Tropical ecology articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Camera-trap images of 55 mammal species in 14 logging concessions in western equatorial Africa reveal greater animal encounter rates in FSC-certified than in non-certified forests, especially for large mammals and species of high conservation priority.

    • Joeri A. Zwerts
    • , E. H. M. Sterck
    •  & Marijke van Kuijk

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

    • Declan L. M. Cooper
    • , Simon L. Lewis
    •  & Stanford Zent

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using a global dataset of traded species, it is found that the highest levels of traded phylogenetic and functional diversity are from tropical regions, where high numbers of evolutionary distinct and globally endangered species occur.

    • Liam J. Hughes
    • , Mike R. Massam
    •  & David P. Edwards

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A large-scale, five-year study in Indonesia finds that enriching oil palm-dominated landscapes with patches of trees bolsters biodiversity and ecosystem functioning without impairing oil palm yields but should not replace forest protection.

    • Delphine Clara Zemp
    • , Nathaly Guerrero-Ramirez
    •  & Holger Kreft

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Logged forests in Borneo have higher energy flow from vegetation to and broad range of bird and mammal species relative to old-growth forests and oil palm plantations, showing that they can be diverse and ecologically vibrant ecosystems.

    • Yadvinder Malhi
    • , Terhi Riutta
    •  & Matthew J. Struebig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Between around 5,000 to 2,000 years ago, a drying climate in the vast peatlands of the Congo Basin triggered peat decomposition and carbon release to the atmosphere, implying that this region may be vulnerable to future climate change.

    • Yannick Garcin
    • , Enno Schefuß
    •  & Simon L. Lewis

  • Article |

    Nutrient manipulation of low-phosphorus soil in an old growth Amazon rainforest shows that phosphorus availability drives forest productivity and is likely to limit the response to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

    • Hellen Fernanda Viana Cunha
    • , Kelly M. Andersen
    •  & Carlos Alberto Quesada

  • Article |

    Deep learning was used to map the crown sizes of each tree in the West African Sahara, Sahel and sub-humid zone using submetre-resolution satellite imagery, revealing a relatively high density of trees in arid areas.

    • Martin Brandt
    • , Compton J. Tucker
    •  & Rasmus Fensholt

  • Article |

    A catalogue of the vascular flora of New Guinea indicates that this island is the most floristically diverse in the world, and that 68% of the species identified are endemic to New Guinea.

    • Rodrigo Cámara-Leret
    • , David G. Frodin
    •  & Peter C. van Welzen

  • Article |

    Variation in vegetation and climate affects the long-term changes in bird communities in intensive-agriculture habitats, but not in diversified-agriculture or natural-forest habitats, by changing the local colonization and extinction rates.

    • J. Nicholas Hendershot
    • , Jeffrey R. Smith
    •  & Gretchen C. Daily

  • Review Article |

    The immense biodiversity of tropical ecosystems is threatened by multiple interacting local and global stressors that can only be addressed by the concerted efforts of grassroots organizations, researchers, national governments and the international community.

    • Jos Barlow
    • , Filipe França
    •  & Nicholas A. J. Graham

  • Letter |

    Field measurements combined with remotely sensed data reveal the Cuvette Centrale in the central Congo Basin to contain the most extensive peatland complex in the tropics, increasing the best estimate of global tropical peatland carbon stocks by approximately one-third.

    • Greta C. Dargie
    • , Simon L. Lewis
    •  & Suspense A. Ifo

  • Letter |

    A species-wide study shows that the Hawaiian crow Corvus hawaiiensis is a highly proficient tool user, creating opportunities for comparative studies with tool-using New Caledonian crows and other corvids.

    • Christian Rutz
    • , Barbara C. Klump
    •  & Bryce M. Masuda

  • Letter |

    Data from over 2,500 reefs worldwide is used to identify 15 bright spots—sites where reef biomass is significantly higher than expected—and surveys of local experts in these areas suggest that strong sociocultural institutions and high levels of local engagement are among the factors supporting higher fish biomass.

    • Joshua E. Cinner
    • , Cindy Huchery
    •  & David Mouillot

  • Brief Communications Arising |

    • Douglas C. Morton
    • , Jyoteshwar Nagol
    •  & Peter R. J. North

  • Letter |

    By quantifying the colouration of all approximately 6,000 species of passerine birds, certain life-history traits such as large body size and tropical distribution are found to increase ornamentation in both male and female birds, whereas cooperative breeding increases it in females only, and sexual selection diminishes it in females more than it increases it in males.

    • James Dale
    • , Cody J. Dey
    •  & Mihai Valcu

  • Letter |

    Investigating the evolutionary origins of montane biodiversity by sampling the entire biota from a single mountain, Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, allows for a better understanding not only of the origins of endemism, but also of this biota’s forecasted response to environmental change.

    • Vincent S. F. T. Merckx
    • , Kasper P. Hendriks
    •  & Menno Schilthuizen

  • Letter |

    Severe drought in a tropical forest ecosystem suppresses photosynthetic carbon uptake and plant maintenance respiration, but growth is maintained, suggesting that, overall, less carbon is available for tree tissue maintenance and defence, which may cause the subsequent observed increase in tree mortality.

    • Christopher E. Doughty
    • , D. B. Metcalfe
    •  & Y. Malhi

  • Letter |

    Suppressing fungi in a tropical forest plant community lowers diversity by reducing the negative effects of density on seedling recruitment, and removing insects increases seedling survival and alters plant community composition; this demonstrates the crucial role of pathogens and insects in maintaining and structuring tropical forest plant diversity.

    • Robert Bagchi
    • , Rachel E. Gallery
    •  & Owen T. Lewis

  • News & Views |

    Past research implied that positive feedback might exist between climate change and greenhouse-gas emissions from soil. A study finds that drought-induced declines in such emissions from tropical forests could counter climate change.

    • Cory C. Cleveland
    •  & Benjamin W. Sullivan

  • Letter |

    Remote sensing and simulated atmospheric transport patterns are used to show that air passage over tropical forests produces about twice as much rain as passage over sparse vegetation; in an idealized Amazonian deforestation scenario, a reduction in seasonal precipitation of approximately 12–21% is estimated.

    • D. V. Spracklen
    • , S. R. Arnold
    •  & C. M. Taylor

  • Comment |

    Researchers like to work on projects that start small and slowly scale up. They must think bigger and faster, says Sandy J. Andelman, to tackle today's problems in time.

    • Sandy J. Andelman

  • News |

    Airborne observatory will use chemical clues to map and assess tropical ecosystems.

    • Jeff Tollefson

  • Letter |

    One potential mechanism for maintaining biodiversity is negative feedback between a species and its specific enemies, meaning that other species can grow in its vicinity better than further individuals of the species in question. These authors show that in a tropical forest it is the soil biota that is the main cause of this feedback, and that this effect can explain the diversity.

    • Scott A. Mangan
    • , Stefan A. Schnitzer
    •  & James D. Bever

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