Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree fora

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show th...

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Published in:	Scientific reports 2020
Main Authors:	Ter Steege, Hans, Prado, Paulo I, Pos, Edwin, Souza Coelho, Luiz, Lima Filho, Diogenes, Salomão, Rafael P, Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionízia, Phillips, Oliver, Guevara, Juan Ernesto, Carim, Marcelo de Jesus Veiga, Cárdenas López, Dairon, Magnusson, William, Wittmann, Florian, Pires Martins, Maria, Sabatier, Daniel, Silva Guimarães, José Renan, Molino, Jean-François, Bánki, Olaf, Piedade, Maria Teresa F, Pitman, Nigel, Ferreira Ramos, José, Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel, Venticinque, Eduardo M, Luize, Bruno Garcia, Núñez Vargas, Percy, Leão Novo, Evlyn, Costa Reis, Neidiane, Terborgh, John, Honorio Coronado, Euridice, Montero, Juan Carlos, Duque, Alvaro, Costa, Flávia, Arboleda, Nicolas Castano, Zartman, CE, Killeen, Timothy J, Marimon, Beatriz S, Marimon, Ben Hur Junior, Mostacedo, Bonifacio, Demarchi, Layon, Feldpausch, Ted R, Engel, Julien, Petronelli, Pascal, Baraloto, Christopher, Leandro de Assis, Rafael, Castellanos, Hernan, Brilhante de Medeiros, Marcelo, Quaresma, Adriano, Laurance, Susan G.W, Rincón, Lorena M, Andrade, Ana, Sousa, Thaiane R, Camargo, José Luis C, Schietti, Juliana, Laurance, William F, Queiroz, Helder, Aparecida Lopes, Maria, Sousa Farias, Emanuelle, Lima Magalhães, José Leonardo, Brienen, Roel, Aymard, Gerardo, Stevenson, Pablo, Feitosa, Yuri Oliveira, Duivenvoorden, Joost F, Mogollón, Hugo F, Murakami, Alejandro Araujo, Valle Ferreira, Leandro, Lozada, José Rafael, Comiskey, James A, Damasco, Gabriel, Dávila, Nállarett, Lopes, Aline, Garcia-Villacorta, Roosevelt, Draper, Freddie, Vicentini, Alberto, Valverde, Fernando Cornejo, Neill, David, Alonso, Alfonso, Dallmeier, Francisco, Gribel, Rogerio, Arroyo, Luzmila, Antunes Carvalho, Fernanda, Portela de Aguiar, Daniel Praia, Amaral, Dário Dantas, Pansonato, Marcelo Petratti, Fine, Paul V.A, Ferreira, Joice, Villa, Boris, Peñuela Mora, Maria Cristina, Jimenez, Eliana M, Licona, Juan Carlos, Cerón, Carlos, Thomas, Raquel, Maas, Paul, Silveira, Marcos, Henkel, Terry W, Stropp, Juliana, Paredes, MR, Daly, Doug, Chuquimaco, Isau, Milliken, William
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Language:	nor
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Summary:	Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia is best approximated by a logseries with aggregated individuals, where aggregation increases with rarity. By averaging several methods to estimate total richness, we confirm that over 15,000 tree species are expected to occur in Amazonia. We also show that using ten times the number of plots would result in an increase to just ~50% of those 15,000 estimated species. To get a more complete sample of all tree species, rigorous field campaigns may be needed but the number of trees in Amazonia will remain an estimate for years to come.
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322