Dissecting the difference in tree species richness between Africa and South America
SignificanceOur full-scale comparison of Africa and South America's lowland tropical tree floras shows that both Africa and South America's moist and dry tree floras are organized similarly: plant families that are rich in tree species on one continent are also rich in tree species on the...
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Published in | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 119; no. 14; p. e2112336119 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article Web Resource |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
National Academy of Sciences
05.04.2022
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | SignificanceOur full-scale comparison of Africa and South America's lowland tropical tree floras shows that both Africa and South America's moist and dry tree floras are organized similarly: plant families that are rich in tree species on one continent are also rich in tree species on the other continent, and these patterns hold across moist and dry environments. Moreover, we confirm that there is an important difference in tree species richness between the two continents, which is linked to a few families that are exceptionally diverse in South American moist forests, although dry formations also contribute to this difference. Plant families only present on one of the two continents do not contribute substantially to differences in tree species richness. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 scopus-id:2-s2.0-85127259540 Author contributions: P.L.S.d.M. and A.F. designed research; P.L.S.d.M. led research; P.L.S.d.M., K.G.D., and A.F. performed research; M.D.S., A.T.d.O.-F., and A.F. contributed data; P.L.S.d.M., K.G.D., and A.F. analyzed data; and P.L.S.d.M., K.G.D., M.D.S., A.T.d.O.-F., O.J.H., and A.F. wrote the paper. Edited by Douglas Schemske, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; received July 4, 2021; accepted February 17, 2022 |
ISSN: | 0027-8424 1091-6490 1091-6490 |
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2112336119 |