A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Variation in wood density across South American tropical forests
Authors: Sullivan, Martin J. P.; Phillips, Oliver L.; Galbraith, David; Almeida, Everton; de Oliveira, Edmar Almeida; Almeida, Jarcilene; Dávila, Esteban Álvarez; Alves, Luciana F.; Andrade, Ana; Aragão, Luiz; Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro; Arets, Eric; Arroyo, Luzmila; Cruz, Omar Aurelio Melo; Baccaro, Fabrício; Baker, Timothy R.; Banki, Olaf; Baraloto, Christopher; Barlow, Jos; Barroso, Jorcely; Berenguer, Erika; Blanc, Lilian; Blundo, Cecilia; Bonal, Damien; Bongers, Frans; Bordin, Kauane Maiara; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Broggio, Igor S.; Burban, Benoit; Cabral, George; Camargo, José Luís; Cardoso, Domingos; Carniello, Maria Antonia; Castro, Wendeson; de Lima, Haroldo Cavalcante; Cavalheiro, Larissa; Ribeiro, Sabina Cerruto; Ramos, Sonia Cesarina Palacios; Moscoso, Victor Chama; Chave, Jerôme; Coelho, Fernanda; Comiskey, James A.; Valverde, Fernando Cornejo; Costa, Flávia; Coutinho, Italo Antônio Cotta; da Costa, Antonio Carlos Lola; de Medeiros, Marcelo Brilhante; del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon; Derroire, Géraldine; Dexter, Kyle G.; Disney, Mat; do Espírito Santo, Mário M.; Domingues, Tomas F.; Dourdain, Aurélie; Duque, Alvaro; Rangel, Cristabel Durán; Elias, Fernando; Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane; Farfan-Rios, William; Fauset, Sophie; Feldpausch, Ted; Fernandes, G. Wilson; Ferreira, Joice; Nunes, Yule Roberta Ferreira; Figueiredo, João Carlos Gomes; Cabreara, Karina Garcia; Gonzalez, Roy; Hernández, Lionel; Herrera, Rafael; Honorio Coronado, Eurídice N.; Huasco, Walter Huaraca; Iguatemy, Mariana; Joly, Carlos A.; Kalamandeen, Michelle; Killeen, Timothy; Klipel, Joice; Klitgaard, Bente; Laurance, Susan G.; Laurance, William F.; Levesley, Aurora; Lewis, Simon L.; Lima, Dan Maurício; Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela; Magnusson, William; Malhi, Yadvinder; Malizia, Lucio; Malizia, Augustina; Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto; Peña, Jose Luis Marcelo; Marimon, Beatriz S.; Marimon Junior, Ben Hur; Martínez-Villa, Johanna Andrea; Reis, Simone Matias; Metzker, Thiago; Milliken, William; Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel; Moonlight, Peter; Morandi, Paulo S.; Moser, Pamela; Müller, Sandra C.; Nascimento, Marcelo; Negreiros, Daniel; Lima, Adriano Nogueira; Vargas, Percy Núñez; Oliveira, Washington L.; Palacios, Walter; Pallqui Camacho, Nadir C.; Gutierrez, Alexander Parada; Pardo Molina, Guido; Pedra de Abreu, Karla Maria; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Pena Rodrigues, Pablo José Francisco; Pennington, R. Toby; Pickavance, Georgia C.; Pipoly, John; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Playfair, Maureen; Pontes-Lopes, Aline; Poorter, Lourens; Prestes, Nayane Cristina Candida dos Santos; Ramírez-Angulo, Hirma; Réjou-Méchain, Maxime; Reynel Rodriguez, Carlos; Rivas-Torres, Gonzalo; Rodrigues, Priscyla M. S.; de Jesus Rodrigues, Domingos; de Sousa, Thaiane Rodrigues; Rodrigues Pinto, José Roberto; Rodriguez, M. Gina M.; Roucoux, Katherine; Ruokolainen, Kalle; Ryan, Casey M.; Revilla, Norma Salinas; Salomão, Rafael; Santos, Rubens M.; Sarkinen, Tiina; Scabin, Andressa; Bergamin, Rodrigo Scarton; Schietti, Juliana; de Meira Junior, Milton Serpa; Serrano, Julio; Silman, Miles; Silva, Richarlly C.; Silva, Camila V. J.; Silva, Jhonathan Oliveria; Silveira, Marcos; Simon, Marcelo F.; Soto-Shareva, Yahn Carlos; Souza, Priscila; Souza, Rodolfo; Sposito, Tereza; Talbot, Joey; ter Steege, Hans; Terborgh, John; Thomas, Raquel; Toledo, Marisol; Torres-Lezama, Armando; Trujillo, William; van der Hout, Peter; Veloso, Maria das Dores Magalhães; Vieira, Simone A.; Vilanova, Emilio; Villalobos, Cayo Jeanneth M.; Villela, Dora M.; Viscarra, Laura Jessica; Vos, Vincent A.; Wortel, Verginia; Ishida, Francoise Yoko; Zuidema, Pieter A.; Zwerts, Joeri A.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publishing place: BERLIN
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Nature Communications
Journal name in source: Nature Communications
Journal acronym: NAT COMMUN
Article number: 2351
Volume: 16
Number of pages: 12
eISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56175-4
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56175-4
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491584914
Wood density is a critical control on tree biomass, so poor understanding of its spatial variation can lead to large and systematic errors in forest biomass estimates and carbon maps. The need to understand how and why wood density varies is especially critical in tropical America where forests have exceptional species diversity and spatial turnover in composition. As tree identity and forest composition are challenging to estimate remotely, ground surveys are essential to know the wood density of trees, whether measured directly or inferred from their identity. Here, we assemble an extensive dataset of variation in wood density across the most forested and tree-diverse continent, examine how it relates to spatial and environmental variables, and use these relationships to predict spatial variation in wood density over tropical and sub-tropical South America. Our analysis refines previously identified east-west Amazon gradients in wood density, improves them by revealing fine-scale variation, and extends predictions into Andean, dry, and Atlantic forests. The results halve biomass prediction errors compared to a naive scenario with no knowledge of spatial variation in wood density. Our findings will help improve remote sensing-based estimates of aboveground biomass carbon stocks across tropical South America.
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Funding information in the publication:
For supporting the networks, we thank the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – ‘T-FORCES’), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (#1656 ‘RAINFOR’, and ‘MonANPeru’), the European Union’s Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Framework Programme (EVK2-CT-1999-00023 – ‘CARBONSINK-LBA’, 283080 – ‘GEOCARBON’, 282664 – ‘AMAZALERT), the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/ D005590/1 – ‘TROBIT’, NE/F005806/1 – ‘AMAZONICA’, E/M0022021/1 - ‘PPFOR’), several NERC Urgency and New Investigators Grants, the NERC/State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) consortium grants ‘BIO-RED’ (NE/N012542/1), ‘ECOFOR’ (NE/K016431/1, 2012/51872-5, 2012/51509-8), ‘ARBOLES’ (NE/S011811/1, FAPESP 2018/15001-6), ‘SEOSAW’ (NE/P008755/1), ‘SECO’ (NE/T01279X/1), Brazilian National Research Council (PELD/CNPq 403710/2012-0), the Royal Society (University Research Fellowships and Global challenges Awards) (ICA/R1/180100 - ‘FORAMA’), the National Geographic Society, US National Science Foundation (DEB 1754647) and Colombia’s Colciencias. We thank the National Council for Science and Technology Development of Brazil (CNPq) for support to the Cerrado/Amazonia Transition Long-Term Ecology Project (PELD/441244/2016-5), the PPBio Phytogeography of Amazonia/Cerrado Transition Project (CNPq/PPBio/457602/2012-0), PELD-RAS (CNPq, Process 441659/2016-0), RESFLORA (Process 420254/2018-8), Synergize (Process 442354/2019-3), the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária – Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – FAPESP (2012/51509-8 and 2012/51872-5), the Goiás Research Foundation (FAPEG/PELD: 2017/10267000329) the EcoSpace Project (CNPq 459941/2014-3), PELD 441572/2020-0, the FATE project (03/12595-7) and several PVE and Productivity Grants. We also thank the “Investissement d’Avenir” program (CEBA, ref. ANR-10LABX-25-01), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 03/12595-7, 2016/21043-8) and the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil Project (through Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, USAID, and the US Department of State) for supporting plot inventories in the Atlantic Forest sites in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We thank to the National Council for Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) for the financial support of the PELD project (441244/2016-5, 441572/2020-0) and FAPEMAT (0346321/2021). We thank Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Serra das Almas for supporting our research at the reserve. This paper also includes plots where recensuses and data assimilation were funded by SECO (NE/T01279X/1), and plots established by Darwin Initiative funded project 20-021, NERC-Newton-FAPESP project Nordeste (NE/N01247X/1; NE/N012550/1) and the USAID funded Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research project. This manuscript is an output of ForestPlots.net Research Project 75A. “Mapping LATAM Forest Wood Density”, which is part of the NERC-FAPESP funded project ARBOLES (NE/S011811/1). ForestPlots.net is a meta-network and cyber-initiative developed at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and supports tropical forest scientists. We acknowledge the contributions of the ForestPlots.net Collaboration and Data Request Committee (B.S.M., E.N.H.C., O.L.P., T.R.B., B. Sonké, C. Ewango, J. Muledi, S.L.L., L. Qie) for facilitating this project and associated data management. The development of ForestPlots.net and curation of data has been funded by several grants including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 - ‘BIO-RED’, ERC Advanced Grant 291585 - ‘T-FORCES’, NE/F005806/1 - ‘AMAZONICA’, NE/N004655/1 - ‘TREMOR’, NERC New Investigators Awards, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (‘RAINFOR’, ‘MonANPeru’), ERC Starter Grant 758873 -‘TreeMort’, EU Framework 6, a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, and a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship. For supporting M.S. we thank NERC (NE/N012542/1 and NE/W003872/1) and the Royal Society (a Royal Society Global Challenges grant “Sensitivity of Tropical Forest Ecosystem Services to Climate Changes”). F.E. was supported by BJT-FAPESPA Program (Process No. 2021/658588) and the Serrapilheira Institute fellowship/FAPESPA (grant number – R-2401–46863), T.F.D. received support from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq - 312589/2022-0 Research Productivity Grant) and FAPESP grant 2015/50488-5, G.W.F was supported by APQ 00031-19 FAPEMIG/Renova and J.P. was supported by a CNPq productivity scholarship (312571/2021-6).
