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Oliver L. Phillips

Bio: Oliver L. Phillips is an academic researcher from University of Leeds. The author has contributed to research in topics: Biodiversity & Amazon rainforest. The author has an hindex of 98, co-authored 336 publications receiving 50569 citations. Previous affiliations of Oliver L. Phillips include University of York & University of Brasília.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the importance of over 600 species of woody plants to non-indigenous mestizo people in Tambopata, Amazonian Peru has been evaluated.
Abstract: This paper describes a new, simple, quantitative technique for evaluating the relative usefulness of plants to people. The technique is then compared to the quantitative approaches in ethnobotany that have been developed recently. Our technique is used to calculate the importance of over 600 species of woody plants to non-indigenous mestizo people in Tambopata, Amazonian Peru. Two general classes of hypotheses are formulated and tested statistically, concerning (1) the relative importance of different species, and (2) the importance of different families. The plant families are compared with respect to all uses, and with respect to five broad groups of uses. Palms, Annonaceae, and Lauraceae were found to be the most useful woody plant families. On average, the 20 largest woody plant families are most important to mestizos for subsistence construction materials, followed in descending order by commercial, edible, technological, and medicinal uses.

844 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Roel J. W. Brienen1, Oliver L. Phillips1, Ted R. Feldpausch1, Ted R. Feldpausch2, Emanuel Gloor1, Timothy R. Baker1, Jon Lloyd3, Jon Lloyd4, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez1, Abel Monteagudo-Mendoza, Yadvinder Malhi5, Simon L. Lewis6, Simon L. Lewis1, R. Vásquez Martínez, Miguel Alexiades7, E. Alvarez Dávila, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza8, Ana Andrade9, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão2, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão10, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami11, Eric Arets12, Luzmila Arroyo11, Olaf Bánki13, Christopher Baraloto14, Christopher Baraloto15, Jorcely Barroso16, Damien Bonal15, René G. A. Boot17, José Luís Camargo9, Carolina V. Castilho18, V. Chama, Kuo-Jung Chao1, Kuo-Jung Chao19, Jérôme Chave20, James A. Comiskey21, F. Cornejo Valverde22, L da Costa23, E. A. de Oliveira24, A. Di Fiore25, Terry L. Erwin26, Sophie Fauset1, Mônica Forsthofer24, David W. Galbraith1, E S Grahame1, Nikée Groot1, Bruno Hérault, Niro Higuchi9, E.N. Honorio Coronado1, E.N. Honorio Coronado22, Helen C. Keeling1, Timothy J. Killeen27, William F. Laurance3, Susan G. Laurance3, Juan Carlos Licona, W E Magnussen, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon24, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior24, Casimiro Mendoza28, David A. Neill, Euler Melo Nogueira, Pablo Núñez, N. C. Pallqui Camacho, Alexander Parada11, G. Pardo-Molina, Julie Peacock1, Marielos Peña-Claros12, Georgia Pickavance1, Nigel C. A. Pitman8, Nigel C. A. Pitman29, Lourens Poorter12, Adriana Prieto30, Carlos A. Quesada, Fredy Ramírez30, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo31, Zorayda Restrepo, Anand Roopsind, Agustín Rudas32, Rafael de Paiva Salomão33, Michael P. Schwarz1, Natalino Silva, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Marcos Silveira16, Juliana Stropp, Joey Talbot1, H. ter Steege34, H. ter Steege35, J Teran-Aguilar, John Terborgh8, Raquel Thomas-Caesar, Marisol Toledo, Mireia Torello-Raventos3, Ricardo Keichi Umetsu24, G. M. F. van der Heijden36, G. M. F. van der Heijden37, G. M. F. van der Heijden38, P. van der Hout, I. C. Guimarães Vieira33, Simone Aparecida Vieira39, Emilio Vilanova31, Vincent A. Vos, Roderick Zagt17 
19 Mar 2015-Nature
TL;DR: It is confirmed that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, but the observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models
Abstract: Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.

767 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the relative roles of species composition (wood specific gravity) and forest structure (basal area) in determining variation in aboveground biomass (AGB) of trees greater than 10cm diameter within Amazonia have been compared.
Abstract: Uncertainty in biomass estimates is one of the greatest limitations to models of carbon flux in tropical forests. Previous comparisons of field-based estimates of the aboveground biomass (AGB) of trees greater than 10cm diameter within Amazonia have been limited by the paucity of data for western Amazon forests, and the use of site-specific methods to estimate biomass from inventory data. In addition, the role of regional variation in stand-level wood specific gravity has not previously been considered. Using data from 56 mature forest plots across Amazonia, we consider the relative roles of species composition (wood specific gravity) and forest structure (basal area) in determining variation in AGB. Mean stand-level wood specific gravity, on a per stem basis, is 15.8% higher in forests in central and eastern, compared with northwestern Amazonia. This pattern is due to the higher diversity and abundance of taxa with high specific gravity values in central and eastern Amazonia, and the greater diversity and abundance of taxa with low specific gravity values in western Amazonia. For two estimates of AGB derived using different allometric equations, basal area explains 51.7% and 63.4%, and stand-level specific gravity 45.4% and 29.7%, of the total variation in AGB. The variation in specific gravity is important because it determines the regional scale, spatial pattern of AGB. When weighting by specific gravity is included, central and eastern Amazon forests have significantly higher AGB than stands in northwest or southwest Amazonia. The regional-scale pattern of species composition therefore defines a broad gradient of AGB across Amazonia.

754 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Sep 2006-Nature
TL;DR: By using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon are shown, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleled a gradient in dry season length.
Abstract: The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described. Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists. Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics. Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils (nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.

643 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the environmental factors controlling the structure and distribution of forests and evaluate their current and future trajectory, concluding that forest biomass is a complex property affected by forest distribution, structure, and ecological processes.
Abstract: Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. We review the environmental factors controlling their structure and global distribution and evaluate their current and future trajectory. Adaptations of trees to climate and resource gradients, coupled with disturbances and forest dynamics, create complex geographical patterns in forest assemblages and structures. These patterns are increasingly discernible through new satellite and airborne observation systems, improved forest inventories, and global ecosystem models. Forest biomass is a complex property affected by forest distribution, structure, and ecological processes. Since at least 1990, biomass density has consistently increased in global established forests, despite increasing mortality in some regions, suggesting that a global driver such as elevated CO2 may be enhancing biomass gains. Global forests have also apparently become more dynamic. Advanced information about the structure, distribution, and biomass of the world's forests provides...

621 citations


Cited by
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28 Jul 2005
TL;DR: PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、树突状组胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作�ly.
Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1(PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员,通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

18,940 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols used xiii 1.
Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

14,171 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the use of the maximum entropy method (Maxent) for modeling species geographic distributions with presence-only data was introduced, which is a general-purpose machine learning method with a simple and precise mathematical formulation.

13,120 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work compared 16 modelling methods over 226 species from 6 regions of the world, creating the most comprehensive set of model comparisons to date and found that presence-only data were effective for modelling species' distributions for many species and regions.
Abstract: Prediction of species' distributions is central to diverse applications in ecology, evolution and conservation science. There is increasing electronic access to vast sets of occurrence records in museums and herbaria, yet little effective guidance on how best to use this information in the context of numerous approaches for modelling distributions. To meet this need, we compared 16 modelling methods over 226 species from 6 regions of the world, creating the most comprehensive set of model comparisons to date. We used presence-only data to fit models, and independent presence-absence data to evaluate the predictions. Along with well-established modelling methods such as generalised additive models and GARP and BIOCLIM, we explored methods that either have been developed recently or have rarely been applied to modelling species' distributions. These include machine-learning methods and community models, both of which have features that may make them particularly well suited to noisy or sparse information, as is typical of species' occurrence data. Presence-only data were effective for modelling species' distributions for many species and regions. The novel methods consistently outperformed more established methods. The results of our analysis are promising for the use of data from museums and herbaria, especially as methods suited to the noise inherent in such data improve.

7,589 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
13 Feb 2015-Science
TL;DR: An updated and extended analysis of the planetary boundary (PB) framework and identifies levels of anthropogenic perturbations below which the risk of destabilization of the Earth system (ES) is likely to remain low—a “safe operating space” for global societal development.
Abstract: The planetary boundaries framework defines a safe operating space for humanity based on the intrinsic biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the Earth system. Here, we revise and update the planetary boundary framework, with a focus on the underpinning biophysical science, based on targeted input from expert research communities and on more general scientific advances over the past 5 years. Several of the boundaries now have a two-tier approach, reflecting the importance of cross-scale interactions and the regional-level heterogeneity of the processes that underpin the boundaries. Two core boundaries—climate change and biosphere integrity—have been identified, each of which has the potential on its own to drive the Earth system into a new state should they be substantially and persistently transgressed.

7,169 citations