Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora

Fine, Paul V. A.; Guedes, Marcelino Carneiro; Barlow, Jos; Ferreira, Joice; Villa, Boris; Pe?uela Mora, Maria Cristina; Jimenez, Eliana M.; de Aguiar, Daniel Praia Portela; Neill, David; Alonso, Alfonso; Dallmeier, Francisco; de Souza, Fernanda Coelho; Gribel, Rogerio; Arroyo, Luzmila; Carvalho, Fernanda Antunes; Lloyd, Jon; Cornejo Valverde, Fernando; Vicentini, Alberto; Draper, Freddie; Lopes, Aline; Garc?a-Villacorta, Roosevelt; D?vila, N?llarett; Damasco, Gabriel; de Toledo, Jos? Julio; Comiskey, James A.; Feitosa, Yuri Oliveira; Duivenvoorden, Joost F.; Mogoll?n, Hugo F.; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Ferreira, Leandro Valle; Lozada, Jos? Rafael; Brienen, Roel; Revilla, Juan David Cardenas; Vieira, Ima C?lia Guimar?es; Cintra, Bruno Bar?ante Ladvocat; Stevenson, Pablo R.; de Queiroz, Helder Lima; Nascimento, Henrique Eduardo Mendon?a; Lopes, Maria Aparecida; de Sousa Farias, Emanuelle; Magalh?es, Jos? Leonardo Lima; Andrade, Ana; Sousa, Thaiane R.; Camargo, Jos? Lu?s; Schietti, Juli...

Abstract

© 2020, The Author(s). 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.

Citation

Feitosa, Y. O., Zartman, C. E., Killeen, T. J., Fine, P. V. A., Guedes, M. C., Barlow, J., …van der Heijden, G. (2020). Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 10130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66686-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 19, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 23, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2020
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 10130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66686-3
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4747987
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-66686-3