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Cited by 140Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesForest ecology and managementBotany and Plant Ecology Studies

Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora

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ter Steege, Hans, Prado, Paulo I., Lima, Renato A. F. de, Pos, Edwin, de Souza Coelho, Luiz, de Andrade Lima Filho, Diogenes, Salomão, Rafael P., Amaral, Iêda Leão +205 more·2020·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-66686-3PMC PMC7311553
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Abstract

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia is best approximated by a logseries with aggregated individuals, where aggregation increases with rarity. By averaging several methods to estimate total richness, we confirm that over 15,000 tree species are expected to occur in Amazonia. We also show that using ten times the number of plots would result in an increase to just ~50% of those 15,000 estimated species. To get a more complete sample of all tree species, rigorous field campaigns may be needed but the number of trees in Amazonia will remain an estimate for years to come.

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  • Amazonian forests are home to more than 15,000 tree species, of which 1% are dominant and the other 99% are mostly rare.

    “Amazonian forests are home to more than 15,000 tree species, of which 1% are dominant and the other 99% are mostly rare107.”

    From Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system (2024) · cites this paper as [107]

    The Discussion estimates 15,874 Amazonian tree species and describes hyperdominance by a few abundant species. It does not establish that exactly 1% of species are dominant or that the other 99% are mostly rare. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 35

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Authors
ter Steege, H., Prado, P. I., Lima, R. A. F. D., Pos, E., de Souza Coelho, L., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Amaral, I. L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., Castilho, C. V., Phillips, O. L., Guevara, J. E., de Jesus Veiga Carim, M., Cárdenas López, D., Magnusson, W. E., Wittmann, F., Martins, M. P., Sabatier, D., Irume, M. V., da Silva Guimarães, J. R., Molino, J.-F., Bánki, O. S., Piedade, M. T. F., Pitman, N. C. A., Ramos, J. F., Monteagudo Mendoza, A., Venticinque, E. M., Luize, B. G., Núñez Vargas, P., Silva, T. S. F., de Leão Novo, E. M. M., Reis, N. F. C., Terborgh, J., Manzatto, A. G., Casula, K. R., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Montero, J. C., Duque, A., Costa, F. R. C., Castaño Arboleda, N., Schöngart, J., Zartman, C. E., Killeen, T. J., Marimon, B. S., Marimon-Junior, B. H., Vasquez, R., Mostacedo, B., Demarchi, L. O., Feldpausch, T. R., Engel, J., Petronelli, P., Baraloto, C., Assis, R. L., Castellanos, H., Simon, M. F., de Medeiros, M. B., Quaresma, A., Laurance, S. G. W., Rincón, L. M., Andrade, A., Sousa, T. R., Camargo, J. L., Schietti, J., Laurance, W. F., de Queiroz, H. L., Nascimento, H. E. M., Lopes, M. A., de Sousa Farias, E., Magalhães, J. L. L., Brienen, R., Aymard C., G. A., Revilla, J. D. C., Vieira, I. C. G., Cintra, B. B. L., Stevenson, P. R., Feitosa, Y. O., Duivenvoorden, J. F., Mogollón, H. F., Araujo-Murakami, A., Ferreira, L. V., Lozada, J. R., Comiskey, J. A., de Toledo, J. J., Damasco, G., Dávila, N., Lopes, A., García-Villacorta, R., Draper, F., Vicentini, A., Cornejo Valverde, F., Lloyd, J., Gomes, V. H. F., Neill, D., Alonso, A., Dallmeier, F., de Souza, F. C., Gribel, R., Arroyo, L., Carvalho, F. A., de Aguiar, D. P. P., do Amaral, D. D., Pansonato, M. P., Feeley, K. J., Berenguer, E., Fine, P. V. A., Guedes, M. C., Barlow, J., Ferreira, J., Villa, B., Peñuela Mora, M. C., Jimenez, E. M., Licona, J. C., Cerón, C., Thomas, R., Maas, P., Silveira, M., Henkel, T. W., Stropp, J., Paredes, M. R., Dexter, K. G., Daly, D., Baker, T. R., Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, I., Milliken, W., Pennington, T., Tello, J. S., Pena, J. L. M., Peres, C. A., Klitgaard, B., Fuentes, A., Silman, M. R., Di Fiore, A., von Hildebrand, P., Chave, J., van Andel, T. R., Hilário, R. R., Phillips, J. F., Rivas-Torres, G., Noronha, J. C., Prieto, A., Gonzales, T., de Sá Carpanedo, R., Gonzales, G. P. G., Gómez, R. Z., de Jesus Rodrigues, D., Zent, E. L., Ruschel, A. R., Vos, V. A., Fonty, É., Junqueira, A. B., Doza, H. P. D., Hoffman, B., Zent, S., Barbosa, E. M., Malhi, Y., de Matos Bonates, L. C., de Andrade Miranda, I. P., Silva, N., Barbosa, F. R., Vela, C. I. A., Pinto, L. F. M., Rudas, A., Albuquerque, B. W., Umaña, M. N., Carrero Márquez, Y. A., van der Heijden, G., Young, K. R., Tirado, M., Correa, D. F., Sierra, R., Costa, J. B. P., Rocha, M., Vilanova Torre, E., Wang, O., Oliveira, A. A., Kalamandeen, M., Vriesendorp, C., Ramirez-Angulo, H., Holmgren, M., Nascimento, M. T., Galbraith, D., Flores, B. M., Scudeller, V. V., Cano, A., Ahuite Reategui, M. A., Mesones, I., Baider, C., Mendoza, C., Zagt, R., Urrego Giraldo, L. E., Ferreira, C., Villarroel, D., Linares-Palomino, R., Farfan-Rios, W., Farfan-Rios, W., Casas, L. F., Cárdenas, S., Balslev, H., Torres-Lezama, A., Alexiades, M. N., Garcia-Cabrera, K., Valenzuela Gamarra, L., Valderrama Sandoval, E. H., Ramirez Arevalo, F., Hernandez, L., Sampaio, A. F., Pansini, S., Palacios Cuenca, W., de Oliveira, E. A., Pauletto, D., Levesley, A., Melgaço, K., & Pickavance, G.
Affiliations
  • Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
  • Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL)
  • Utrecht University (NL)
  • Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (BR)
  • Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (BR)
  • Embrapa (BR)
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • Field Museum of Natural History (US)
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (BR)
  • Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR)
  • University of Stirling (GB)
  • Universidade Federal de Rondônia (BR)
  • Florida Museum of Natural History (US)
  • Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (BR)
  • Gabriel René Moreno Autonomous University (BO)
  • University of Oslo (NO)
  • Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana (VE)
  • Universidade Federal do Pará (BR)
  • Embrapa Amazônia Oriental (BR)
  • Universidad de Los Andes (CO)
  • University of Amsterdam (NL)
  • Universidad de Los Andes (VE)
  • National Park Service (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR)
  • Universidade de Brasília (BR)
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • Centro Universitário do Pará (BR)
  • Universidad Estatal Amazónica (EC)
  • Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (US)
  • Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
  • University of Miami (US)
  • Lancaster University (GB)
  • Instituto Sinchi (CO)
  • Bolivian Forest Research Institute (BO)
  • Central University of Ecuador (EC)
  • Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (GY)
  • Universidade Federal do Acre (BR)
  • Cal Poly Humboldt (US)
  • Universidade Federal de Alagoas (BR)
  • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (GB)
  • National University of Saint Anthony the Abbot in Cuzco (PE)
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GB)
  • Missouri Botanical Garden (US)
  • University of East Anglia (GB)
  • Wake Forest University (US)
  • Universidade Federal do Amapá (BR)
  • Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (BR)
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO)
  • Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (PE)
  • Universidad Autónoma del Beni (BO)
  • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
  • Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (VE)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (BR)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
  • Northern Arizona University (US)
  • Wageningen University & Research (NL)
  • State University of Norte Fluminense (BR)
  • Universidade Federal do Amazonas (BR)
  • Universidad Mayor de San Simón (BO)
  • Tropenbos International (NL)
  • Aarhus University (DK)
  • University of Kent (GB)
  • Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (BR)
Corresponding author
Prado, Paulo I.
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-06-23
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
10130-10130
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-66686-3
PMC
PMC7311553
OpenAlex
W3036296561
Cited by
140
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 6
FWCI
10.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
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Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
  • University of Missouri
  • Aarhus Universitet
  • Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
  • University of Washington
  • Northern Arizona University
  • Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
  • Universidade Federal do Amazonas
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Oxford
  • European Commission (795114)
  • Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-LABX-0025)
  • University of Queensland
  • Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (09/53413-5)
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
  • Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas
  • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
  • McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/B503384/1, NE/I02982X/1, NE/M022021/1, NE/D01025X/1, NE/I028122/1, NE/D005590/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/N011570/1, NE/J023418/1)
  • Wageningen University and Research
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
Keywords
species richness estimation, species abundance distribution, forest plots, tree species diversity
MeSH terms
Brazil, Classification, Trees, Biodiversity, Rivers, Forests

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