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Date
2018Type
- Journal Article
Citations
Cited 65 times in
Web of Science
Cited 75 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Knowledge about the biogeographic affinities of the world’s tropical forests helps to better understand regional differences in forest structure, diversity, composition, and dynamics. Such understanding will enable anticipation of region-specific responses to global environmental change. Modern phylogenies, in combination with broad coverage of species inventory data, now allow for global biogeographic analyses that take species evolutionary distance into account. Here we present a classification of the world’s tropical forests based on their phylogenetic similarity. We identify five principal floristic regions and their floristic relationships: (i) Indo-Pacific, (ii) Subtropical, (iii) African, (iv) American, and (v) Dry forests. Our results do not support the traditional neo- versus paleotropical forest division but instead separate the combined American and African forests from their Indo-Pacific counterparts. We also find indications for the existence of a global dry forest region, with representatives in America, Africa, Madagascar, and India. Additionally, a northern-hemisphere Subtropical forest region was identified with representatives in Asia and America, providing support for a link between Asian and American northern-hemisphere forests. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000247422Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
National Academy of SciencesSubject
biogeographic legacies; forest classification; forest functional similarity; phylogenetic community distance; tropical forestsOrganisational unit
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward / Crowther, Thomas Ward
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward / Crowther, Thomas Ward
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Show all metadata
Citations
Cited 65 times in
Web of Science
Cited 75 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics