Plant diversity increases with the strength of negative density dependence at the global scale

Joseph A. LaManna, Scott A. Mangan, Alfonso Alonso, Norman A. Bourg, Warren Y. Brockelman, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, Li Wan Chang, Jyh Min Chiang, George B. Chuyong, Keith Clay, Richard Condit, Susan Cordell, Stuart J. Davies, Tucker J. Furniss, Christian P. Giardina, I. A.U.Nimal Gunatilleke, C. V.Savitri Gunatilleke, Fangliang He, Robert W. Howe, Stephen P. HubbellChang Fu Hsieh, Faith M. Inman-Narahari, David Janík, Daniel J. Johnson, David Kenfack, Lisa Korte, Kamil Král, Andrew J. Larson, James A. Lutz, Sean M. McMahon, William J. McShea, Hervé R. Memiaghe, Anuttara Nathalang, Vojtech Novotny, Perry S. Ong, David A. Orwig, Rebecca Ostertag, Geoffrey G. Parker, Richard P. Phillips, Lawren Sack, I. Fang Sun, J. Sebastián Tello, Duncan W. Thomas, Benjamin L. Turner, Dilys M.Vela Díaz, Tomáš Vrška, George D. Weiblen, Amy Wolf, Sandra Yap, Jonathan A. Myers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

220 Scopus citations

Abstract

Theory predicts that higher biodiversity in the tropics is maintained by specialized interactions among plants and their natural enemies that result in conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD). By using more than 3000 species and nearly 2.4 million trees across 24 forest plots worldwide, we show that global patterns in tree species diversity reflect not only stronger CNDD at tropical versus temperate latitudes but also a latitudinal shift in the relationship between CNDD and species abundance. CNDD was stronger for rare species at tropical versus temperate latitudes, potentially causing the persistence of greater numbers of rare species in the tropics. Our study reveals fundamental differences in the nature of local-scale biotic interactions that contribute to the maintenance of species diversity across temperate and tropical communities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1389-1392
Number of pages4
JournalScience
Volume356
Issue number6345
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 30 2017

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© 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved.

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