Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 112, Issue 24, Pages 7472-7477Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1423147112
Keywords
diversity estimation; Fisher's log series; pantropical; spatial richness patterns; tropical tree species richness
Categories
Funding
- Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
- Belgian Science Policy [SD/AR/01A]
- Botanic Garden Meise
- Brazilian Science Council
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Cientifico e Tecnologico of Brazil [MAUA] [PRONEX-FAPEAM 1600/2006]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Cientifico e Tecnologico of Brazil [Universal] [479599/2008-4]
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvovimento Cientifico e Tecnologico of Brazil [CNPq] [309458/2013-7]
- British Ecological Society [4709/5747]
- Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Brazil
- DEFRA Darwin Initiative
- Deland Award for student research, Arnold Arboretum
- Department of Biotechnology-National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Thailand
- El Consejo de Ciencia y Technologia Grant [33851-B]
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany
- Forest Department Sarawak, Malaysia
- Fulbright Program
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa de Minas Gerais, Brazil
- German Agency for International Cooperation Projects [08.7860.3-001.00, 13.1432.7-001.00]
- German Science Foundation [CRC 552, CU127/3-1, HO 3296/2-2, HO3296/4-1, RU 816]
- Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Project [14-36098G]
- Intitut National pour L'etude et la Recherche Agronomiques, Democratic Republic Congo
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas de Amazonia/Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
- Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- Museo delle Scienze
- National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan
- National Science Foundation (NSF) [DEB-0075334, DEB-0515678, LTEB1357177, LTREB/DEB1357112, NSF DEB-0424767, NSF DEB-0639393, NSF DEB-1147429, NSF DEB-1350125, NSF-DEB-1053237, NSF DEB-0841885]
- NERC Human-Modified Tropical Forests Programme
- Operation Wallacea
- PAPIIT-DGAPA-UNAM, Mexico [IB-200812, IN-204215]
- Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Royal Forest Department of Thailand
- Royal Society South-East Asia Rainforest Research Programme [RS243]
- Rufford Small Grant Foundation
- St. Louis Zoo
- Sao Paulo Research Foundation [FAPESP 03/12595-7-COTEC/IF 41.065/2005-IBAMA/CGEN 093/2005]
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Society of Systematic Biologists
- Systematics Association
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Tropenbos International
- University of Minnesota
- US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry
- USAID
- World Wildlife Fund
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Smithsonian Institution
- National Science Foundation
- John Merck Fund
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Frank Levinson Family Foundation
- HSBC Climate Partnership
- Bromley Charitable Trust
- John Swire Sons Pty Ltd.
- Small World Institute Fund
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [26304027] Funding Source: KAKEN
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1053237, 1147429] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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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 similar to 40,000 and similar to 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 similar to 19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of similar to 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.
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