Temporal variability of forest communities: empirical estimates of population change in 4000 tree species

Chisholm, Ryan A and Condit, Richard and Abd Rahman, K and Baker, Patrick J and Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh and Chen, Yu-Yun and Chuyong, George B and Dattaraja, HS and Davies, Stuart and Ewango, Corneille EN and Gunatilleke, CVS and Gunatilleke, Nimal IAU and Hubbell, Stephen and Kenfack, David and Kiratiprayoon, Somboon and Lin, Yiching and Makana, Jean-Remy and Pongpattananurak, Nantachai and Pulla, Sandeep and Punchi-Manage, Ruwan and Sukumar, Raman and Su, Sheng-Hsin and Sun, I-Fang and Suresh, HS and Tan, Sylvester and Thomas, Duncan and Yap, Sandra (2014) Temporal variability of forest communities: empirical estimates of population change in 4000 tree species. In: ECOLOGY LETTERS, 17 (7). pp. 855-865.

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Abstract

Long-term surveys of entire communities of species are needed to measure fluctuations in natural populations and elucidate the mechanisms driving population dynamics and community assembly. We analysed changes in abundance of over 4000 tree species in 12 forests across the world over periods of 6-28years. Abundance fluctuations in all forests are large and consistent with population dynamics models in which temporal environmental variance plays a central role. At some sites we identify clear environmental drivers, such as fire and drought, that could underlie these patterns, but at other sites there is a need for further research to identify drivers. In addition, cross-site comparisons showed that abundance fluctuations were smaller at species-rich sites, consistent with the idea that stable environmental conditions promote higher diversity. Much community ecology theory emphasises demographic variance and niche stabilisation; we encourage the development of theory in which temporal environmental variance plays a central role.

Item Type:	Editorials/Short Communications
Publication:	ECOLOGY LETTERS
Publisher:	WILEY-BLACKWELL
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to the WILEY-BLACKWELL, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA
Keywords:	Abundance fluctuations; biodiversity; demographic stochasticity; environmental variance; forest dynamics; neutral theory; niche stabilization
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2014 11:47
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2019 09:49
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/49504

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