Evolutionary heritage shapes tree distributions along an Amazon-to-Andes elevation gradient

Understanding how evolutionary constraints shape the elevational distributions of tree lineages provides valuable insight into the future of tropical montane forests under global change. With narrow elevational ranges, high taxonomic turnover, frequent habitat specialization, and exceptional levels of endemism, tropical montane forests and trees are predicted to be highly sensitive to environmental change. Using plot census data from a gradient traversing > 3,000 m in elevation on the Amazonian flank of the Peruvian Andes, we employ phylogenetic approaches to assess the influence of evolutionary heritage on distribution trends of trees at the genus‐level. We find that closely related lineages tend to occur at similar mean elevations, with sister genera pairs occurring a mean 254 m in elevation closer to each other than the mean elevational difference between non‐sister genera pairs. We also demonstrate phylogenetic clustering both above and below 1,750 m a.s.l, corresponding roughly to the cloud‐base ecotone. Belying these general trends, some lineages occur across many different elevations. However, these highly plastic lineages are not phylogenetically clustered. Overall, our findings suggest that tropical montane forests are home to unique tree lineage diversity, constrained by their evolutionary heritage and vulnerable to substantial losses under environmental changes, such as rising temperatures or an upward shift of the cloud‐base.National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: NSF DEB LTREB 1754647 and NSF DEB LTREB 1754664; Natural Environment Research Council, Grant/Award Number: NE/G018278/1 and NE/L002558/1; Australian Research Council, Grant/Award Number: DP17010409

The variation of productivity and its allocation along a tropical elevation gradient: a whole carbon budget perspective

Why do forest productivity and biomass decline with elevation? To address this question, research to date generally has focused on correlative approaches describing changes in woody growth and biomass with elevation. We present a novel, mechanistic approach to this question by quantifying the autotrophic carbon budget in 16 forest plots along a 3300 m elevation transect in Peru. Low growth rates at high elevations appear primarily driven by low gross primary productivity (GPP), with little shift in either carbon use efficiency (CUE) or allocation of net primary productivity (NPP) between wood, fine roots and canopy. The lack of trend in CUE implies that the proportion of photosynthate allocated to autotrophic respiration is not sensitive to temperature. Rather than a gradual linear decline in productivity, there is some limited but nonconclusive evidence of a sharp transition in NPP between submontane and montane forests, which may be caused by cloud immersion effects within the cloud forest zone. Leaf-level photosynthetic parameters do not decline with elevation, implying that nutrient limitation does not restrict photosynthesis at high elevations. Our data demonstrate the potential of whole carbon budget perspectives to provide a deeper understanding of controls on ecosystem functioning and carbon cycling

La impresionante diversidad y estructura del bosque tropical a través de una gradiente altitudinal en la selva central del Perú

Los bosques pre-montanos y montanos son poco estudiados y su composición florística es muy poco conocida, aunque últimamente aquí se han descubierto nuevas especies de árboles. Describimos la diversidad, composición florística y estructura del bosque en 13 parcelas permanentes de 1 ha, evaluadas en el 2018 en el Transecto Yanachaga en el Perú (400 a 3170msnm). Registramos un total de 6998 árboles, 617 especies, 249 géneros y 82 familias. Existe unas altas correlaciones  entre la altitud, la riqueza y diversidad de especies. La mayor riquezaocurre en la parcela PNY-05 a 470 msnm con 202 especies y la menor con 43 especies en la parcela PNY-01 a 3170 mnsm. La altura promedio del dosel es mayor entre los 400 y 800 msnm, y disminuye progresivamente a medida que se va subiendo, presentando alturas mínimas entre 2800 y 3170 msnm. Este mismo comportamiento ocurre con respecto al área basal y volumen de madera. Los individuos muestreados están representados por especies de árboles (88%), palmeras (4%), helechos arborescentes (6.5%), lianas (1.5%) y hemiepífitos leñosos (0. 03%). Las f ormas de vi da varí an notablemente en el transecto altitudinal, los árboles y palmeras son más abundantes y diversos en la parte baja, mientras los helechos arborescentes son abundantes por encima de los 1800 m. Existen diferencias en la diversidad, composición y estructura de árboles entre parcelas y también si se compara al llano amazónico. Los bosques del Transecto Yanachaga juegan un papel importante, puesto que conservan una alta diversidad de especies y hábitats

Productivity and carbon allocation in a tropical montane cloud forest in the Peruvian Andes

Background: The slopes of the eastern Andes harbour some of the highest biodiversity on Earth and a high proportion of endemic species. However, there have been only a few and limited descriptions of carbon budgets in tropical montane forest regions.Aims

FunAndes – A functional trait database of Andean plants

We introduce the FunAndes database, a compilation of functional trait data for the Andean flora spanning six countries. FunAndes contains data on 24 traits across 2,694 taxa, for a total of 105,466 entries. The database features plant-morphological attributes including growth form, and leaf, stem, and wood traits measured at the species or individual level, together with geographic metadata (i.e., coordinates and elevation). FunAndes follows the field names, trait descriptions and units of measurement of the TRY database. It is currently available in open access in the FIGSHARE data repository, and will be part of TRY’s next release. Open access trait data from Andean plants will contribute to ecological research in the region, the most species rich terrestrial biodiversity hotspot.Fil: Báez, Selene. Escuela Politécnica Nacional; EcuadorFil: Cayuela, Luis. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos; EspañaFil: Macía, Manuel J.. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Álvarez Dávila, Esteban. Universidad Nacional Abierta a Distancia de Colombia; ColombiaFil: Apaza Quevedo, Amira. Universidad Mayor Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca; BoliviaFil: Arnelas, Itziar. Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja; EcuadorFil: Baca Cortes, Natalia. Universidad de Nariño; ColombiaFil: Bañares de Dios, Guillermo. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos; EspañaFil: Bauters, Marijn. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Ben Saadi, Celina. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Blundo, Cecilia Mabel. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; ArgentinaFil: Cabrera, Marian. Universidad de Nariño; ColombiaFil: Castaño, Felipe. Universidad Industrial Santander; ColombiaFil: Cayola, Leslie. Missouri Botanical Garden; Estados Unidos. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: de Aledo, Julia G.. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Espinosa, Carlos Iván. Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja; EcuadorFil: Fadrique, Belén. University of Leeds; Reino UnidoFil: Farfán Rios, William. Missouri Botanical Garden; Estados Unidos. Washington University in St. Louis; Estados UnidosFil: Fuentes, Alfredo. Missouri Botanical Garden; Estados Unidos. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Garnica Díaz, Claudia. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: González, Mailyn. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt; ColombiaFil: González, Diego. Conservación Internacional; ColombiaFil: Hensen, Isabell. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg; AlemaniaFil: Hurtado, Ana Belén. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander Von Humboldt; ColombiaFil: Jadán, Oswaldo. Universidad de Cuenca; EcuadorFil: Lippok, Denis. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg; AlemaniaFil: Loza, M. Isabel. Missouri Botanical Garden; Estados Unidos. Morton Arboretum; Estados Unidos. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Maldonado, Carla Carolina. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Malizia, Lucio Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Matas Granados, Laura. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Españ

Productivity and carbon allocation in a tropical montane cloud forest in the Peruvian Andes

<div><p> <b><i>Background:</i></b> The slopes of the eastern Andes harbour some of the highest biodiversity on Earth and a high proportion of endemic species. However, there have been only a few and limited descriptions of carbon budgets in tropical montane forest regions.</p> <p> <b><i>Aims:</i></b> We present the first comprehensive data on the production, allocation and cycling of carbon for two high elevation (ca. 3000 m) tropical montane cloud forest plots in the Kosñipata Valley, Peruvian Andes.</p> <p> <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We measured the main components and seasonal variation of net primary productivity (<i>NPP</i>), autotrophic (<i>R</i>_a) and heterotrophic (<i>R</i>_h) respiration to estimate gross primary productivity (<i>GPP</i>) and carbon use efficiency (<i>CUE</i>) in two 1-ha plots.</p> <p> <b><i>Results:</i></b><i>NPP</i> for the two plots was estimated to be 7.05 ± 0.39 and 8.04 ± 0.47 Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, <i>GPP</i> to be 22.33 ± 2.23 and 26.82 ± 2.97 Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ and <i>CUE</i> was 0.32 ± 0.04 and 0.30 ± 0.04.</p> <p> <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> We found strong seasonality in <i>NPP</i> and moderate seasonality of <i>R</i>_a, suggesting that forest <i>NPP</i> is driven by changes in photosynthesis and highlighting the importance of variation in solar radiation. Our findings imply that trees invest more in biomass production in the cooler season with lower solar radiation and more in maintenance during the warmer and high solar radiation period.</p> </div

FunAndes – A functional trait database of Andean plants

International audienceWe introduce the Funandes database, a compilation of functional trait data for the andean flora spanning six countries. FunAndes contains data on 24 traits across 2,694 taxa, for a total of 105,466 entries. The database features plant-morphological attributes including growth form, and leaf, stem, and wood traits measured at the species or individual level, together with geographic metadata (i.e., coordinates and elevation). FunAndes follows the field names, trait descriptions and units of measurement of the TRY database. It is currently available in open access in the FIGSHARE data repository, and will be part of TRY's next release. Open access trait data from Andean plants will contribute to ecological research in the region, the most species rich terrestrial biodiversity hotspot

Tallo: A global tree allometry and crown architecture database

Data capturing multiple axes of tree size and shape, such as a tree's stem diameter, height and crown size, underpin a wide range of ecological research—from developing and testing theory on forest structure and dynamics, to estimating forest carbon stocks and their uncertainties, and integrating remote sensing imagery into forest monitoring programmes. However, these data can be surprisingly hard to come by, particularly for certain regions of the world and for specific taxonomic groups, posing a real barrier to progress in these fields. To overcome this challenge, we developed the Tallo database, a collection of 498,838 georeferenced and taxonomically standardized records of individual trees for which stem diameter, height and/or crown radius have been measured. These data were collected at 61,856 globally distributed sites, spanning all major forested and non-forested biomes. The majority of trees in the database are identified to species (88%), and collectively Tallo includes data for 5163 species distributed across 1453 genera and 187 plant families. The database is publicly archived under a CC-BY 4.0 licence and can be access from: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6637599. To demonstrate its value, here we present three case studies that highlight how the Tallo database can be used to address a range of theoretical and applied questions in ecology—from testing the predictions of metabolic scaling theory, to exploring the limits of tree allometric plasticity along environmental gradients and modelling global variation in maximum attainable tree height. In doing so, we provide a key resource for field ecologists, remote sensing researchers and the modelling community working together to better understand the role that trees play in regulating the terrestrial carbon cycle