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Functional composition of the Amazonian tree flora and forests

ter Steege, Hans, Poorter, Lourens, Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús, Fortunel, Claire, Magnusson, William E., Phillips, Oliver L., Pos, Edwin, Luize, Bruno Garcia, Baraloto, Chris, Guevara, Juan Ernesto, and others. (2025) Functional composition of the Amazonian tree flora and forests. Communications Biology, 8 (1). Article Number 355. ISSN 2399-3642. (doi:10.1038/s42003-025-07768-8) (KAR id:108947)

Abstract

Plants cope with the environment by displaying large phenotypic variation. Two spectra of global plant form and function have been identified: a size spectrum from small to tall species with increasing stem tissue density, leaf size, and seed mass; a leaf economics spectrum reflecting slow to fast returns on investments in leaf nutrients and carbon. When species assemble to communities it is assumed that these spectra are filtered by the environment to produce community level functional composition. It is unknown what are the main drivers for community functional composition in a large area such as Amazonia. We use 13 functional traits, including wood density, seed mass, leaf characteristics, breeding system, nectar production, fruit type, and root characteristics of 812 tree genera (5211 species), and find that they describe two main axes found at the global scale. At community level, the first axis captures not only the ‘fast-slow spectrum’, but also most size-related traits. Climate and disturbance explain a minor part of this variance compared to soil fertility. Forests on poor soils differ largely in terms of trait values from those on rich soils. Trait composition and soil fertility exert a strong influence on forest functioning: biomass and relative biomass production.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1038/s42003-025-07768-8
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (https://ror.org/02b5d8509)
SWORD Depositor: JISC Publications Router
Depositing User: JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2025 14:33 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Mar 2025 15:27 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/108947 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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