An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

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Slik, J.W. Ferry;Laurance, Susan;Laurance, William F.;Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor ;Aiba, Shin-Ichiro;Alvarez-Loayzad, Patricia;Alvez, Luciana F;Ashton, Peter;Balvanera, Patricia;Bastian, Meredith L. ;Bellingham, Peter J. ;van den Berg, Eduardo;Bernacci, Luis;da Conceição Bispo, Pollyanna;Blanc, Lillian; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin;Boeckx, Pascal;Bongers, Frans;Boyle, Brad;Bradford, Matt;Brearley, Francis Q.;Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba, Mirielle;Bunyavejchewins, Sarayudh ;Calderado Leal Matos, Darley;Castillo-Santiagou, Miguel;Catharino, Eduardo L. M.;Chai, Shauna-Lee;Chen, Yukai;Colwell, Robert K. ;Chazdon, Robin L. ;Clark, Connie;Clark, David B. ;Clark, Deborah A. ;Culmsee, Heike;Damas, Kipiro;Dattaraja, Handanakere S. ;Dauby, Gilles;Priya, Davidar;Dewalt, Saara J. ;Doucet, Jean-Louis;Duque, Alvaro;Durigan, Giselda;Eichhorn, Karl A.O.;Eisenlohr, Pedro V. ;Eler, Eduardo;Ewango, Cornielle;Farwig, Nina;Feeley, Kenneth J. ;Ferriera, Leandro;Field, Richard;de Oliveira Filho, Ary T. ;Fletcher, Christine;Forshed, Olle;Franco, Geraldo;Fredriksson, Gabriella;Gillespie, Thomas;Gillet, Jean-Francois;Giriraj, Amarnath;Griffith, David M.;Grogan, James;Gunatilleke, Nimal;Harris, David;Harrison, Rhett;Hector, Andy;Homeier, Jurgen;Imai, Nubuo;Itoh, Akira;Jansen, Patrick A. ;Joly, Carlos A. ;de Jong, Bernardus H.J. ;Kartawinata, Kuswata;Kearsley, Elizabeth;Kelly, Daniel L. ;Kenfack, David;Kessler, Michael;Kitayama, Kanehiro;Kooyman, Robert;Larney, Eileen;Laumonier, Yves;Lawes, Michael J. ;Leao do Amaral, Ieda;Letcher, Susan G. ;Lindsell, Jeremy;Lu, Xinghui;Mansor, Asyraf;Marjokorpi, Antti;Martin, Emanuel H. ;Meilby, Henrik;Melo, Felipe P.L. ;Metcalfe, Daniel J. ;Medjibe, Vincent P. ;Metzger, Jean Paul;Millet, Jerome;Mohandass, D;Montero, Juan C. ;de Morrison Valeriano, Marcio;Mugerwa, Badru;Nagamasu, Hidetoshi;Nilus, Reuben;Ochoa-Gaona, Susana;Page, Navendu;Parolin, Pia;Parren, Marc;Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy;Paudel, Ekananda;Permana, Andrea;Piedade, Maria T.F.;Pitman, Nigel C.A.;Poorter, Lourens;Poulson, John;Powers, Jennifer;Prasad, Rama;Puyravaud, Jean-Phillipe;Razafimahaimodison, Jean-Claude;Reitzma, Jan;Roberto dos Santos, Joao;Roberto Spironello, Wilson;Romero-Saltos, Hugo;Rovero, Francesco;Rozak, Andes;Ruokolainen, Kalle;Rutishauser, Ervan;Saiter, Philippe;Saner, Filipe;Santos, Braulio;Santos, Fernanda;Sarker, Swapan;Satdichanh, Manichanh;Schmitt, Christine B. ;Schongart, Jochen;Schulze, Mark;Suganuma, Marcio;Sheil, Douglas;da Silva Pinheiro, Eduardo;Sist, Plinio;Stevart, Tariq;Sukumar, Raman;Fang Sun, I;Sunderland, Terry;Suresh, H.S.;Suzuki, Eizi;Tabarelli, Marcelo;Tang, Jangwei;Targhetta, Natalia;Theilade, Ida;Thomas, Duncan W. ;Tchouto, Peguy;Hurtado, Johanna;Valencia, Renato;van Valkenberg, Johan;Van Do, Tran;Vasquez, Rodolfo;Verbeeck, Hans;Adekunle, Victor;Vieria, Simone A. ;Webb, Campbell O. ;Whitfield, Timothy;Wich, Serge;Williams, John;Wittman, Florian;Woll, Hannsjoerg;Yang, Xiaobo;Yao, Yves Adou;Yap, Sandra;Yoneda, Tsuyoshi;Zahawi, Rakan;Zakaria, Rahmad;Zang, Runguo;de Assis, Rafael;Garcia Luize, Bruno;Venticinque, Eduardo
William Laurance
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.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

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Volume

112

ISBN/ISSN

1091-6490

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Issue

33

Pages Count

6

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Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

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EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1423147112