Global importance of large-diameter trees

Aim: To examine the contribution of large-diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and b...

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Main Authors: Lutz, James A., Furniss, Tucker J., Johnson, Daniel J., Davies, Stuart J., Allen, David, Alonso, Alfonso, Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J., Andrade, Ana, Baltzer, Jennifer, Becker, Kendall M. L., Blomdahl, Erika M., Bourg, Norman A., Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Burslem, David F. R. P., Cansler, C. Alina, Cao, Ke, Cao, Min, Cárdenas, Dairon, Chang, Li-Wan, Chao, Kuo-Jung, Chao, Wei-Chun, Chiang, Jyh-Min, Chu, Chengjin, Chuyong, George B., Clay, Keith, Condit, Richard, Cordell, Susan, Dattaraja, Handanakere S., Duque, Alvaro, Ewango, Corneille E. N., Fischer, Gunter A., Fletcher, Christine, Freund, James A., Giardina, Christian, Germain, Sara J., Gilbert, Gregory S., Hao, Zhanqing, Hart, Terese, Hau, Billy C. H., He, Fangliang, Hector, Andrew, Howe, Robert W., Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Hu, Yue-Hua, Hubbell, Stephen P., Inman-Narahari, Faith M., Itoh, Akira, Janík, David, Abdul Rahman Kassim, Kenfack, David, Korte, Lisa, Král, Kamil, Larson, Andrew J., Li, YiDe, Lin, Yiching, Liu, Shirong, Lum, Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi, Ma, Keping, Makana, Jean-Remy, Malhi, Yadvinder, McMahon, Sean M., McShea, William J., Memiaghe, Hervé R., Mi, Xiangcheng, Morecroft, Michael, Musili, Paul M., Myers, Jonathan A., Novotny, Vojtech, de Oliveira, Alexandre, Ong, Perry, Orwig, David A., Ostertag, Rebecca, Parker, Geoffrey G., Patankar, Rajit, Phillips, Richard P., Reynolds, Glen, Sack, Lawren, Song, Guo-Zhang M., Su, Sheng-Hsin, Sukumar, Raman, Sun, I-Fang, Suresh, Hebbalalu S., Swanson, Mark E., Tan, Sylvester, Thomas, Duncan W., Thompson, Jill, Uriarte, Maria, Valencia, Renato, Vicentini, Alberto, Vrška, Tomáš, Wang, Xugao, Weiblen, George D., Wolf, Amy, Wu, Shu-Hui, Xu, Han, Yamakura, Takuo, Yap, Sandra, Zimmerman, Jess K.
Other Authors: Asian School of the Environment
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140605
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-140605
record_format dspace
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Geography
Forest Biomass
Forest Structure
spellingShingle Social sciences::Geography
Forest Biomass
Forest Structure
Lutz, James A.
Furniss, Tucker J.
Johnson, Daniel J.
Davies, Stuart J.
Allen, David
Alonso, Alfonso
Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J.
Andrade, Ana
Baltzer, Jennifer
Becker, Kendall M. L.
Blomdahl, Erika M.
Bourg, Norman A.
Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh
Burslem, David F. R. P.
Cansler, C. Alina
Cao, Ke
Cao, Min
Cárdenas, Dairon
Chang, Li-Wan
Chao, Kuo-Jung
Chao, Wei-Chun
Chiang, Jyh-Min
Chu, Chengjin
Chuyong, George B.
Clay, Keith
Condit, Richard
Cordell, Susan
Dattaraja, Handanakere S.
Duque, Alvaro
Ewango, Corneille E. N.
Fischer, Gunter A.
Fletcher, Christine
Freund, James A.
Giardina, Christian
Germain, Sara J.
Gilbert, Gregory S.
Hao, Zhanqing
Hart, Terese
Hau, Billy C. H.
He, Fangliang
Hector, Andrew
Howe, Robert W.
Hsieh, Chang-Fu
Hu, Yue-Hua
Hubbell, Stephen P.
Inman-Narahari, Faith M.
Itoh, Akira
Janík, David
Abdul Rahman Kassim
Kenfack, David
Korte, Lisa
Král, Kamil
Larson, Andrew J.
Li, YiDe
Lin, Yiching
Liu, Shirong
Lum, Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi
Ma, Keping
Makana, Jean-Remy
Malhi, Yadvinder
McMahon, Sean M.
McShea, William J.
Memiaghe, Hervé R.
Mi, Xiangcheng
Morecroft, Michael
Musili, Paul M.
Myers, Jonathan A.
Novotny, Vojtech
de Oliveira, Alexandre
Ong, Perry
Orwig, David A.
Ostertag, Rebecca
Parker, Geoffrey G.
Patankar, Rajit
Phillips, Richard P.
Reynolds, Glen
Sack, Lawren
Song, Guo-Zhang M.
Su, Sheng-Hsin
Sukumar, Raman
Sun, I-Fang
Suresh, Hebbalalu S.
Swanson, Mark E.
Tan, Sylvester
Thomas, Duncan W.
Thompson, Jill
Uriarte, Maria
Valencia, Renato
Vicentini, Alberto
Vrška, Tomáš
Wang, Xugao
Weiblen, George D.
Wolf, Amy
Wu, Shu-Hui
Xu, Han
Yamakura, Takuo
Yap, Sandra
Zimmerman, Jess K.
Global importance of large-diameter trees
description Aim: To examine the contribution of large-diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees ≥ 60 cm DBH, and those rank-ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results: Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare-scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees ≥ 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass (r2 =.62, p <.001). Large-diameter trees in high biomass forests represented far fewer species relative to overall forest richness (r2 =.45, p <.001). Forests with more diverse large-diameter tree communities were comprised of smaller trees (r2 =.33, p <.001). Lower large-diameter richness was associated with large-diameter trees being individuals of more common species (r2 =.17, p =.002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude (r2 =.46, p <.001), as did forest density (r2 =.31, p <.001). Forest structural complexity increased with increasing absolute latitude (r2 =.26, p <.001). Main conclusions: Because large-diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large-diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services.
author2 Asian School of the Environment
author_facet Asian School of the Environment
Lutz, James A.
Furniss, Tucker J.
Johnson, Daniel J.
Davies, Stuart J.
Allen, David
Alonso, Alfonso
Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J.
Andrade, Ana
Baltzer, Jennifer
Becker, Kendall M. L.
Blomdahl, Erika M.
Bourg, Norman A.
Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh
Burslem, David F. R. P.
Cansler, C. Alina
Cao, Ke
Cao, Min
Cárdenas, Dairon
Chang, Li-Wan
Chao, Kuo-Jung
Chao, Wei-Chun
Chiang, Jyh-Min
Chu, Chengjin
Chuyong, George B.
Clay, Keith
Condit, Richard
Cordell, Susan
Dattaraja, Handanakere S.
Duque, Alvaro
Ewango, Corneille E. N.
Fischer, Gunter A.
Fletcher, Christine
Freund, James A.
Giardina, Christian
Germain, Sara J.
Gilbert, Gregory S.
Hao, Zhanqing
Hart, Terese
Hau, Billy C. H.
He, Fangliang
Hector, Andrew
Howe, Robert W.
Hsieh, Chang-Fu
Hu, Yue-Hua
Hubbell, Stephen P.
Inman-Narahari, Faith M.
Itoh, Akira
Janík, David
Abdul Rahman Kassim
Kenfack, David
Korte, Lisa
Král, Kamil
Larson, Andrew J.
Li, YiDe
Lin, Yiching
Liu, Shirong
Lum, Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi
Ma, Keping
Makana, Jean-Remy
Malhi, Yadvinder
McMahon, Sean M.
McShea, William J.
Memiaghe, Hervé R.
Mi, Xiangcheng
Morecroft, Michael
Musili, Paul M.
Myers, Jonathan A.
Novotny, Vojtech
de Oliveira, Alexandre
Ong, Perry
Orwig, David A.
Ostertag, Rebecca
Parker, Geoffrey G.
Patankar, Rajit
Phillips, Richard P.
Reynolds, Glen
Sack, Lawren
Song, Guo-Zhang M.
Su, Sheng-Hsin
Sukumar, Raman
Sun, I-Fang
Suresh, Hebbalalu S.
Swanson, Mark E.
Tan, Sylvester
Thomas, Duncan W.
Thompson, Jill
Uriarte, Maria
Valencia, Renato
Vicentini, Alberto
Vrška, Tomáš
Wang, Xugao
Weiblen, George D.
Wolf, Amy
Wu, Shu-Hui
Xu, Han
Yamakura, Takuo
Yap, Sandra
Zimmerman, Jess K.
format Article
author Lutz, James A.
Furniss, Tucker J.
Johnson, Daniel J.
Davies, Stuart J.
Allen, David
Alonso, Alfonso
Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J.
Andrade, Ana
Baltzer, Jennifer
Becker, Kendall M. L.
Blomdahl, Erika M.
Bourg, Norman A.
Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh
Burslem, David F. R. P.
Cansler, C. Alina
Cao, Ke
Cao, Min
Cárdenas, Dairon
Chang, Li-Wan
Chao, Kuo-Jung
Chao, Wei-Chun
Chiang, Jyh-Min
Chu, Chengjin
Chuyong, George B.
Clay, Keith
Condit, Richard
Cordell, Susan
Dattaraja, Handanakere S.
Duque, Alvaro
Ewango, Corneille E. N.
Fischer, Gunter A.
Fletcher, Christine
Freund, James A.
Giardina, Christian
Germain, Sara J.
Gilbert, Gregory S.
Hao, Zhanqing
Hart, Terese
Hau, Billy C. H.
He, Fangliang
Hector, Andrew
Howe, Robert W.
Hsieh, Chang-Fu
Hu, Yue-Hua
Hubbell, Stephen P.
Inman-Narahari, Faith M.
Itoh, Akira
Janík, David
Abdul Rahman Kassim
Kenfack, David
Korte, Lisa
Král, Kamil
Larson, Andrew J.
Li, YiDe
Lin, Yiching
Liu, Shirong
Lum, Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi
Ma, Keping
Makana, Jean-Remy
Malhi, Yadvinder
McMahon, Sean M.
McShea, William J.
Memiaghe, Hervé R.
Mi, Xiangcheng
Morecroft, Michael
Musili, Paul M.
Myers, Jonathan A.
Novotny, Vojtech
de Oliveira, Alexandre
Ong, Perry
Orwig, David A.
Ostertag, Rebecca
Parker, Geoffrey G.
Patankar, Rajit
Phillips, Richard P.
Reynolds, Glen
Sack, Lawren
Song, Guo-Zhang M.
Su, Sheng-Hsin
Sukumar, Raman
Sun, I-Fang
Suresh, Hebbalalu S.
Swanson, Mark E.
Tan, Sylvester
Thomas, Duncan W.
Thompson, Jill
Uriarte, Maria
Valencia, Renato
Vicentini, Alberto
Vrška, Tomáš
Wang, Xugao
Weiblen, George D.
Wolf, Amy
Wu, Shu-Hui
Xu, Han
Yamakura, Takuo
Yap, Sandra
Zimmerman, Jess K.
author_sort Lutz, James A.
title Global importance of large-diameter trees
title_short Global importance of large-diameter trees
title_full Global importance of large-diameter trees
title_fullStr Global importance of large-diameter trees
title_full_unstemmed Global importance of large-diameter trees
title_sort global importance of large-diameter trees
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140605
_version_ 1681059029271445504
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1406052020-06-01T01:48:41Z Global importance of large-diameter trees Lutz, James A. Furniss, Tucker J. Johnson, Daniel J. Davies, Stuart J. Allen, David Alonso, Alfonso Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J. Andrade, Ana Baltzer, Jennifer Becker, Kendall M. L. Blomdahl, Erika M. Bourg, Norman A. Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh Burslem, David F. R. P. Cansler, C. Alina Cao, Ke Cao, Min Cárdenas, Dairon Chang, Li-Wan Chao, Kuo-Jung Chao, Wei-Chun Chiang, Jyh-Min Chu, Chengjin Chuyong, George B. Clay, Keith Condit, Richard Cordell, Susan Dattaraja, Handanakere S. Duque, Alvaro Ewango, Corneille E. N. Fischer, Gunter A. Fletcher, Christine Freund, James A. Giardina, Christian Germain, Sara J. Gilbert, Gregory S. Hao, Zhanqing Hart, Terese Hau, Billy C. H. He, Fangliang Hector, Andrew Howe, Robert W. Hsieh, Chang-Fu Hu, Yue-Hua Hubbell, Stephen P. Inman-Narahari, Faith M. Itoh, Akira Janík, David Abdul Rahman Kassim Kenfack, David Korte, Lisa Král, Kamil Larson, Andrew J. Li, YiDe Lin, Yiching Liu, Shirong Lum, Shawn Kaihekulani Yamauchi Ma, Keping Makana, Jean-Remy Malhi, Yadvinder McMahon, Sean M. McShea, William J. Memiaghe, Hervé R. Mi, Xiangcheng Morecroft, Michael Musili, Paul M. Myers, Jonathan A. Novotny, Vojtech de Oliveira, Alexandre Ong, Perry Orwig, David A. Ostertag, Rebecca Parker, Geoffrey G. Patankar, Rajit Phillips, Richard P. Reynolds, Glen Sack, Lawren Song, Guo-Zhang M. Su, Sheng-Hsin Sukumar, Raman Sun, I-Fang Suresh, Hebbalalu S. Swanson, Mark E. Tan, Sylvester Thomas, Duncan W. Thompson, Jill Uriarte, Maria Valencia, Renato Vicentini, Alberto Vrška, Tomáš Wang, Xugao Weiblen, George D. Wolf, Amy Wu, Shu-Hui Xu, Han Yamakura, Takuo Yap, Sandra Zimmerman, Jess K. Asian School of the Environment Social sciences::Geography Forest Biomass Forest Structure Aim: To examine the contribution of large-diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees ≥ 60 cm DBH, and those rank-ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results: Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare-scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees ≥ 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass (r2 =.62, p <.001). Large-diameter trees in high biomass forests represented far fewer species relative to overall forest richness (r2 =.45, p <.001). Forests with more diverse large-diameter tree communities were comprised of smaller trees (r2 =.33, p <.001). Lower large-diameter richness was associated with large-diameter trees being individuals of more common species (r2 =.17, p =.002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude (r2 =.46, p <.001), as did forest density (r2 =.31, p <.001). Forest structural complexity increased with increasing absolute latitude (r2 =.26, p <.001). Main conclusions: Because large-diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large-diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services. 2020-06-01T01:48:41Z 2020-06-01T01:48:41Z 2018 Journal Article Lutz, J. A., Furniss, T. J., Johnson, D. J., Davies, S. J., Allen, D., Alonso, A., . . . Zimmerman, J. K. (2018). Global importance of large-diameter trees. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27(7), 849-864. doi:10.1111/geb.12747 1466-822X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140605 10.1111/geb.12747 2-s2.0-85046535962 7 27 849 864 en Global Ecology and Biogeography © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved.