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Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Usinowicz, J; Chang-Yang, C-H; Chen, Y-Y; Clark, JS; Fletcher, C; Garwood, NC; Hao, Z; Johnstone, J; Lin, Y; Metz, MR; Masaki, T; Sun, I-F ...
Published in: Nature
October 2017

The tropical forests of Borneo and Amazonia may each contain more tree species diversity in half a square kilometre than do all the temperate forests of Europe, North America, and Asia combined. Biologists have long been fascinated by this disparity, using it to investigate potential drivers of biodiversity. Latitudinal variation in many of these drivers is expected to create geographic differences in ecological and evolutionary processes, and evidence increasingly shows that tropical ecosystems have higher rates of diversification, clade origination, and clade dispersal. However, there is currently no evidence to link gradients in ecological processes within communities at a local scale directly to the geographic gradient in biodiversity. Here, we show geographic variation in the storage effect, an ecological mechanism that reduces the potential for competitive exclusion more strongly in the tropics than it does in temperate and boreal zones, decreasing the ratio of interspecific-to-intraspecific competition by 0.25% for each degree of latitude that an ecosystem is located closer to the Equator. Additionally, we find evidence that latitudinal variation in climate underpins these differences; longer growing seasons in the tropics reduce constraints on the seasonal timing of reproduction, permitting lower recruitment synchrony between species and thereby enhancing niche partitioning through the storage effect. Our results demonstrate that the strength of the storage effect, and therefore its impact on diversity within communities, varies latitudinally in association with climate. This finding highlights the importance of biotic interactions in shaping geographic diversity patterns, and emphasizes the need to understand the mechanisms underpinning ecological processes in greater detail than has previously been appreciated.

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Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

October 2017

Volume

550

Issue

7674

Start / End Page

105 / 108

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Climate
  • Trees
  • Time Factors
  • Spatio-Temporal Analysis
  • Seasons
  • Reproduction
  • Geographic Mapping
  • General Science & Technology
  • Forests
  • Biodiversity
 

Citation

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ICMJE
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Usinowicz, J., Chang-Yang, C.-H., Chen, Y.-Y., Clark, J. S., Fletcher, C., Garwood, N. C., … Wright, S. J. (2017). Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity. Nature, 550(7674), 105–108. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24038
Usinowicz, Jacob, Chia-Hao Chang-Yang, Yu-Yun Chen, James S. Clark, Christine Fletcher, Nancy C. Garwood, Zhanqing Hao, et al. “Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity.Nature 550, no. 7674 (October 2017): 105–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24038.
Usinowicz J, Chang-Yang C-H, Chen Y-Y, Clark JS, Fletcher C, Garwood NC, et al. Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity. Nature. 2017 Oct;550(7674):105–8.
Usinowicz, Jacob, et al. “Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity.Nature, vol. 550, no. 7674, Oct. 2017, pp. 105–08. Epmc, doi:10.1038/nature24038.
Usinowicz J, Chang-Yang C-H, Chen Y-Y, Clark JS, Fletcher C, Garwood NC, Hao Z, Johnstone J, Lin Y, Metz MR, Masaki T, Nakashizuka T, Sun I-F, Valencia R, Wang Y, Zimmerman JK, Ives AR, Wright SJ. Temporal coexistence mechanisms contribute to the latitudinal gradient in forest diversity. Nature. 2017 Oct;550(7674):105–108.
Journal cover image

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

October 2017

Volume

550

Issue

7674

Start / End Page

105 / 108

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Climate
  • Trees
  • Time Factors
  • Spatio-Temporal Analysis
  • Seasons
  • Reproduction
  • Geographic Mapping
  • General Science & Technology
  • Forests
  • Biodiversity