Understanding The Most Common Tropical Tree Species Provides A Shortcut To Understanding Entire Forests And Their Futures

The vast number of tree species in these forests creates a formidable challenge to understanding them; the researchers decided that focusing on the common species as a way to circumvent this challenge. They compiled data on more than one million trees across 1,568 locations, and found that just 2.2% of tree species—1,053 species—make up 50% of the total number of trees in tropical forests across Africa, the Amazon, and Southeast Asia. Each continent consists of the same proportion of a few common species and many rare species. The other 50% are comprised of 46,000 species. The rarest 39,500 species account for just 10% of trees. Lead author Declan Cooper (University College London) said in a press release: “If we focus on understanding the commonest tree species, we can probably predict how the whole forest will respond to today’s rapid environmental changes. This is especially important because tropical forests contain a tremendous amount of stored carbon, and are a globally important carbon sink. Identifying the prevalence of the most common species gives scientists a new way of looking at tropical forests. Tracking these common species may provide a new way to characterize these forests, and in the future possibly gauge a forest’s health more easily.” This research was supported by the Natural Environmental Research Council. You can read more about the research in The Guardian, and other press coverage at this link.
January 26. 2024