One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains

John Ethan Householder*, Florian Wittmann*, Jochen Schöngart, Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade, Wolfgang J. Junk, Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse, Adriano Costa Quaresma, Layon O. Demarchi, Guilherme de S. Lobo, Daniel P.P.de Aguiar, Rafael L. Assis, Aline Lopes, Pia Parolin, Iêda Leão do Amaral, Luiz de Souza Coelho, Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos, Diógenes de Andrade Lima Filho, Rafael P. Salomão, Carolina V. Castilho, Juan Ernesto Guevara-AndinoMarcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim, Oliver L. Phillips, Dairon Cárdenas López, William E. Magnusson, Daniel Sabatier, Juan David Cardenas Revilla, Jean François Molino, Mariana Victória Irume, Maria Pires Martins, José Renan da Silva Guimarães, José Ferreira Ramos, Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues, Olaf S. Bánki, Carlos A. Peres, Nigel C.A. Pitman, Joseph E. Hawes, Everton José Almeida, Luciane Ferreira Barbosa, Larissa Cavalheiro, Márcia Cléia Vilela dos Santos, Bruno Garcia Luize, Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo, Percy Núñez Vargas, Thiago Sanna Freire Silva, Eduardo Martins Venticinque, Angelo Gilberto Manzatto, Neidiane Farias Costa Reis, John Terborgh, Katia Regina Casula, Flávia R.C. Costa, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Juan Carlos Montero, Ted R. Feldpausch, Gerardo A. Aymard C, Chris Baraloto, Nicolás Castaño Arboleda, Julien Engel, Pascal Petronelli, Charles Eugene Zartman, Timothy J. Killeen, Lorena Maniguaje Rincón, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Juliana Schietti, Thaiane R. Sousa, Rodolfo Vasquez, Bonifacio Mostacedo, Dário Dantas do Amaral, Hernán Castellanos, Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Ana Andrade, José Luís Camargo, William F. Laurance, Susan G.W. Laurance, Emanuelle de Sousa Farias, Maria Aparecida Lopes, José Leonardo Lima Magalhães, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento, Helder Lima de Queiroz, Roel Brienen, Pablo R. Stevenson, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Tim R. Baker, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra, Yuri Oliveira Feitosa, Hugo F. Mogollón, Janaína Costa Noronha, Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa, Rainiellen de Sá Carpanedo, Joost F. Duivenvoorden, Miles R. Silman, Leandro Valle Ferreira, Carolina Levis, José Rafael Lozada, James A. Comiskey, Freddie C. Draper, José Julio de Toledo, Gabriel Damasco, Nállarett Dávila, Roosevelt García-Villacorta, Alberto Vicentini, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Alfonso Alonso, Luzmila Arroyo, Francisco Dallmeier, Vitor H.F. Gomes, Eliana M. Jimenez, David Neill, Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora, Fernanda Antunes Carvalho, Fernanda Coelho de Souza, Kenneth J. Feeley, Rogerio Gribel, Marcelo Petratti Pansonato, Marcos Ríos Paredes, Jos Barlow, Erika Berenguer, Kyle G. Dexter, Joice Ferreira, Paul V.A. Fine, Marcelino Carneiro Guedes, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Juan Carlos Licona, Toby Pennington, Boris Eduardo Villa Zegarra, Vincent Antoine Vos, Carlos Cerón, Émile Fonty, Terry W. Henkel, Paul Maas, Edwin Pos, Marcos Silveira, Juliana Stropp, Raquel Thomas, Doug Daly, William Milliken, Guido Pardo Molina, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Bianca Weiss Albuquerque, Wegliane Campelo, Thaise Emilio, Alfredo Fuentes, Bente Klitgaard, José Luis Marcelo Pena, Priscila F. Souza, J. Sebastián Tello, Corine Vriesendorp, Jerome Chave, Anthony Di Fiore, Renato Richard Hilário, Luciana de Oliveira Pereira, Juan Fernando Phillips, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Tinde R. van Andel, Patricio von Hildebrand, William Balee, Edelcilio Marques Barbosa, Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates, Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza, Ricardo Zárate Gómez, Therany Gonzales, George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales, Bruce Hoffman, André Braga Junqueira, Yadvinder Malhi, Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda, Linder Felipe Mozombite-Pinto, Adriana Prieto, Agustín Rudas, Ademir R. Ruschel, Natalino Silva, César I.A. Vela, Stanford Zent, Egleé L. Zent, Angela Cano, Yrma Andreina Carrero Márquez, Diego F. Correa, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa, Bernardo Monteiro Flores, David Galbraith, Milena Holmgren, Michelle Kalamandeen, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, Alexandre A. Oliveira, Hirma Ramirez-Angulo, Maira Rocha, Veridiana Vizoni Scudeller, Rodrigo Sierra, Milton Tirado, Maria Natalia Umaña, Geertje van der Heijden, Emilio Vilanova Torre, Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui, Cláudia Baider, Henrik Balslev, Sasha Cárdenas, Luisa Fernanda Casas, William Farfan-Rios, Cid Ferreira, Reynaldo Linares-Palomino, Casimiro Mendoza, Italo Mesones, Germaine Alexander Parada, Armando Torres-Lezama, Ligia Estela Urrego Giraldo, Daniel Villarroel, Roderick Zagt, Miguel N. Alexiades, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Karina Garcia-Cabrera, Lionel Hernandez, Walter Palacios Cuenca, Susamar Pansini, Daniela Pauletto, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Adeilza Felipe Sampaio, Elvis H. Valderrama Sandoval, Luis Valenzuela Gamarra, Hans ter Steege*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Amazonia’s floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions they underpin. Here we address this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region’s floodplain forests. We show that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. Our results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon’s tree diversity and its function.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)901-911
Number of pages11
JournalNature Ecology and Evolution
Volume8
Issue number5
Early online date11 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024. corrected publication 2024.

Funding

This paper is the result of the work of hundreds of different scientists and research institutions in the Amazon over the past 80 years. Without their hard work, this analysis would have been impossible. H.t.S., V.H.F.G. and R.S. were supported by grant no. 407232/2013-3-PVE-MEC/MCTI/CAPES/CNPq/FAPs. P. Petronelli had support for this work from CNPq (productivity grant no. 310885/2017-5) and FAPESP (research grant no. 09/53413-5). F.W., M.T.F.P., J. Schoengart, R.L.A. and A.L. were supported through PRONEX-MCT/CNPq/FAPEAM 'Tipologias alagaveis 2007', Universal (479599/2008-4) and PELD/MAUA & Aacute;reas & Uacute;midas; additional funding was provided by the ATTO Project (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF funds 01LK1602F and 01LK2101D, Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication; FINEP/MCTIC contract no. 01.11.01248.00), UEA and FAPEAM, LBA/INPA and SDS/CEUC/RDS-Uatum & atilde;, and the EU Project BiodivERsA-Clambio (BMBF 16LC2025A). B.G.L. acknowledges funding from Fapesp no. 2020/03379-4 and no. 2021/10639-5. C. Baider was supported by grant FAPESP 95/3058-0-CRS 068/96 WWF Brasil-The Body Shop. D.S., J.-F.M., J.E., P. Petronelli and J.C. benefited from an 'Investissement d'Avenir' grant managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA: ANR-10-LABX-25-01). H.L.d.Q. and J.L.L.M. received financial support from MCT/CNPq/CT-INFRA/GEOMA no. 550373/2010-1 and no. 457515/2012-0, and J.L.L.M. was supported by grants CAPES/PDSE no. 88881.135761/2016-01 and CAPES/Fapespa no. 1530801. The Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) provided a productivity grant to E.M.V. (grant no. 308040/2017-1). Floristic identification in plots in the RAINFOR forest monitoring network have been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant nos NE/B503384/1, NE/D01025X/1, NE/I02982X/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1 and NE/I028122/1) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. B.M.F. is funded by FAPESP grant no. 2016/25086-3. B.S.M., B.H.M.-J. and O.L.P. were supported by grants CNPq/CAPES/FAPS/BC-Newton Fund no. 441244/2016-5 and FAPEMAT/0589267/2016. T.W.H. was funded by National Science Foundation grant no. DEB-1556338. The 25 ha Long-Term Ecological Research Project of Amacayacu is a collaborative project of the Instituto Amazonico de Investigaciones Cientificas Sinchi and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellin, in partnership with the Unidad de Manejo Especial de Parques Naturales Nacionales and the Center for Tropical Forest Science of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

FundersFunder number
PVE-MEC/MCTI/CAPES/CNPq/FAPs
CNPq09/53413-5
FAPESP479599/2008-4, 457515/2012-0, 88881.135761/2016-01, 95/3058-0-CRS 068/96
PRONEX-MCT/CNPq/FAPEAM01LK1602F
PELD/MAUA reas midas
ATTO Project (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF)01LK2101D, 01.11.01248.00
Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication
FINEP/MCTIC2020/03379-4
UEA
Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq)
FAPEAM
Natural Environment Research Council
LBA/INPA
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
SDS/CEUC/RDS-Uatum
CNPq/CAPES/FAPS/BC-Newton Fund
EU Project BiodivERsA-Clambio (BMBF)
National Science Foundation
WWF Brasil-The Body Shop
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA)
MCT/CNPq/CT-INFRA/GEOMANE/B503384/1, NE/D01025X/1
CAPES/PDSENE/I02982X/1
CAPES/FapespaNE/F005806/1

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      • Correction to: One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2024), 10.1038/s41559-024-02364-1)

        Householder, J. E., Wittmann, F., Schöngart, J., Piedade, M. T. F., Junk, W. J., Latrubesse, E. M., Quaresma, A. C., Demarchi, L. O., de S. Lobo, G., Aguiar, D. P. P. D., Assis, R. L., Lopes, A., Parolin, P., Leão do Amaral, I., Coelho, L. D. S., de Almeida Matos, F. D., Lima Filho, D. D. A., Salomão, R. P., Castilho, C. V. & Guevara-Andino, J. E. & 201 others, Carim, M. D. J. V., Phillips, O. L., Cárdenas López, D., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Revilla, J. D. C., Molino, J. F., Irume, M. V., Martins, M. P., Guimarães, J. R. D. S., Ramos, J. F., Rodrigues, D. D. J., Bánki, O. S., Peres, C. A., Pitman, N. C. A., Hawes, J. E., Almeida, E. J., Barbosa, L. F., Cavalheiro, L., dos Santos, M. C. V., Luize, B. G., Novo, E. M. M. D. L., Núñez Vargas, P., Silva, T. S. F., Venticinque, E. M., Manzatto, A. G., Reis, N. F. C., Terborgh, J., Casula, K. R., Costa, F. R. C., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Monteagudo Mendoza, A., Montero, J. C., Feldpausch, T. R., Aymard C, G. A., Baraloto, C., Castaño Arboleda, N., Engel, J., Petronelli, P., Zartman, C. E., Killeen, T. J., Rincón, L. M., Marimon, B. S., Marimon-Junior, B. H., Schietti, J., Sousa, T. R., Vasquez, R., Mostacedo, B., Dantas do Amaral, D., Castellanos, H., Medeiros, M. B. D., Simon, M. F., Andrade, A., Camargo, J. L., Laurance, W. F., Laurance, S. G. W., Farias, E. D. S., Lopes, M. A., Magalhães, J. L. L., Mendonça Nascimento, H. E., Queiroz, H. L. D., Brienen, R., Stevenson, P. R., Araujo-Murakami, A., Baker, T. R., Cintra, B. B. L., Feitosa, Y. O., Mogollón, H. F., Noronha, J. C., Barbosa, F. R., de Sá Carpanedo, R., Duivenvoorden, J. F., Silman, M. R., Ferreira, L. V., Levis, C., Lozada, J. R., Comiskey, J. A., Draper, F. C., Toledo, J. J. D., Damasco, G., Dávila, N., García-Villacorta, R., Vicentini, A., Cornejo Valverde, F., Alonso, A., Arroyo, L., Dallmeier, F., Gomes, V. H. F., Jimenez, E. M., Neill, D., Peñuela Mora, M. C., Carvalho, F. A., Coelho de Souza, F., Feeley, K. J., Gribel, R., Pansonato, M. P., Ríos Paredes, M., Barlow, J., Berenguer, E., Dexter, K. G., Ferreira, J., Fine, P. V. A., Guedes, M. C., Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, I., Licona, J. C., Pennington, T., Villa Zegarra, B. E., Vos, V. A., Cerón, C., Fonty, É., Henkel, T. W., Maas, P., Pos, E., Silveira, M., Stropp, J., Thomas, R., Daly, D., Milliken, W., Pardo Molina, G., Vieira, I. C. G., Albuquerque, B. W., Campelo, W., Emilio, T., Fuentes, A., Klitgaard, B., Marcelo Pena, J. L., Souza, P. F., Tello, J. S., Vriesendorp, C., Chave, J., Di Fiore, A., Hilário, R. R., Pereira, L. D. O., Phillips, J. F., Rivas-Torres, G., van Andel, T. R., von Hildebrand, P., Balee, W., Barbosa, E. M., Bonates, L. C. D. M., Doza, H. P. D., Gómez, R. Z., Gonzales, T., Gonzales, G. P. G., Hoffman, B., Junqueira, A. B., Malhi, Y., Miranda, I. P. D. A., Mozombite-Pinto, L. F., Prieto, A., Rudas, A., Ruschel, A. R., Silva, N., Vela, C. I. A., Zent, S., Zent, E. L., Cano, A., Carrero Márquez, Y. A., Correa, D. F., Costa, J. B. P., Flores, B. M., Galbraith, D., Holmgren, M., Kalamandeen, M., Nascimento, M. T., Oliveira, A. A., Ramirez-Angulo, H., Rocha, M., Scudeller, V. V., Sierra, R., Tirado, M., Umaña, M. N., van der Heijden, G., Vilanova Torre, E., Ahuite Reategui, M. A., Baider, C., Balslev, H., Cárdenas, S., Casas, L. F., Farfan-Rios, W., Ferreira, C., Linares-Palomino, R., Mendoza, C., Mesones, I., Parada, G. A., Torres-Lezama, A., Urrego Giraldo, L. E., Villarroel, D., Zagt, R., Alexiades, M. N., de Oliveira, E. A., Garcia-Cabrera, K., Hernandez, L., Palacios Cuenca, W., Pansini, S., Pauletto, D., Ramirez Arevalo, F., Sampaio, A. F., Valderrama Sandoval, E. H., Valenzuela Gamarra, L. & ter Steege, H., 2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 5, p. 1046-1047 2 p.

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