Phylogenetic classification of the world's tropical forests

Knowledge about the biogeographic affinities of the world’s tropical forests helps to better understand regional differences in forest structure, diversity, composition, and dynamics. Such understanding will enable anticipation of region-specific responses to global environmental change. Modern phylogenies, in combination with broad coverage of species inventory data, now allow for global biogeographic analyses that take species evolutionary distance into account. Here we present a classification of the world’s tropical forests based on their phylogenetic similarity. We identify five principal floristic regions and their floristic relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. Our results do not support the traditional neo- versus paleotropical forest division but instead separate the combined American and African forests from their Indo-Pacific counterparts. We also find indications for the existence of a global dry forest region, with representatives in America, Africa, Madagascar, and India. Additionally, a northern-hemisphere Subtropical forest region was identified with representatives in Asia and America, providing support for a link between Asian and American northern-hemisphere forests.</p

Africa’s highest mountain harbours Africa’s tallest trees

While world records of tree heights were set by American, Australian and Asian tree species, Africa seemed to play no role here. In our study we show that Entandrophragma excelsum (Meliaceae) found in a remote valley at Kilimanjaro has to be included in the list of the world’s superlative trees. Estimating tree age from growth rates monitored by high resolution dendrometry indicates that tall individuals may reach more than 470 years of age. A unique combination of anatomical peculiarities and favorable site conditions might explain their enormous size. The late date of this discovery of Africa’s tallest trees may be due to the comparably low study efforts at Kilimanjaro compared with other biodiversity hotspots. Since only a few square kilometers of this habitat of Entandrophragma are left, Kilimanjaro (and Africa) is about to lose not only a unique biogeographical archive with highly diverse vegetation, but also its tallest trees. The inclusion of these valleys into the immediately neighboring Kilimanjaro National Park would be an excellent and urgent possibility of protection. Keywor

Effects of elevation and land use on the biomass of trees, shrubs and herbs at Mount Kilimanjaro

The protection and sustainable management of forest carbon stocks, particularly in the tropics, is a key factor in the mitigation of global change effects. However, our knowledge of how land use and elevation affect carbon stocks in tropical ecosystems is very limited. We compared aboveground biomass of trees, shrubs and herbs for eleven natural and human-influenced habitat types occurring over a wide elevation gradient (866–4550 m) at the world's highest solitary mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro. Thanks to the enormous elevation gradient, we covered important natural habitat types, e.g., savanna woodlands, montane rainforest and afro-alpine vegetation, as well as important land-use types such as maize fields, grasslands, traditional home gardens, coffee plantations and selectively logged forest. To assess tree and shrub biomass with pantropical allometric equations, we measured tree height, diameter at breast height and wood density and to assess herbaceous biomass, we sampled destructively. Among natural habitats, tree biomass was highest at intermediate elevation in the montane zone (340 Mg ha−1), shrub biomass declined linearly from 7 Mg ha−1 at 900 m to zero above 4000 m, and, inverse to tree biomass, herbaceous biomass was lower at mid-elevations (1 Mg ha−1) than in savannas (900 m, 3 Mg ha−1) or alpine vegetation (above 4000 m, 6 Mg ha−1). While the various land-use types dramatically decreased woody biomass at all elevations, though to various degrees, herbaceous biomass was typically increased. Our study highlights tropical montane forest biomass as important aboveground carbon stock and quantifies the extent of the strong aboveground biomass reductions by the major land-use types, common to East Africa. Further, it shows that elevation and land use differently affect different vegetation strata, and thus the matrix for other organisms

High plant species richness indicates management-related disturbances rather than the conservation status of forests

There is a wealth of smaller-scale studies on the effects of forest management on plant diversity. However, studies comparing plant species diversity in forests with different management types and intensity, extending over different regions and forest stages, and including detailed information on site conditions are missing. We studied vascular plants on 1500 20 m × 20 m forest plots in three regions of Germany (Schwäbische Alb, Hainich-Dün, Schorfheide-Chorin). In all regions, our study plots comprised different management types (unmanaged, selection cutting, deciduous and coniferous age-class forests, which resulted from clear cutting or shelterwood logging), various stand ages, site conditions, and levels of management-related disturbances. We analyzed how overall richness and richness of different plant functional groups (trees, shrubs, herbs, herbaceous species typically growing in forests and herbaceous light-demanding species) responded to the different management types. On average, plant species richness was 13% higher in age-class than in unmanaged forests, and did not differ between deciduous age-class and selection forests. In age-class forests of the Schwäbische Alb and Hainich-Dün, coniferous stands had higher species richness than deciduous stands. Among age-class forests, older stands with large quantities of standing biomass were slightly poorer in shrub and light-demanding herb species than younger stands. Among deciduous forests, the richness of herbaceous forest species was generally lower in unmanaged than in managed forests, and it was even 20% lower in unmanaged than in selection forests in Hainich-Dün. Overall, these findings show that disturbances by management generally increase plant species richness. This suggests that total plant species richness is not suited as an indicator for the conservation status of forests, but rather indicates disturbances.Es gibt eine Fülle kleinerer Studien über die Auswirkungen von Waldbewirtschaftung auf die Vielfalt von Pflanzenarten. Es fehlen jedoch vergleichende Studien über die Vielfalt von Pflanzenarten in unterschiedlich bewirtschafteten Wäldern, die in verschiedenen Regionen und Bestandesaltersklassen durchgeführt wurden und zudem detaillierte Informationen über Standortbedingungen berücksichtigt haben. Wir untersuchten Gefäßpflanzen auf 1500 Waldflächen mit einer Größe von jeweils 20 m × 20 m in drei Regionen Deutschlands (Schwäbische Alb, Hainich-Dün, Schorfheide-Chorin). In allen Regionen deckten wir mit unseren Untersuchungsflächen verschiedene Bewirtschaftungsmethoden (unbewirtschaftet, Dauerwald, durch Kahl- oder Schirmschlag entstandene Laub-und Nadelholz Altersklassenwälder), verschiedene Bestandesalter, Standortbedingungen und Störungsintensitäten ab. Wir analysierten, wie die Gesamtartenvielfalt und jene verschiedener funktioneller Pflanzengruppen (Bäume, Sträucher, Kräuter, typische Waldkräuter und lichtbedürftige Kräuter) von unterschiedlichen Bewirtschaftungsmethoden beeinflusst wird. Im Durchschnitt war die Artenvielfalt 13% höher in Altersklassenwäldern als in unbewirtschafteten Beständen, während sich Laubholz-Altersklassenwälder und Dauerwälder nicht unterschieden. In Altersklassenwäldern der Schwäbischen Alb und des Hainich-Dün wiesen Nadelholzbestände eine höhere Pflanzenartenvielfalt als Laubholzbestände auf. Ältere Altersklassenwälder mit großem Holzvorrat hatten eine niedrigere Vielfalt von Straucharten und lichtbedürftigen Kräutern als jüngere. In ungenutzten Laubwäldern war die Vielfalt von krautigen, typischen Waldarten generell niedriger als in bewirtschafteten Laubwäldern. Im Hainich-Dün kamen 20% weniger Pflanzenarten in ungenutzten als in Dauerwäldern vor. Insgesamt zeigen unsere Ergebnisse, dass Störungen durch Waldbewirtschaftung im Allgemeinen die Pflanzenartenvielfalt erhöhen. Dies impliziert jedoch, dass die Gesamtartenvielfalt von Pflanzen nicht als Indikator für den Erhaltungszustand von Wäldern geeignet ist, sondern eher Störungen durch Waldbewirschaftung anzeigt

Species richness is more important for ecosystem functioning than species turnover along an elevational gradient

Many experiments have shown that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning. However, we have little understanding of how environmental heterogeneity shapes the effect of diversity on ecosystem functioning and to what extent this diversity effect is mediated by variation in species richness or species turnover. This knowledge is crucial to scaling up the results of experiments from local to regional scales. Here we quantify the diversity effect and its components—that is, the contributions of variation in species richness and species turnover—for 22 ecosystem functions of microorganisms, plants and animals across 13 major ecosystem types on Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Environmental heterogeneity across ecosystem types on average increased the diversity effect from explaining 49% to 72% of the variation in ecosystem functions. In contrast to our expectation, the diversity effect was more strongly mediated by variation in species richness than by species turnover. Our findings reveal that environmental heterogeneity strengthens the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and that species richness is a stronger driver of ecosystem functioning than species turnover. Based on a broad range of taxa and ecosystem functions in a non-experimental system, these results are in line with predictions from biodiversity experiments and emphasize that conserving biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functioning