Fast demographic traits promote high diversification rates of Amazonian trees

Baker, Timothy R.;Pennington, R. Toby;Magallon, Susana;Gloor, Emanuel;Laurance, William F.;Alexiades, Miguel;Alvarez, Esteban;Araujo, Alejandro;Arets, Eric J.M.M.;Aymard, Gerardo;Alves de Oliveira, Atila;Amaral, Iêda;Arroyo, Luzmila;Bonal, Damien;Brienen, Roel J.W.;Chave, Jerome;Dexter, Kyle G.;Di Fiore, Anthony;Eler, Eduardo;Feldpausch, Ted R.;Ferreira, Leandro;Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela;van der Heijden, Geertje;Higuchi, Niro;Honorio, Eurídice;Huamantupa, Isau;Killeen, Tim J.;Laurance, Susan;Leaño, Claudio;Lewis, Simon L.;Malhi, Yadvinder;Marimon, Beatriz Schwantes;Marimon Junior, Ben Hur;Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel;Neill, David;Peñuela-Mora, Maria Cristina;Pitman, Nigel;Prieto, Adriana;Quesada, Carlos A.;Ramírez, Fredy;Ramírez Angulo, Hirma;Rudas, Agustín;Ruschel, Ademir R.;Salomão, Rafael P.;Segalin de Andrade, Ana;Silva, J. Natalino M.;Silveira, Marcos;Simon, Marcelo F.;Spironello, Wilson;ter Steege, Hans;Terborgh, John;Toledo, Marisol;Torres-Lezama, Armando;Vásquez, Rodolfo;Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães;Vilanova, Emilio;Vos, Vincent A.;Phillips, Oliver L.

William Laurance

Abstract

The Amazon rain forest sustains the world's highest tree diversity, but it remains unclear why some clades of trees are hyperdiverse, whereas others are not. Using dated phylogenies, estimates of current species richness and trait and demographic data from a large network of forest plots, we show that fast demographic traits – short turnover times – are associated with high diversification rates across 51 clades of canopy trees. This relationship is robust to assuming that diversification rates are either constant or decline over time, and occurs in a wide range of Neotropical tree lineages. This finding reveals the crucial role of intrinsic, ecological variation among clades for understanding the origin of the remarkable diversity of Amazonian trees and forests.

Journal

Ecology Letters

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1461-023X

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Wiley-Blackwell

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DOI

10.1111/ele.12252