Publication
 

Enhanced: tropical forest diversity-the plot thickens

Enhanced: Tropical Forest Diversity--The Plot Thickens David F. R. P. Burslem, Nancy C. Garwood, Sean C. Thomas [HN18] * The tropical forests [HN1] of the world support a huge number of tree species [HN2]--more tree species are found in 0.5 km2 of some tropical forests than in all of North America or Europe. Although tropical ecologists have put forward a number of hypotheses to explain this species diversity [HN3], testing these hypotheses has been hampered by the lack of field studies with sufficiently large long-term data sets. To fill this void, the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) [HN4] of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute has formed a network of permanent forest sites in the tropics--the forest dynamics plot (FDP) network [HN5]--that are between 15 and 52 ha in size (see the figure, below) (1). By counting, identifying, and measuring all trees greater than 1 cm in diameter in the FDP sites at 5-year intervals--with a standardized protocol (2) to facilitate comparisons between sites--CTFS has obtained a unique and comprehensive data set. This data set provides valuable insight into the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of tropical tree species. The physical, demographic, and taxonomic information accumulated for each site has also catalyzed research on, for example, the dynamics of soil seed banks (3), photosynthesis (4), the economics of nontimber forest products (5), and molecular analyses of gene flow within tree populations [HN6] (6).

Authors: 
Burslem, David F.R.P. Garwood, Nancy C. Thomas, Sean C.
Journal: 
Science
Year: 
2001
Volume: 
291
Issue: 
5504
Pages: 
606-607