Global importance of large‐diameter trees
James A. Lutz,Tucker J. Furniss,Daniel J. Johnson,Stuart J. Davies,David Allen,Alfonso Alonso,Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira,Ana Andrade,Jennifer L. Baltzer,Kendall M. L. Becker,Erika M. Blomdahl,Norman A. Bourg,Norman A. Bourg,Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin,David F. R. P. Burslem,C. Alina Cansler,Ke Cao,Min Cao,Dairon Cárdenas,Li-Wan Chang,Kuo-Jung Chao,Wei-Chun Chao,Jyh-Min Chiang,Chengjin Chu,George B. Chuyong,Keith Clay,Richard Condit,Susan Cordell,H. S. Dattaraja,Alvaro Duque,Corneille E. N. Ewango,Gunter A. Fischer,Christine Fletcher,James A. Freund,Christian P. Giardina,Sara J. Germain,Gregory S. Gilbert,Zhanqing Hao,Terese B. Hart,Billy C.H. Hau,Fangliang He,Andy Hector,Robert W. Howe,Chang-Fu Hsieh,Yue-Hua Hu,Stephen P. Hubbell,Faith Inman-Narahari,Akira Itoh,David Janík,Abdul Rahman Kassim,David Kenfack,Lisa Korte,Kamil Král,Andrew J. Larson,Yide Li,Yiching Lin,Shirong Liu,Shawn K. Y. Lum,Keping Ma,Jean-Remy Makana,Yadvinder Malhi,Sean M. McMahon,William J. McShea,Hervé Memiaghe,Xiangcheng Mi,Michael D. Morecroft,Paul M. Musili,Jonathan Myers,Vojtech Novotny,Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira,Perry S. Ong,David A. Orwig,Rebecca Ostertag,Geoffrey G. Parker,Rajit Patankar,Richard P. Phillips,Glen Reynolds,Lawren Sack,Guo-Zhang Michael Song,Sheng-Hsin Su,Raman Sukumar,I-Fang Sun,Hebbalalu S. Suresh,Mark E. Swanson,Sylvester Tan,Duncan W. Thomas,Jill Thompson,María Uriarte,Renato Valencia,Alberto Vicentini,Tomáš Vrška,Xugao Wang,George D. Weiblen,Amy Wolf,Shu-Hui Wu,Han Xu,Takuo Yamakura,Sandra L. Yap,Jess K. Zimmerman +98 more
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Because large-diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling.Abstract:
Aim: To examine the contribution of large-diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees >= 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees >= 60 cm DBH, and those rank-ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results: Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees >= 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare-scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees >= 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass (r(2) 5.62, p < .001). Large-diameter trees in high biomass forests represented far fewer species relative to overall forest richness (r(2) = 5.45, p < .001). Forests with more diverse large-diameter tree communities were comprised of smaller trees (r(2) = 5.33, p < .001). Lower large-diameter richness was associated with large-diameter trees being individuals of more common species (r(2) =5.17, p=5.002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude (r(2) = 5.46, p < .001), as did forest density (r(2) = 5.31, p < .001). Forest structural complexity increased with increasing absolute latitude (r(2) = 5.26, p < .001). Main conclusions: Because large-diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large-diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services.read more
Citations
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Tree height explains mortality risk during an intense drought.
TL;DR: It is shown that tree height is the greatest predictor of mortality risk, suggesting that the tallest trees may be the most vulnerable during extreme drought, and suggest that future persistent drought may cause widespread mortality of the largest trees on Earth.
Journal ArticleDOI
Linking drought legacy effects across scales: From leaves to tree rings to ecosystems
Steven A. Kannenberg,Kimberly A. Novick,M. Ross Alexander,Justin T. Maxwell,Justin T. Maxwell,David J. P. Moore,Richard P. Phillips,William R. L. Anderegg +7 more
TL;DR: The results indicate that tree ring legacy effects were not observed in other canopy processes, and that post-drought canopy allocation could be an important mechanism that decouples tree-ring signals from gross primary productivity.
Journal ArticleDOI
The benefits of trees for livable and sustainable communities
TL;DR: Turner et al. as discussed by the authors presented a critical review of the benefits of trees and provided a comprehensive argument that trees should be considered an important part of the equation by project managers and civic leaders as we collectively work toward reaching these sustainability goals.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fire Refugia: What Are They, and Why Do They Matter for Global Change?
Arjan J. H. Meddens,Crystal A. Kolden,James A. Lutz,Alistair M. S. Smith,C. Alina Cansler,John T. Abatzoglou,Garrett W. Meigs,William M. Downing,Meg A. Krawchuk +8 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify four dichotomies that delineate an overarching conceptual framework of fire refugia: unburned versus lower severity, species-specific versus landscape-process characteristics, predictable versus stochastic, and ephemeral versus persistent.
Journal ArticleDOI
ForestGEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network
Stuart J. Davies,Iveren Abiem,Kamariah Abu Salim,Salomón Aguilar,David Allen,Alfonso Alonso,Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira,Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira,Ana Andrade,Gabriel Arellano,Peter S. Ashton,Patrick J. Baker,Matthew E. Baker,Jennifer L. Baltzer,Yves Basset,Pulchérie Bissiengou,Stephanie A. Bohlman,Norman A. Bourg,Warren Y. Brockelman,Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin,David F. R. P. Burslem,Min Cao,Dairon Cárdenas,Li Wan Chang,Chia-Hao Chang-Yang,Kuo-Jung Chao,Wei Chun Chao,Hazel M. Chapman,Yu Yun Chen,Ryan A. Chisholm,Chengjin Chu,George B. Chuyong,Keith Clay,Liza S. Comita,Richard Condit,Susan Cordell,H. S. Dattaraja,Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira,Jan den Ouden,Matteo Detto,Christopher W. Dick,Xiaojun Du,Alvaro Duque,Sisira Ediriweera,Erle C. Ellis,Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang,Shameema Esufali,Corneille E. N. Ewango,Edwino S. Fernando,Edwino S. Fernando,Jonah Filip,Gunter A. Fischer,Robin B. Foster,Thomas W. Giambelluca,Christian P. Giardina,Gregory S. Gilbert,Erika Gonzalez-Akre,I. A. U. N. Gunatilleke,C.V.S. Gunatilleke,Zhanqing Hao,Billy C.H. Hau,Fangliang He,Hongwei Ni,Robert W. Howe,Stephen P. Hubbell,Andreas Huth,Faith Inman-Narahari,Akira Itoh,David Janík,Patrick A. Jansen,Patrick A. Jansen,Mingxi Jiang,Daniel J. Johnson,Andy Jones,Mamoru Kanzaki,David Kenfack,Somboon Kiratiprayoon,Kamil Král,Lauren Krizel,Suzanne Lao,Andrew J. Larson,Yide Li,Xiankun Li,Creighton M. Litton,Yu Liu,Shirong Liu,Shawn K. Y. Lum,Matthew Scott Luskin,James A. Lutz,Hong Truong Luu,Keping Ma,Jean-Remy Makana,Yadvinder Malhi,Adam R. Martin,Caly McCarthy,Sean M. McMahon,William J. McShea,Hervé Memiaghe,Xiangcheng Mi,David Mitre,Mohizah Mohamad,Logan Monks,Helene C. Muller-Landau,Paul M. Musili,Jonathan Myers,Anuttara Nathalang,Kang Min Ngo,Natalia Norden,Vojtech Novotny,Michael O'Brien,David A. Orwig,Rebecca Ostertag,Konstantinos Papathanassiou,Geoffrey G. Parker,Rolando Pérez,Ivette Perfecto,Richard P. Phillips,Nantachai Pongpattananurak,Hans Pretzsch,Haibo Ren,Glen Reynolds,Lillian Jennifer Rodriguez,Sabrina E. Russo,Lawren Sack,Weiguo Sang,Jessica Shue,Anudeep Singh,Guo Zhang M. Song,Raman Sukumar,I-Fang Sun,Hebbalalu S. Suresh,Nathan G. Swenson,Sylvester Tan,Sean C. Thomas,Duncan Thomas,Jill Thompson,Benjamin L. Turner,Amanda Uowolo,María Uriarte,Renato Valencia,John Vandermeer,Alberto Vicentini,Marco D. Visser,Tomáš Vrška,Xugao Wang,Xihua Wang,George D. Weiblen,Timothy J. S. Whitfeld,Amy Wolf,Joseph S. Wright,Han Xu,Tze Leong Yao,Sandra L. Yap,Wanhui Ye,Mingjian Yu,Minhua Zhang,Daoguang Zhu,Li Zhu,Jess K. Zimmerman,Daniel Zuleta +159 more
TL;DR: ForestGEO as discussed by the authors is a network of scientists and long-term forest dynamics plots (FDPs) spanning the Earth's major forest types, which together provide a holistic view of forest functioning.
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