[en] SignificanceOur full-scale comparison of Africa and South America's lowland tropical tree floras shows that both Africa and South America's moist and dry tree floras are organized similarly: plant families that are rich in tree species on one continent are also rich in tree species on the other continent, and these patterns hold across moist and dry environments. Moreover, we confirm that there is an important difference in tree species richness between the two continents, which is linked to a few families that are exceptionally diverse in South American moist forests, although dry formations also contribute to this difference. Plant families only present on one of the two continents do not contribute substantially to differences in tree species richness.
Dexter, Kyle G ; School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, United Kingdom
Swaine, Michael D ; Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, United Kingdom
de Oliveira-Filho, Ary Teixeira; Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 31270-901, Brazil
Hardy, Olivier J; Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Fayolle, Adeline ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels
Language :
English
Title :
Dissecting the difference in tree species richness between Africa and South America.
Publication date :
05 April 2022
Journal title :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
ISSN :
0027-8424
eISSN :
1091-6490
Publisher :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, United States
Volume :
119
Issue :
14
Pages :
e2112336119
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
BELSPO - Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid [BE] NERC - Natural Environment Research Council [GB] F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE] CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [BR]