Publication
 

Direct and indirect effects of climate on richness drive the latitudinal diversity gradient in forest trees

Climate is widely recognised as an important determinant of the latitudinal diversity gradient. However, most existing studies make no distinction between direct and indirect effects of climate, which substantially hinders our understanding of how climate constrains biodiversity globally. Using data from 35 large forest plots, we test hypothesised relationships amongst climate, topography, forest structural attributes (stem abundance, tree size variation and stand basal area) and tree species richness to better understand drivers of latitudinal tree diversity patterns. Climate influences tree richness both directly, with more species in warm, moist, aseasonal climates and indirectly, with more species at higher stem abundance. These results imply direct limitation of species diversity by climatic stress and more rapid (co-)evolution and narrower niche partitioning in warm climates. They also support the idea that increased numbers of individuals associated with high primary productivity are partitioned to support a greater number of species.

Authors: 
Chengjin Chu, James A. Lutz, Kamil Král, Tomáš Vrška, Xue Yin, Jonathan A. Myers, Iveren Abiem, Alfonso Alonso, Norm Bourg, David F.R.P. Burslem, Min Cao, Hazel Chapman, Richard Condit, Suqin Fang, Gunter A. Fischer, Lianming Gao, Zhanqin Hao, Billy C.H. Hau, Qing He, Andrew Hector, Stephen P. Hubbell, Mingxi Jiang, Guangze Jin, David Kenfack, Jiangshan Lai, Buhang Li, Xiankun Li, Yide Li, Juyu Lian, Luxiang Lin, Yankun Liu, Yu Liu, Yahuang Luo, Keping Ma, William McShea, Hervé Memiaghe, Xiangcheng Mi, Ming Ni, Michael J. O'Brien, Alexandre A. de Oliveira, David A. Orwig, Geoffrey G. Parker, Xiujuan Qiao, Haibao Ren, Glen Reynolds, Weiguo Sang, Guochun Shen, Zhiyao Su, Xinghua Sui, I-Fang Sun, Songyan Tian, Bin Wang, Xihua Wang, Xugao Wang, Youshi Wang, George D. Weiblen, Shujun Wen, Nianxun Xi, Wusheng Xiang, Han Xu, Kun Xu, Wanhui Ye, Bingwei Zhang, Jiaxin Zhang, Xiaotong Zhang, Yingming Zhang, Kai Zhu, Jess Zimmerman, David Storch, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Gary G. Mittelbach, Fangliang He
Journal: 
Ecology Letters
Year: 
2019
Volume: 
22
Issue: 
2
Pages: 
245-255
DOI: 
10.1111/ele.13175