The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora

Luize, Bruno Garcia and Tuomisto, Hanna and Ekelschot, Robin and Dexter, Kyle G. and Amaral, Iêda L. do and Coelho, Luiz de Souza and Matos, Francisca Dionízia de Almeida and Lima Filho, Diógenes de Andrade and Salomão, Rafael P. and Wittmann, Florian and Castilho, Carolina V. and Carim, Marcelo de Jesus Veiga and Guevara, Juan Ernesto and Phillips, Oliver L. and Magnusson, William E. and Sabatier, Daniel and Cardenas Revilla, Juan David and Molino, Jean-François and Irume, Mariana Victória and Martins, Maria Pires and Guimarães, José Renan da Silva and Ramos, José Ferreira and Bánki, Olaf S. and Piedade, Maria Teresa Fernandez and Cárdenas López, Dairon and Pitman, Nigel C. A. and Demarchi, Layon O. and Schöngart, Jochen and de Leão Novo, Evlyn Márcia Moraes and Núñez Vargas, Percy and Silva, Thiago Sanna Freire and Venticinque, Eduardo Martins and Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto and Reis, Neidiane Farias Costa and Terborgh, John and Casula, Katia Regina and Honorio Coronado, Euridice N. and Mendoza, Abel Monteagudo and Montero, Juan Carlos and Costa, Flávia R. C. and Feldpausch, Ted R. and Quaresma, Adriano Costa and Castaño Arboleda, Nicolás and Zartman, Charles Eugene and Killeen, Timothy J. and Marimon, Beatriz S. and Marimon, Ben Hur and Vasquez, Rodolfo and Mostacedo, Bonifacio and Assis, Rafael L. and Baraloto, Chris and do Amaral, Dário Dantas and Engel, Julien and Petronelli, Pascal and Castellanos, Hernán and de Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante and Simon, Marcelo Fragomeni and Andrade, Ana and Camargo, José Luís and Laurance, William F. and Laurance, Susan G. W. and Rincón, Lorena Maniguaje and Schietti, Juliana and Sousa, Thaiane R. and Mori, Gisele Biem and Farias, Emanuelle de Sousa and Lopes, Maria Aparecida and Magalhães, José Leonardo Lima and Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça and de Queiroz, Helder Lima and Vasconcelos, Caroline C. and Aymard C, Gerardo A. and Brienen, Roel and Stevenson, Pablo R. and Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro and Cintra, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat and Baker, Tim R. and Feitosa, Yuri Oliveira and Mogollón, Hugo F. and Duivenvoorden, Joost F. and Peres, Carlos A. and Silman, Miles R. and Ferreira, Leandro Valle and Lozada, José Rafael and Comiskey, James A. and de Toledo, José Julio and Damasco, Gabriel and Dávila, Nállarett and Draper, Freddie C. and García-Villacorta, Roosevelt and Lopes, Aline and Vicentini, Alberto and Valverde, Fernando Cornejo and Alonso, Alfonso and Arroyo, Luzmila and Dallmeier, Francisco and Gomes, Vitor H. F. and Jimenez, Eliana M. and Neill, David and Peñuela Mora, Maria Cristina and Noronha, Janaína Costa and de Aguiar, Daniel P. P. and Barbosa, Flávia Rodrigues and Bredin, Yennie K. and Carpanedo, Rainiellen de Sá and Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes and Souza, Fernanda Coelho de and Feeley, Kenneth J. and Gribel, Rogerio and Haugaasen, Torbjørn and Hawes, Joseph E. and Pansonato, Marcelo Petratti and Pipoly, John J. and Paredes, Marcos Ríos and Rodrigues, Domingos de Jesus and Barlow, Jos and Berenguer, Erika and da Silva, Izaias Brasil and Ferreira, Maria Julia and Ferreira, Joice and Fine, Paul V. A. and Guedes, Marcelino Carneiro and Levis, Carolina and Licona, Juan Carlos and Villa Zegarra, Boris Eduardo and Vos, Vincent Antoine and Cerón, Carlos and Durgante, Flávia Machado and Fonty, Émile and Henkel, Terry W. and Householder, John Ethan and Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau and Silveira, Marcos and Stropp, Juliana and Thomas, Raquel and Daly, Doug and Milliken, William and Molina, Guido Pardo and Pennington, Toby and Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães and Albuquerque, Bianca Weiss and Campelo, Wegliane and Fuentes, Alfredo and Klitgaard, Bente and Pena, José Luis Marcelo and Tello, J. Sebastián and Vriesendorp, Corine and Chave, Jerome and Di Fiore, Anthony and Hilário, Renato Richard and Pereira, Luciana de Oliveira and Phillips, Juan Fernando and Rivas-Torres, Gonzalo and van Andel, Tinde R. and von Hildebrand, Patricio and Balee, William and Barbosa, Edelcilio Marques and Bonates, Luiz Carlos de Matos and Dávila Doza, Hilda Paulette and Zárate Gómez, Ricardo and Gonzales, Therany and Gallardo Gonzales, George Pepe and Hoffman, Bruce and Junqueira, André Braga and Malhi, Yadvinder and Miranda, Ires Paula de Andrade and Pinto, Linder Felipe Mozombite and Prieto, Adriana and Rudas, Agustín and Ruschel, Ademir R. and Silva, Natalino and Vela, César I. A. and Zent, Stanford and Zent, Egleé L. and Endara, María José and Cano, Angela and Carrero Márquez, Yrma Andreina and Correa, Diego F. and Costa, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa and Monteiro Flores, Bernardo and Galbraith, David and Holmgren, Milena and Kalamandeen, Michelle and Lobo, Guilherme and Torres Montenegro, Luis and Nascimento, Marcelo Trindade and Oliveira, Alexandre A. and Pombo, Maihyra Marina and Ramirez-Angulo, Hirma and Rocha, Maira and Scudeller, Veridiana Vizoni and Umaña, Maria Natalia and van der Heijden, Geertje and Vilanova Torre, Emilio and Vargas, Tony Mori and Ahuite Reategui, Manuel Augusto and Baider, Cláudia and Balslev, Henrik and Cárdenas, Sasha and Casas, Luisa Fernanda and Farfan-Rios, William and Ferreira, Cid and Linares-Palomino, Reynaldo and Mendoza, Casimiro and Mesones, Italo and Parada, Germaine Alexander and Torres-Lezama, Armando and Urrego Giraldo, Ligia Estela and Villarroel, Daniel and Zagt, Roderick and Alexiades, Miguel N. and de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida and Fortier, Riley P. and Garcia-Cabrera, Karina and Hernandez, Lionel and Palacios Cuenca, Walter and Pansini, Susamar and Pauletto, Daniela and Ramirez Arevalo, Freddy and Sampaio, Adeilza Felipe and Valderrama Sandoval, Elvis H. and Valenzuela Gamarra, Luis and Hirota, Marina and Palma-Silva, Clarisse and ter Steege, Hans (2024) The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora. Communications Biology, 7 (1): 1240. ISSN 2399-3642

Abstract

We describe the geographical variation in tree species composition across Amazonian forests and show how environmental conditions are associated with species turnover. Our analyses are based on 2023 forest inventory plots (1 ha) that provide abundance data for a total of 5188 tree species. Within-plot species composition reflected both local environmental conditions (especially soil nutrients and hydrology) and geographical regions. A broader-scale view of species turnover was obtained by interpolating the relative tree species abundances over Amazonia into 47,441 0.1-degree grid cells. Two main dimensions of spatial change in tree species composition were identified. The first was a gradient between western Amazonia at the Andean forelands (with young geology and relatively nutrient-rich soils) and central–eastern Amazonia associated with the Guiana and Brazilian Shields (with more ancient geology and poor soils). The second gradient was between the wet forests of the northwest and the drier forests in southern Amazonia. Isolines linking cells of similar composition crossed major Amazonian rivers, suggesting that tree species distributions are not limited by rivers. Even though some areas of relatively sharp species turnover were identified, mostly the tree species composition changed gradually over large extents, which does not support delimiting clear discrete biogeographic regions within Amazonia.