The pace of life for forest trees

Bialic-Murphy, Lalasia; McElderry, Robert M.; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane; van den Hoogen, Johan; Zuidema, Pieter A.; Phillips, Oliver L.; de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida; Loayza, Patricia Alvarez; Alvarez-Davila, Esteban; Alves, Luciana F.; Maia, Vinícius Andrade; Vieira, Simone Aparecida; Arantes da Silva, Lidiany Carolina; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Arets, Eric; Astigarraga, Julen; Baccaro, Fabrício; Baker, Timothy; Banki, Olaf; Barroso, Jorcely; Blanc, Lilian; Bonal, Damien; Bongers, Frans; Bordin, Kauane Maiara; Brienen, Roel; de Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante; Camargo, José Luís; Araújo, Felipe Carvalho; Castilho, Carolina V.; Castro, Wendeson; Moscoso, Victor Chama; Comiskey, James; Costa, Flávia; Müller, Sandra Cristina; de Almeida, Everton Cristo; Lôla da Costa, Antonio Carlos; de Andrade Kamimura, Vitor; de Oliveira, Fernanda; Del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon; Derroire, Géraldine; Dexter, Kyle; Di Fiore, Anthony; Duchesne, Louis; Emílio, Thaise; Farrapo, Camila Laís; Fauset, Sophie; Draper,...

Abstract

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 the Americas, we reveal considerable variation in life expectancies from 10 centimeters in diameter (ranging from 1.3 to 3195 years) and show that the pace of life for trees can be accurately classified into four demographic functional types. We found emergent patterns in the strength of trade-offs between growth and longevity across a temperature gradient. Furthermore, we show that the diversity of life history traits varies predictably across forest biomes, giving rise to a positive relationship between trait diversity and productivity. Our pan-latitudinal assessment provides new insights into the demographic mechanisms that govern the carbon turnover rate across forest biomes.

Citation

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

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 28, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Oct 3, 2024
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 29, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 10, 2024
• Journal: Science
• Print ISSN: 0036-8075
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-9203
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 386
• Issue: 6717
• Pages: 92-98
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk9616
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/40291071
• Publisher URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk9616
• Additional Information: This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by; permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on Vol. 386, No. 6717, DOI: 10.1126/science.adk9616