The number of tree species on Earth.
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Authors
Gamarra, Javier GP
Crowther, Tom
Bastin, Jean-Francois
Nabuurs, Gert-Jan
Merow, Cory
Enquist, Brian
Kamenetsky, Maria
Lee, Junho
Zhu, Jun
Fang, Jinyun
Jacobs, Douglass F
Pijanowski, Bryan
Banerjee, Arindam
Giaquinto, Robert A
Almeyda Zambrano, Angelica Maria
Alvarez-Davila, Esteban
Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro
Avitabile, Valerio
Aymard, Gerardo A
Balazy, Radomir
Baraloto, Chris
Barroso, Jorcely G
Bastian, Meredith L
Birnbaum, Philippe
Bitariho, Robert
Bogaert, Jan
Brearley, Francis Q
Broadbent, Eben North
Bussotti, Filippo
Castro da Silva, Wendeson
Češljar, Goran
Chama Moscoso, Víctor
Clark, Connie J
Dayanandan, Selvadurai
Decuyper, Mathieu
Dee, Laura E
Del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon
Derroire, Géraldine
Dolezal, Jiri
Đorđević, Ilija Đ
Engel, Julien
Fayle, Tom M
Fridman, Jonas K
Harris, David J
Hemp, Andreas
Hengeveld, Geerten
Herault, Bruno
Herold, Martin
Ibanez, Thomas
Jagodzinski, Andrzej M
Johannsen, Vivian Kvist
Jucker, Tommaso
Kangur, Ahto
Karminov, Victor N
Kartawinata, Kuswata
Kepfer-Rojas, Sebastian
Keppel, Gunnar
Khan, Mohammed Latif
Khare, Pramod Kumar
Kileen, Timothy J
Korjus, Henn
Kumar, Amit
Kumar, Ashwani
Laarmann, Diana
Lang, Mait
Lewis, Simon L
Lukina, Natalia
Marshall, Andrew R
Martynenko, Olga V
Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel L
Ontikov, Petr V
Ortiz-Malavasi, Edgar
Pallqui Camacho, Nadir C
Paquette, Alain
Park, Minjee
Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy
Petronelli, Pascal
Pfautsch, Sebastian
Picard, Nicolas
Piotto, Daniel
Pretzsch, Hans
Ramírez-Angulo, Hirma
Restrepo Correa, Zorayda
Rodeghiero, Mirco
Rojas Gonzáles, Rocío Del Pilar
Rolim, Samir G
Rovero, Francesco
Rutishauser, Ervan
Saikia, Purabi
Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael
Šebeň, Vladimír
Souza, Alexandre F
Stereńczak, Krzysztof Jan
Svoboda, Miroslav
Taedoumg, Hermann
Tchebakova, Nadja
Tikhonova, Elena
Torres-Lezama, Armando
van der Plas, Fons
Vásquez, Rodolfo
Viana, Helder
Vibrans, Alexander C
Vilanova, Emilio
Vos, Vincent A
Wang, Hua-Feng
Westerlund, Bertil
White, Lee JT
Zawiła-Niedźwiecki, Tomasz
Zemagho, Lise
Zhu, Zhi-Xin
Zo-Bi, Irié C
Publication Date
2022-02-08Journal Title
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume
119
Issue
6
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Cazzolla Gatti, R., Reich, P. B., Gamarra, J. G., Crowther, T., Hui, C., Morera, A., Bastin, J., et al. (2022). The number of tree species on Earth.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 119 (6) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115329119
Abstract
One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknown. Here, based on global ground-sourced data, we estimate the total tree species richness at global, continental, and biome levels. Our results indicate that there are ∼73,000 tree species globally, among which ∼9,000 tree species are yet to be discovered. Roughly 40% of undiscovered tree species are in South America. Moreover, almost one-third of all tree species to be discovered may be rare, with very low populations and limited spatial distribution (likely in remote tropical lowlands and mountains). These findings highlight the vulnerability of global forest biodiversity to anthropogenic changes in land use and climate, which disproportionately threaten rare species and thus, global tree richness.
Keywords
Biodiversity, Richness, Rarity, Forests, Hyperdominance
Sponsorship
European Commission (265171)
Identifiers
PMC8833151, 35101981
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115329119
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/334712
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