Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Pervasive alteration of tree communities in undisturbed Amazonian forests

Nature volume 428, pages 171–175 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Amazonian rainforests are some of the most species-rich tree communities on earth1. Here we show that, over the past two decades, forests in a central Amazonian landscape have experienced highly nonrandom changes in dynamics and composition. Our analyses are based on a network of 18 permanent plots unaffected by any detectable disturbance. Within these plots, rates of tree mortality, recruitment and growth have increased over time. Of 115 relatively abundant tree genera, 27 changed significantly in population density or basal area—a value nearly 14 times greater than that expected by chance. An independent, eight-year study in nearby forests corroborates these shifts in composition. Contrary to recent predictions2,3,4,5, we observed no increase in pioneer trees. However, genera of faster-growing trees, including many canopy and emergent species, are increasing in dominance or density, whereas genera of slower-growing trees, including many subcanopy species, are declining. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations6 may explain these changes, although the effects of this and other large-scale environmental alterations remain uncertain. These compositional changes could have important impacts on the carbon storage, dynamics and biota of Amazonian forests.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Mean percentage changes in (a) population density and (b) basal area of 42 Amazonian tree genera in two different long-term studies.
Figure 2: Relationship between tree size and long-term population change for Amazonian tree genera.
Figure 3: Mortality (a) and recruitment (b) rates (± 1 s.e.m.) for increasing and decreasing genera.
Figure 4: Comparison of median growth rates of Amazonian tree genera between interval 1 (around 1984–91) and interval 2 (around 1992–99).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. de Oliveira, A. A. & Mori, S. A. A central Amazonian terra firma forest. I. High tree species richness on poor soils. Biodivers. Conserv. 8, 1219–1244 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Reekie, E. G. & Bazzaz, F. A. Competition and patterns of resource use among seedlings of five tropical trees grown at ambient and elevated CO2 . Oecologia 79, 212–222 (1989)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Winter, K. & Lovelock, C. E. Growth responses of seedlings of early and late successional tropical forest trees to elevated atmospheric CO2 . Flora 194, 221–227 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Phillips, O. L. & Gentry, A. H. Increasing turnover through time in tropical forests. Science 261, 954–958 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Phillips, O. L. et al. Pattern and process in Amazon tree turnover, 1976–2001. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. (in the press)

  6. Houghton, J. T. et al. (eds) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001)

  7. Grace, J. et al. Carbon dioxide uptake by an undisturbed tropical rain forest in southwest Amazonia, 1992 to 1993. Science 270, 778–780 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Phillips, O. L. et al. Changes in the carbon balance of tropical forest: Evidence from long-term plots. Science 282, 439–442 (1998)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Baker, T. R. et al. Increasing biomass in Amazonian forest plots. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. (in the press)

  10. Malhi, Y. et al. Carbon dioxide transfer over a central Amazonian rain forest. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 31593–31612 (1998)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lewis, S. L. et al. Concerted changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics: Evidence from 50 South American long-term plots. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (in the press)

  12. Phillips, O. L. et al. Increasing dominance of large lianas in Amazonian forests. Nature 418, 770–774 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Körner, C. Tropical forests in a CO2-rich world. Clim. Change 39, 297–315 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Clark, D. A., Piper, S. C., Keeling, C. D. & Clark, D. H. Tropical rain forest tree growth and atmospheric carbon dynamics linked to interannual temperature variation during 1984–2000. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 100, 5852–5857 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Condit, R., Hubbell, S. P. & Foster, R. B. Assessing the response of plant functional types to climatic change in tropical forests. J. Veg. Sci. 7, 405–416 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Tian, H. et al. Effect of interannual climate variability on carbon storage in Amazonian ecosystems. Nature 396, 664–667 (1998)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wielicki, B. A. et al. Evidence for large decadal variability in tropical mean radiative energy budget. Science 295, 841–844 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Artaxo, P. et al. Dry and wet deposition in Amazonia: from natural biogenic aerosols to biomass burning impacts. Int. Glob. Atmos. Chem. Newsl. 27, 12–16 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Laurance, W. F. et al. Biomass collapse in Amazonian forest fragments. Science 278, 1117–1118 (1997)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Laurance, W. F. et al. Rainforest fragmentation kills big trees. Nature 404, 836 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. ter Steege, H. & Hammond, D. S. Character convergence, diversity, and disturbance in tropical rain forest in Guyana. Ecology 82, 3197–3212 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Casper, B. B., Heard, S. B. & Apanius, V. Ecological correlates of single-seededness in a woody tropical flora. Oecologia 90, 212–217 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Piperno, D. R. & Becker, P. Vegetation history of a site in the central Amazon Basin derived from phytolith and charcoal records from natural soils. Quat. Res. 45, 202–209 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Dunbar, R. B. El Niño—clues from corals. Nature 407, 956–959 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Timmermann, A. et al. Increased El Niño frequency in a climate model forced by future greenhouse warming. Nature 398, 694–697 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Wright, S. J. et al. The El Niño Southern Oscillation, variable fruit production, and famine in a tropical forest. Ecology 80, 1632–1642 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Clark, D. A. & Clark, D. B. Climate-induced annual variation in canopy tree growth in a Costa Rican tropical rain forest. J. Ecol. 82, 865–872 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Malhi, Y. & Wright, J. Spatial patterns and recent trends in the climate of tropical forest regions. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. (in the press)

  29. Lewis, S. L., Malhi, Y. & Phillips, O. L. Fingerprinting the impacts of global change on tropical forests. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. (in the press)

  30. Thomas, S. C. Asymptotic height as a predictor of growth and allometric characteristics in Malaysian rain forest trees. Am. J. Bot. 83, 556–566 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the many taxonomic specialists and field technicians who collected and identified plant material during the study, and the A. W. Mellon Foundation, the NASA-LBA Program, the Conservation, Food and Health Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), and the Smithsonian Institution for support. Comments from O. L. Phillips, J. A. Pounds, S. L. Lewis, S. J. Wright, K. Winter, T. R. Baker, R. K. Didham, R. Harrison, T. A. Kursar and P. D. Coley improved the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Apartado, 2072, Republic of Panamá

    William F. Laurance, Susan G. Laurance, Richard Condit, Henrique E. M. Nascimento, Ana C. Sanchez-Thorin & Christopher W. Dick

  2. Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), CP 478, AM 69011-970, Manaus, Brazil

    William F. Laurance, Susan G. Laurance, Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ana Andrade & Sammya D'Angelo

  3. Department of Botany, National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), CP 478, AM 69011-970, Manaus, Brazil

    José E. Ribeiro

  4. Department of Biology, University of São Paulo, Avenida Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto-São Paulo, SP, 14040-901, Brazil

    Alexandre A. Oliveira

Authors
  1. William F. Laurance
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexandre A. Oliveira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan G. Laurance
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Richard Condit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Henrique E. M. Nascimento
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ana C. Sanchez-Thorin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Thomas E. Lovejoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Ana Andrade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Sammya D'Angelo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. José E. Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Christopher W. Dick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William F. Laurance.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Laurance, W., Oliveira, A., Laurance, S. et al. Pervasive alteration of tree communities in undisturbed Amazonian forests. Nature 428, 171–175 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02383

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02383

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing