Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Steege, ter Hans, I. prad, Paulo, de Lima, Renato A. F., Pos, Edwin, Souza Coelho, Luiz de, Andrade Lima Filho, Diogenes de, Salomao, Rafael P., Castilho, Carolina V., Susan G. W., Laurance, Cardenas Revil, Juan David, Jimenez, Eliana M., Chave, Jerome, Zárate Gómez, Ricardo, Peñuela Mora, María Cristina, Rodrigues, Domingos de Jesus, Coelho de Souza, Fernanda
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Ecuador
Institución:Universidad Regional Amazónica
Repositorio:Repositorio Universidad Regional Amazónica
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ikiam.edu.ec:RD_IKIAM/371
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66686-3
http://repositorio.ikiam.edu.ec/jspui/handle/RD_IKIAM/371
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Community ecology
Descripción
Sumario:Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia is best approximated by a logseries with aggregated individuals, where aggregation increases with rarity. By averaging several methods to estimate total richness, we confirm that over 15,000 tree species are expected to occur in Amazonia. We also show that using ten times the number of plots would result in an increase to just ~50% of those 15,000 estimated species. To get a more complete sample of all tree species, rigorous field campaigns may be needed but the number of trees in Amazonia will remain an estimate for years to come.