1. Direct and indirect effects of climate on richness drive the latitudinal diversity gradient in forest trees
- Author
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Glen Reynolds, Guochun Shen, Shujun Wen, Billy C.H. Hau, Hervé Memiaghe, George D. Weiblen, David Storch, Keping Ma, Guangze Jin, Zhiyao Su, Fangliang He, Andy Hector, Jiangshan Lai, Bin Wang, Gary G. Mittelbach, William J. McShea, Weiguo Sang, Yingming Zhang, David A. Orwig, Ya-Huang Luo, Juyu Lian, David Kenfack, Xiujuan Qiao, Xihua Wang, Richard Condit, Ming Ni, Xiankun Li, Alfonso Alonso, Xiangcheng Mi, Jiaxin Zhang, Qing He, Xiaotong Zhang, Lian-Ming Gao, Wusheng Xiang, Stephen P. Hubbell, Kai Zhu, James A. Lutz, Geoffrey G. Parker, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Suqin Fang, Kamil Král, Jess K. Zimmerman, Norm Bourg, Wanhui Ye, Xinghua Sui, Luxiang Lin, Zhanqin Hao, Bingwei Zhang, Yankun Liu, Han Xu, Yide Li, Min Cao, Buhang Li, Xugao Wang, Hazel M. Chapman, Haibao Ren, Xue Yin, Nianxun Xi, Michael O'Brien, Kun Xu, Iveren Abiem, Youshi Wang, Chengjin Chu, Gunter A. Fischer, Mingxi Jiang, Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira, Yu Liu, Tomáš Vrška, David F. R. P. Burslem, I-Fang Sun, Jonathan Myers, Jennifer L. Baltzer, and Songyan Tian
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,BIODIVERSIDADE ,Ecology ,Climate ,Niche differentiation ,Biodiversity ,Species diversity ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Basal area ,Trees ,010601 ecology ,Geography ,Abundance (ecology) ,Species richness ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Diversity (business) ,Global biodiversity - Abstract
Climate is widely recognised as an important determinant of the latitudinal diversity gradient. However, most existing studies make no distinction between direct and indirect effects of climate, which substantially hinders our understanding of how climate constrains biodiversity globally. Using data from 35 large forest plots, we test hypothesised relationships amongst climate, topography, forest structural attributes (stem abundance, tree size variation and stand basal area) and tree species richness to better understand drivers of latitudinal tree diversity patterns. Climate influences tree richness both directly, with more species in warm, moist, aseasonal climates and indirectly, with more species at higher stem abundance. These results imply direct limitation of species diversity by climatic stress and more rapid (co-)evolution and narrower niche partitioning in warm climates. They also support the idea that increased numbers of individuals associated with high primary productivity are partitioned to support a greater number of species.
- Published
- 2018