Latitudinal patterns in stabilizing density dependence of forest communities
Nature, vol. 627, pp. 564–571
Abstract
Abstract Numerous studies have shown reduced performance in plants that are surrounded by neighbours of the same species1,2, a phenomenon known as conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD)3. A long-held ecological hypothesis posits that CNDD is more pronounced in tropical than in temperate forests4,5, which increases community stabilization, species coexistence and the diversity of local tree species6,7. Previous analyses supporting such a latitudinal gradient in CNDD8,9 have suffered from methodological limitations related to the use of static data10–12. Here we present a comprehensive assessment of latitudinal CNDD patterns using dynamic mortality data to estimate species-site-specific CNDD across 23 sites. Averaged across species, we found that stabilizing CNDD was present at all except one site, but that average stabilizing CNDD was not stronger toward the tropics. However, in tropical tree communities, rare and intermediate abundant species experienced stronger stabilizing CNDD than did common species. This pattern was absent in temperate forests, which suggests that CNDD influences species abundances more strongly in tropical forests than it does in temperate ones13. We also found that interspecific variation in CNDD, which might attenuate its stabilizing effect on species diversity14,15, was high but not significantly different across latitudes. Although the consequences of these patterns for latitudinal diversity gradients are difficult to evaluate, we speculate that a more effective regulation of population abundances could translate into greater stabilization of tropical tree communities and thus contribute to the high local diversity of tropical forests.
Authors 52
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Lisa Hülsmann corresponding
University of Bayreuth · University of Regensburg
Affiliation as printed
Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. lisa.huelsmann@uni-bayreuth.de
Ecosystem Analysis and Simulation (EASI) Lab, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany. lisa.huelsmann@uni-bayreuth.de
Theoretical Ecology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. lisa.huelsmann@uni-bayreuth.de
Ecosystem Analysis and Simulation (EASI) Lab, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
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National University of Singapore
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute · Yale University
Affiliation as printed
School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama
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Affiliation as printed
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute · ForestGEO
Affiliation as printed
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute · Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute · ForestGEO
Affiliation as printed
Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama
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Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Affiliation as printed
Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA
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National Science and Technology Development Agency · Mahidol University
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
National Biobank of Thailand (NBT), National Science and Technology Development Agency, Bangkok, Thailand
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Affiliation as printed
Thai Long Term Forest Ecological Research Project, Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
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Affiliation as printed
Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas Sinchi, Bogotá, Colombia
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National Sun Yat-sen University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Plant Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA
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Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Affiliation as printed
Departamento de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Science and Technology, Uva Wellassa University, Badulla, Sri Lanka
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Affiliation as printed
University of Kisangani, Kisangani, Congo
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University of California, Santa Cruz
Affiliation as printed
Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Forest Ecology, Silva Tarouca Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic
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University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
Affiliation as printed
Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, WI, USA
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University of California, Los Angeles
Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan
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Affiliation as printed
School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Forest Ecology, Silva Tarouca Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Forest Management, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA
Wilderness Institute, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Kisangani, Kisangani, Congo
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Affiliation as printed
Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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ForestGEO · Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Affiliation as printed
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA
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Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Affiliation as printed
Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Sarawak Forest Department, Kuching, Malaysia
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Forest Research Institute Malaysia
Affiliation as printed
Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Malaysia
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National Science and Technology Development Agency
Affiliation as printed
National Biobank of Thailand (NBT), National Science and Technology Development Agency, Bangkok, Thailand
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Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute
Affiliation as printed
Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá, Colombia
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute · ForestGEO
Affiliation as printed
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama
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Indiana University Bloomington · Indiana University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Donghwa University, Hualien, Taiwan
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Affiliation as printed
School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Sarawak Forest Department, Kuching, Malaysia
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Affiliation as printed
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, UK
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Ecology, Evolution & Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
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University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
Affiliation as printed
Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Green Bay, WI, USA
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Forest Research Institute Malaysia
Affiliation as printed
Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Malaysia
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University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras
Affiliation as printed
Department of Environmental Science, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Forest Global Earth Observatory, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA
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Affiliation as printed
Theoretical Ecology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
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