira L , Field R , de Oliveira Filho AT , Fletcher C , Forshed O , Franco G , Fredriksson G , Gillespie T , Gillet JF , Amarnath G , Griffith DM , Grogan J , Gunatilleke N , Harris D , Harrison R , Hector A , Homeier J , Imai N , Itoh A , Jansen PA , Joly CA , de Jong BH , Kartawinata K , Kearsley E , Kelly DL , Kenfack D , Kessler M , Kitayama K , Kooyman R , Larney E , Laumonier Y , Laurance S , Laurance WF , Lawes MJ , Amaral IL , Letcher SG , Lindsell J , Lu X , Mansor A , Marjokorpi A , Martin EH , Meilby H , Melo FP , Metcalfe DJ , Medjibe VP , Metzger JP , Millet J , Mohandass D , Montero JC , de Morisson Valeriano M , Mugerwa B , Nagamasu H , Nilus R , Ochoa-Gaona S , Onrizal , Page N , Parolin P , Parren M , Parthasarathy N , Paudel E , Permana A , Piedade MT , Pitman NC , Poorter L , Poulsen AD , Poulsen J , Powers J , Prasad RC , Puyravaud JP , Razafimahaimodison JC , Reitsma J , Dos Santos JR , Roberto Spironello W , Romero-Saltos H , Rovero F , Rozak AH , Ruokolainen K , Rutishauser E , Saiter F , Saner P , Santos BA , Santos F , Sarker SK , Satdichanh M , Schmitt CB , Schöngart J , Schulze M , Suganuma MS , Sheil D , da Silva Pinheiro E , Sist P , Stevart T , Sukumar R , Sun IF , Sunderland T , Sunderand T , Suresh HS , Suzuki E , Tabarelli M , Tang J , Targhetta N , Theilade I , Thomas DW , Tchouto P , Hurtado J , Valencia R , van Valkenburg JL , Van Do T , Vasquez R , Verbeeck H , Adekunle V , Vieira SA , Webb CO , Whitfeld T , Wich SA , Williams J , Wittmann F , Wöll H , Yang X , Adou Yao CY , Yap SL 2 , Yoneda T , Zahawi RA , Zakaria R , Zang R , de Assis RL , Garcia Luize B , Venticinque EM 3

Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darusallam, Gadong, Brunei; ferryslik@hotmail.com
  • 2 Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; and
  • 3 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2015 Jun 16;112(24):7472-7.
PMID: 26034279 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1423147112

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 ∼ 40,000 and ∼ 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 ∼ 19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼ 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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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