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Professor Geertje van der Heijden's Outputs (57)

When can we detect lianas from space? Towards a mechanistic understanding of liana-infested forest optics (2025)
Journal Article
Visser, M., Detto, M., Meunier, F., Wu, J., Foster, J., Marvin, D., van Bodegom, P., Bongalov, B., Nunes, M., Coomes, D., Hans, H. V., Guzmán, A., Sanchez-Azofeifa, A., Chandler, C., van der Heijden, G., Boyd, D., Foody, G., Cutler, M., Broadbent, E., Serbin, S., …Pacala, S. (2025). When can we detect lianas from space? Towards a mechanistic understanding of liana-infested forest optics. Ecology, 106(4), Article e70082. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.70082

Lianas, woody vines acting as structural parasites of trees, have profound effects on the composition and structure of tropical forests, impacting tree growth, mortality, and forest succession. Remote sensing could offer a powerful tool for quantifyi... Read More about When can we detect lianas from space? Towards a mechanistic understanding of liana-infested forest optics.

Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change (2025)
Journal Article
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Díaz, S., Rifai, S. W., Corral-Rivas, J. J., Nava-Miranda, M. G., González-M, R., Hurtado-M, A. B., Revilla, N. S., Vilanova, E., Almeida, E., de Oliveira, E. A., Alvarez-Davila, E., Alves, L. F., de Andrade, A. C. S., Lola da Costa, A. C., Vieira, S. A., Aragão, L., Arets, E., Aymard C, G. A., Baccaro, F., …Malhi, Y. (2025). Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change. Science, 387(6738), Article eadl5414. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl5414

INTRODUCTION
Tropical land regions are experiencing rapid climate change, with some scenarios for the tropical Americas projecting temperature increases of up to ~4°C and precipitation reductions of close to 20% by 2100. This would expose current sp... Read More about Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change.

Large range sizes link fast life histories with high species richness across wet tropical tree floras (2025)
Journal Article
Baker, T. R., Adu-Bredu, S., Affum-Baffoe, K., Aiba, S.-I., Akite, P., Alexiades, M., Almeida, E., Almeida de Oliveira, E., Alvarez Davila, E., Amani, C., Andrade, A., Aragao, L., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arets, E., Arroyo, L., Ashton, P., Averti Ifo, S. A., Aymard, G. A., Baisie, M., Balee, W., …Zemagho, L. (2025). Large range sizes link fast life histories with high species richness across wet tropical tree floras. Scientific Reports, 15(1), Article 4695. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84367-3

Understanding how the traits of lineages are related to diversification is key for elucidating the origin of variation in species richness. Here, we test whether traits are related to species richness among lineages of trees from all major biogeograp... Read More about Large range sizes link fast life histories with high species richness across wet tropical tree floras.

Phylogenetic conservatism in the relationship between functional and demographic characteristics in Amazon tree taxa (2024)
Journal Article
Sanchez‐Martinez, P., Dexter, K. G., Draper, F. C., Baraloto, C., Leão do Amaral, I., de Souza Coelho, L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Wittmann, F., Castilho, C. V., de Jesus Veiga Carim, M., Guevara, J. E., Phillips, O. L., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Cardenas Revilla, J. D., Molino, J., Irume, M. V., Pires Martins, M., …ter Steege, H. (2024). Phylogenetic conservatism in the relationship between functional and demographic characteristics in Amazon tree taxa. Functional Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14700

Leaf and wood functional traits of trees are related to growth, reproduction, and survival, but the degree of phylogenetic conservatism in these relationships is largely unknown. In this study, we describe the variability of strategies involving leaf... Read More about Phylogenetic conservatism in the relationship between functional and demographic characteristics in Amazon tree taxa.

The pace of life for forest trees (2024)
Journal Article
Bialic-Murphy, L., McElderry, R. M., Esquivel-Muelbert, A., van den Hoogen, J., Zuidema, P. A., Phillips, O. L., de Oliveira, E. A., Loayza, P. A., Alvarez-Davila, E., Alves, L. F., Maia, V. A., Vieira, S. A., Arantes da Silva, L. C., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arets, E., Astigarraga, J., Baccaro, F., Baker, T., Banki, O., Barroso, J., …Crowther, T. W. (2024). The pace of life for forest trees. Science, 386(6717), 92-98. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk9616

Tree growth and longevity trade-offs fundamentally shape the terrestrial carbon balance. Yet, we lack a unified understanding of how such trade-offs vary across the world’s forests. By mapping life history traits for a wide range of species across th... Read More about The pace of life for forest trees.

The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora (2024)
Journal Article
Luize, B. G., Tuomisto, H., Ekelschot, R., Dexter, K. G., Amaral, I. L., Coelho, L. D. S., Matos, F. D. D. A., Lima Filho, D. D. A., Salomão, R. P., Wittmann, F., Castilho, C. V., Carim, M. D. J. V., Guevara, J. E., Phillips, O. L., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Cardenas Revilla, J. D., Molino, J. F., Irume, M. V., Martins, M. P., …ter Steege, H. (2024). The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora. Communications Biology, 7(1), Article 1240. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06937-5

We describe the geographical variation in tree species composition across Amazonian forests and show how environmental conditions are associated with species turnover. Our analyses are based on 2023 forest inventory plots (1 ha) that provide abundanc... Read More about The biogeography of the Amazonian tree flora.

Unoccupied aerial vehicles as a tool to map lizard operative temperature in tropical environments (2024)
Journal Article
Higgins, E. A., Boyd, D. S., Brown, T. W., Owen, S. C., van der Heijden, G. M. F., & Algar, A. C. (2024). Unoccupied aerial vehicles as a tool to map lizard operative temperature in tropical environments. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.393

To understand how ectotherms will respond to warming temperatures, we require information on thermal habitat quality at spatial resolutions and extents relevant to the organism. Measuring thermal habitat quality is either limited to small spatial ext... Read More about Unoccupied aerial vehicles as a tool to map lizard operative temperature in tropical environments.

One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains (2024)
Journal Article
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., 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., …ter Steege, H. (2024). One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 8, 901-911. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02364-1

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... Read More about One sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is dependent on river floodplains.

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities (2024)
Journal Article
Luize, B. G., Bauman, D., ter Steege, H., Palma‐Silva, C., do Amaral, I. L., de Souza Coelho, L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Wittmann, F., Castilho, C. V., de Jesus Veiga Carim, M., Guevara, J. E., Phillips, O. L., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Revilla, J. D. C., Molino, J., Irume, M. V., Martins, M. P., …Dexter, K. G. (2024). Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities. Journal of Biogeography, https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14816

Aim: Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across... Read More about Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities.

Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography (2024)
Journal Article
Ngute, A. S. K., Schoeman, D. S., Pfeifer, M., van der Heijden, G. M. F., Phillips, O. L., van Breugel, M., Campbell, M. J., Chandler, C. J., Enquist, B. J., Gallagher, R. V., Gehring, C., Hall, J. S., Laurance, S., Laurance, W. F., Letcher, S. G., Liu, W., Sullivan, M. J. P., Wright, S. J., Yuan, C., & Marshall, A. R. (2024). Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography. Global Change Biology, 30(1), Article e17140. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17140

Growing evidence suggests that liana competition with trees is threatening the global carbon sink by slowing the recovery of forests following disturbance. A recent theory based on local and regional evidence further proposes that the competitive suc... Read More about Global dominance of lianas over trees is driven by forest disturbance, climate and topography.

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities (2024)
Journal Article
Cooper, D. L., Lewis, S. L., Sullivan, M. J., Prado, P. I., Prado, P. I., ter Steege, H., Barbier, N., Slik, F., Sonké, B., Ewango, C. E. N., Ewango, C. E., Adu-Bredu, S., Affum-Baffoe, K., de Aguiar, D. P. P., Ahuite Reategui, M. A., Aiba, S.-I., Albuquerque, B. W., de Almeida Matos, F. D., Alonso, A., Amani, C. A., …Zent, S. (2024). Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities. Nature, 625(7996), 728-734. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06820-z

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about m... Read More about Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities.

Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora (2023)
Journal Article
ter Steege, H., Pitman, N. C. A., do Amaral, I. L., de Souza Coelho, L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Wittmann, F., Castilho, C. V., Guevara, J. E., Veiga Carim, M. D. J., Phillips, O. L., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Revilla, J. D. C., Molino, J.-F., Irume, M. V., Martins, M. P., da Silva Guimarães, J. R., Ramos, J. F., …Melgaço, K. (2023). Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora. Communications Biology, 6(1), Article 1130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05514-6

Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location,... Read More about Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora.

More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia (2023)
Journal Article
Peripato, V., Levis, C., Moreira, G. A., Gamerman, D., ter Steege, H., Pitman, N. C. A., de Souza, J. G., Iriarte, J., Robinson, M., Junqueira, A. B., Trindade, T. B., de Almeida, F. O., Moraes, C. D. P., Lombardo, U., Tamanaha, E. K., Maezumi, S. Y., Ometto, J. P. H. B., Braga, J. R. G., Campanharo, W. A., Cassol, H. L. G., …Aragão, L. E. O. C. (2023). More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia. Science, 382(6666), 103-109. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade2541

Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years, but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from... Read More about More than 10,000 pre-Columbian earthworks are still hidden throughout Amazonia.

Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly (2023)
Journal Article
Bennett, A. C., Rodrigues de Sousa, T., Monteagudo-Mendoza, A., Esquivel-Muelbert, A., Morandi, P. S., Coelho de Souza, F., Castro, W., Duque, L. F., Flores Llampazo, G., Manoel dos Santos, R., Ramos, E., Vilanova Torre, E., Alvarez-Davila, E., Baker, T. R., Costa, F. R., Lewis, S. L., Marimon, B. S., Schietti, J., Burban, B., Berenguer, E., …Phillips, O. L. (2023). Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly. Nature Climate Change, 13(9), 967-974. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01776-4

The tropical forest carbon sink is known to be drought sensitive, but it is unclear which forests are the most vulnerable to extreme events. Forests with hotter and drier baseline conditions may be protected by prior adaptation, or more vulnerable be... Read More about Sensitivity of South American tropical forests to an extreme climate anomaly.

Tropical forest lianas have greater non-structural carbohydrate concentrations in the stem xylem than trees (2023)
Journal Article
Signori-Müller, C., Galbraith, D., Tavares, J. V., Reis, S. M., Diniz, F. C., Gilpin, M., Marimon, B. S., van der Heijden, G. M. F., Borges, C., Cintra, B. B. L., Mião, S., Morandi, P. S., Nina, A., Salas Yupayccana, C. A., Marca Zevallos, M. J., Cosio, E. G., Junior, B. H. M., Mendoza, A. M., Phillips, O., Salinas, N., …Oliveira, R. S. (2024). Tropical forest lianas have greater non-structural carbohydrate concentrations in the stem xylem than trees. Tree Physiology, 44(13), 159-172. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpad096

Lianas (woody vines) are important components of tropical forests and are known to compete with host trees for resources, decrease tree growth and increase tree mortality. Given the observed increases in liana abundance in some forests and their impa... Read More about Tropical forest lianas have greater non-structural carbohydrate concentrations in the stem xylem than trees.

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology (2023)
Journal Article
Pos, E., de Souza Coelho, L., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Amaral, I. L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., Castilho, C. V., Phillips, O. L., Guevara, J. E., de Jesus Veiga Carim, M., López, D. C., Magnusson, W. E., Wittmann, F., Irume, M. V., Martins, M. P., Sabatier, D., da Silva Guimarães, J. R., Molino, J. F., Bánki, O. S., Piedade, M. T. F., …ter Steege, H. (2023). Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 2859. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28132-y

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a frame... Read More about Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology.

Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change (2023)
Journal Article
van der Heijden, G. M., Schnitzer, S. A., & Meunier, F. (2023). Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 6, Article 1079620. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2023.1079620

Lianas (woody vines) are an abundant and diverse plant group in tropical ecosystems (Gentry, 1991; Dewalt et al., 2014). While they enhance forest canopy connectivity and provide food and shelter for tropical fauna (Yanoviak and Schnitzer, 2013; Schn... Read More about Editorial: Lianas, ecosystems, and global change.

Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics (2022)
Journal Article
Waite, C. E., van der Heijden, G. M., Field, R., Burslem, D. F., Dalling, J. W., Nilus, R., Rodríguez-Ronderos, M. E., Marshall, A. R., & Boyd, D. S. (2023). Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics. Journal of Ecology, 111(1), 77-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14015

Lianas (woody vines) are a key component of tropical forests, known to reduce forest carbon storage and sequestration and to be increasing in abundance. Analysing how and why lianas are distributed in forest canopies at landscape scales will help us... Read More about Landscape-scale drivers of liana load across a Southeast Asian forest canopy differ to the Neotropics.