Temporal population variability in local forest communities has mixed effects on tree species richness across a latitudinal gradient

Fung T 1 , Chisholm RA 1 , Anderson-Teixeira K 2 , Bourg N 3 , Brockelman WY 4 , Bunyavejchewin S 5 Show all authors , Chang-Yang CH 6 , Chitra-Tarak R 7 , Chuyong G 8 , Condit R 9 , Dattaraja HS 10 , Davies SJ 11 , Ewango CEN 12 , Fewless G 13 , Fletcher C 14 , Gunatilleke CVS 15 , Gunatilleke IAUN 15 , Hao Z 16 , Hogan JA 17 , Howe R 13 , Hsieh CF 18 , Kenfack D 11 , Lin Y 19 , Ma K 20 , Makana JR 12 , McMahon S 21 , McShea WJ 3 , Mi X 20 , Nathalang A 22 , Ong PS 23 , Parker G 21 , Rau EP 24 , Shue J 21 , Su SH 25 , Sukumar R 10 , Sun IF 26 , Suresh HS 10 , Tan S 11 , Thomas D 27 , Thompson J 28 , Valencia R 29 , Vallejo MI 30 , Wang X 16 , Wang Y 20 , Wijekoon P 31 , Wolf A 13 , Yap S 32 , Zimmerman J 28

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore
  • 2 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panamá
  • 3 Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, Virginia, 22630, USA
  • 4 National Biobank of Thailand, BIOTEC, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Science Park, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani, Thailand
  • 5 Research Office, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
  • 6 Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung
  • 7 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, P.O. Box 1663, New Mexico, 87545, USA
  • 8 Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Buea, PO Box 63, Buea, SWP, Cameroon
  • 9 Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA
  • 10 Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India
  • 11 Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory, Center for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, 20013, USA
  • 12 Wildlife Conservation Society, Kinshasa/Gombe, DR Congo
  • 13 Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, Lab Sciences 413, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54311, USA
  • 14 Forest Research Institute Malaysia, 52109, Kepong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 15 Faculty of Science, Department of Botany, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka
  • 16 Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning
  • 17 International Center for Tropical Botany, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 33199, USA
  • 18 Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei
  • 19 Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung
  • 20 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing
  • 21 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, Maryland, 21037, USA
  • 22 National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 113 Thailand Science Park, Klong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand
  • 23 Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
  • 24 Master 1 Mention Écologie, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
  • 25 Forest Management Division, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei
  • 26 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien
  • 27 Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA
  • 28 Department of Environmental Science, University of Puerto Rico, P.O. Box 70377, San Juan, PR, 00936-8377, USA
  • 29 Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Apartado 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador
  • 30 Calle 37, Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Number 8-40 Mezzanine, Bogotá, Colombia
  • 31 Faculty of Science, Department of Statistics & Computer Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka
  • 32 Institute of Arts and Sciences, Far Eastern University Manila, Manila, Philippines
Ecol Lett, 2020 Jan;23(1):160-171.
PMID: 31698546 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13412

Abstract

Among the local processes that determine species diversity in ecological communities, fluctuation-dependent mechanisms that are mediated by temporal variability in the abundances of species populations have received significant attention. Higher temporal variability in the abundances of species populations can increase the strength of temporal niche partitioning but can also increase the risk of species extinctions, such that the net effect on species coexistence is not clear. We quantified this temporal population variability for tree species in 21 large forest plots and found much greater variability for higher latitude plots with fewer tree species. A fitted mechanistic model showed that among the forest plots, the net effect of temporal population variability on tree species coexistence was usually negative, but sometimes positive or negligible. Therefore, our results suggest that temporal variability in the abundances of species populations has no clear negative or positive contribution to the latitudinal gradient in tree species richness.

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

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