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Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass in a rainforest canopy

Nature volume 429, pages 549–551 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Forest canopies represent the functional interface between 90% of the Earth's terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere1 and include some of the most threatened of all terrestrial ecosystems2. However, we lack even a basic understanding of how the biomass of plants and animals is distributed throughout forest canopies, even though this information is vital for estimating energy flow, carbon cycling, resource use and the transfer of materials within this ecosystem3,4. Here we measure the biomass of invertebrates living in a common rainforest epiphyte, describe a striking relationship between fern size and the biomass of animals within the ferns, and reveal that one large epiphyte may contain an invertebrate biomass similar to that found in the whole of the rest of the tree crown on which it is growing. Using these data, we show that including the fauna of these epiphytes—a neglected component in rainforest ecosystems—can more than double our estimate of the total invertebrate biomass in an entire rainforest canopy.

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Figure 1: Invertebrate biomass in bird's nest ferns.
Figure 2: Contributions of various taxa to overall invertebrate biomass in ferns and crowns.
Figure 3: Individual biomass.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Clare College, the Department of Zoology and the Museum of Zoology of the University of Cambridge, Yayasan Sabah, Danum Valley Management Committee and The Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, Kuala Lumpur. We thank our collaborator in Sabah, Chey V. K. For comments on the manuscript, we thank N. Davies, N. Mundy and M. Brooke. The photograph of A. nidus (Fig. 1a) was provided by courtesy of R. Dial. We are grateful to M. and D. Ellwood for their assistance in the field, and to those who helped sort insects. M.D.F.E. was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This research was carried out while M.D.F.E. was a participant in the Royal Society's south-east Asian rain forest research programme (Publ. No. A405).

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  1. University Museum of Zoology, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK

    Martin D. F. Ellwood & William A. Foster

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  1. Martin D. F. Ellwood
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Correspondence to Martin D. F. Ellwood.

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Ellwood, M., Foster, W. Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass in a rainforest canopy. Nature 429, 549–551 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02560

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