Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

Pos, Edwin;de Souza Coelho, Luiz;de Andrade Lima Filho, Diogenes;Salomão, Rafael P.;Amaral, Iêda Leão;De Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionízia;Castilho, Carolina V.;Phillips, Oliver L.;Guevara, Juan Ernesto;de Jesus Veiga Carim, Marcelo;López, Dairon Cárdenas;Magnusson, William E.;Wittmann, Florian;Irume, Mariana Victória;Martins, Maria Pires;Sabatier, Daniel;da Silva Guimarães, José Renan;Molino, Jean-François;Bánki, Olaf S.;Piedade, Maria Teresa Fernandez;Pitman, Nigel C.A.;Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo;Ramos, José;Hawes, Joseph E.;Almeida, Everton José;Barbosa, Luciane Ferreira;Cavalheiro, Larissa;dos Santos, Márcia Cléia Vilela;Luize, Bruno Garcia;de Leão Novo, Evlyn Márcia Moraes;Vargas, Percy Núñez;Silva, Thiago Sanna Freire;Venticinque, Eduardo Martins;Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto;Reis, Neidiane Farias Costa;Terborgh, John;Casula, Katia Regina;Coronado, Euridice N. Honorio;Montero, Juan Carlos;Marimon, Beatriz S.;Marimon-Junior, Ben Hur;Feldpausch, Ted R.;Duque, Alvaro;Baraloto, Chris;Arboleda, Nicolás Castaño;Engel, Julien;Petronelli, Pascal;Zartman, Charles Eugene;Killeen, Timothy J.;Vasquez, Rodolfo;Mostacedo, Bonifacio;Assis, Rafael L.;Schöngart, Jochen;Castellanos, Hernán;de Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante;Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni;Andrade, Ana;Camargo, José Luís;Demarchi, Layon O.;Laurance, William F.;Laurance, Susan G.W.;de Sousa Farias, Emanuelle;Lopes, Maria Aparecida;Magalhães, José Leonardo Lima;Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça;de Queiroz, Helder Lima;Aymard, Gerardo A. C.;Brienen, Roel;Revilla, Juan David Cardenas;Costa, Flávia R. C.;Quaresma, Adriano;Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães;Cintra, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat;Stevenson, Pablo R.;Feitosa, Yuri Oliveira;Duivenvoorden, Joost F.;Mogollón, Hugo F.;Ferreira, Leandro Valle;Comiskey, James A.;Draper, Freddie;de Toledo, José Julio;Damasco, Gabriel;Dávila, Nállarett;Garcia-villacorta, Roosevelt;Lopes, Aline;Vicentini, Alberto;Noronha, Janaína Costa;Barbosa, Flávia Rodrigues;de Sá Carpanedo, Rainiellen;Emilio, Thaise;Levis, Carolina;de Jesus Rodrigues, Domingos;Schietti, Juliana;Souza, Priscila;Alonso, Alfonso;Dallmeier, Francisco;Gomes, Vitor H. F.;Lloyd, Jon;Neill, David;de Aguiar, Daniel Praia Portela;Araujo-murakami, Alejandro;Arroyo, Luzmila;Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes;de Souza, Fernanda Coelho;do Amaral, Dário Dantas;Feeley, Kenneth J.;Gribel, Rogerio;Pansonato, Marcelo Petratti;Barlow, Jos;Berenguer, Erika;Ferreira, Joice;Fine, Paul V. A.;Guedes, Marcelino Carneiro;Jimenez, Eliana M.;Licona, Juan Carlos;Mora, Maria Cristina Peñuela;Peres, Carlos A.;Zegarra, Boris Eduardo Villa;Cerón, Carlos;Henkel, Terry W.;Maas, Paul;Silveira, Marcos;Stropp, Juliana;Thomas-Caesar, Raquel;Baker, Tim R.;Daly, Doug;Dexter, Kyle G.;Householder, John Ethan;Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau;Pennington, Toby;Paredes, Marcos Ríos;Fuentes, Alfredo;Pena, José Luis Marcelo;Silman, Miles R.;Tello, J. Sebastián;Chave, Jerome;Valverde, Fernando Cornejo;Di Fiore, Anthony;Hilário, Renato Richard;Phillips, Juan Fernando;Rivas-Torres, Gonzalo;van Andel, Tinde R.;von Hildebrand, Patricio;Barbosa, Edelcilio Marques;de Matos Bonates, Luiz Carlos;Doza, Hilda Paulette Dávila;Fonty, Émile;Gómez, Ricardo Zárate;Gonzales, Therany;Gonzales, George Pepe Gallardo;Guillaumet, Jean-Louis;Hoffman, Bruce;Junqueira, André Braga;Malhi, Yadvinder;de Andrade Miranda, Ires Paula;Pinto, Linder Felipe Mozombite;Prieto, Adriana;Rudas, Agustín;Ruschel, Ademir R.;Silva, Natalino;Vela, César I. A.;Vos, Vincent Antoine;Zent, Egleé L.;Zent, Stanford;Albuquerque, Bianca Weiss;Cano, Angela;Correa, Diego F.;Costa, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa;Flores, Bernardo Monteiro;Holmgren, Milena;Nascimento, Marcelo Trindade;Oliveira, Alexandre A.;Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma;Rocha, Maira;Scudeller, Veridiana Vizoni;Sierra, Rodrigo;Tirado, Milton;Umaña, Maria Natalia;van der Heijden, Geertje;Torre, Emilio Vilanova;Vriesendorp, Corine;Wang, Ophelia;Young, Kenneth R.;Reategui, Manuel Augusto Ahuite;Baider, Cláudia;Balslev, Henrik;Cárdenas, Sasha;Casas, Luisa Fernanda;Farfan-Rios, William;Ferreira, Cid;Linares-Palomino, Reynaldo;Mendoza, Casimiro;Mesones, Italo;Torres-Lezama, Armando;Giraldo, Ligia Estela Urrego;Villarroel, Daniel;Zagt, Roderick;Alexiades, Miguel N.;Garcia-Cabrera, Karina;Hernandez, Lionel;Milliken, William;Cuenca, Walter Palacios;Pansini, Susamar;Pauletto, Daniela;Arevalo, Freddy Ramirez;Sampaio, Adeilza Felipe;Sandoval, Elvis H. Valderrama;Gamarra, Luis Valenzuela;Boenisch, Gerhard;Kattge, Jens;Kraft, Nathan;Levesley, Aurora;Melgaço, Karina;Pickavance, Georgia;Poorter, Lourens;ter Steege, Hans

William Laurance Susan Laurance

Abstract

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Publication Name

N/A

Volume

ISBN/ISSN

2045-2322

Edition

N/A

Issue

N/A

Pages Count

Location

N/A

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Publisher Url

N/A

Publisher Location

N/A

Publish Date

N/A

Url

N/A

Date

N/A

EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-28132-y