小柯机器人

英国伦敦大学Declan L. M. Cooper，Simon L. Lewis联合多个国家研究团队共同合作，近期取得重要工作进展。他们研究发现，热带森林中常见的树种呈现出一致的丰度分布模式。相关研究成果2024年1月10日在线发表于《自然》杂志上。

据介绍，树木构成了地球上生物多样性最强的生态系统——热带森林。由于人们对大多数热带树种知之甚少，给了解这些森林带来了巨大的挑战，包括它们对环境变化的反应。

研究人员使用非洲、亚马逊和东南亚热带原始森林中1,003,805棵树干直径至少为10厘米的树木的盘查数据，分析了常见树种的丰度模式。这些树木分布在1568个地点，覆盖了封闭树冠、结构完整的热带森林。根据所有封闭树冠的热带森林的推断，研究人员估计，在地球8000亿棵树干直径至少为10厘米的热带树木中，只有1053个物种占一半。

尽管生物地理、气候和人类历史各不相同，但各大洲的常见物种和物种丰度分布模式明显一致。这表明，树木群落聚集的基本机制可能适用于所有热带森林。重新采样分析表明，最常见的物种很可能属于一个可管理的已知物种列表，从而有针对性地了解它们的生态。

总之，这一研究结果为了解世界上最多样化的森林提供了新的机会，包括通过关注构成其大部分树木的常见物种来模拟它们对环境变化的反应。

附：英文原文

Title: Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Author: Cooper, Declan L. M., Lewis, Simon L., Sullivan, Martin J. P., Prado, Paulo I., ter Steege, Hans, Barbier, Nicolas, Slik, Ferry, Sonk, Bonaventure, Ewango, Corneille E. N., Adu-Bredu, Stephen, Affum-Baffoe, Kofi, de Aguiar, Daniel P. P., Ahuite Reategui, Manuel Augusto, Aiba, Shin-Ichiro, Albuquerque, Bianca Weiss, de Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionzia, Alonso, Alfonso, Amani, Christian A., do Amaral, Drio Dantas, do Amaral, Ida Leo, Andrade, Ana, de Andrade Miranda, Ires Paula, Angoboy, Ilondea B., Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro, Arboleda, Nicols Castao, Arroyo, Luzmila, Ashton, Peter, Aymard C, Gerardo A., Baider, Cludia, Baker, Timothy R., Balinga, Michael Philippe Bessike, Balslev, Henrik, Banin, Lindsay F., Bnki, Olaf S., Baraloto, Chris, Barbosa, Edelcilio Marques, Barbosa, Flvia Rodrigues, Barlow, Jos, Bastin, Jean-Francois, Beeckman, Hans, Begne, Serge, Bengone, Natacha Nssi, Berenguer, Erika, Berry, Nicholas, Bitariho, Robert, Boeckx, Pascal, Bogaert, Jan, Bonyoma, Bernard, Boundja, Patrick, Bourland, Nils, Boyemba Bosela, Faustin, Brambach, Fabian, Brienen, Roel, Burslem, David F. R. P., Camargo, Jos Lus, Campelo, Wegliane, Cano, Angela, Crdenas, Sasha, Crdenas Lpez, Dairon, de S Carpanedo, Rainiellen, Carrero Mrquez, Yrma Andreina, Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes, Casas, Luisa Fernanda, Castellanos, Hernn, Castilho, Carolina V., Cern, Carlos

Issue&Volume: 2024-01-10

Abstract: Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06820-z

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06820-z

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