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Patterns of nitrogen-fixing tree abundance in forests across Asia and America
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Document Title
Patterns of nitrogen-fixing tree abundance in forests across Asia and America
Author
Menge DNL, Chisholm RA, Davies SJ, Abu Salim K, Allen D, Alvarez M, Bourg N, Brockelman WY, Bunyavejchewin S, Butt N
Name from Authors Collection
Affiliations
Columbia University; National University of Singapore; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; University Brunei Darussalam; Alliance; International Center for Tropical Agriculture - CIAT; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian National Zoological Park & Conservation Biology Institute; National Science & Technology Development Agency - Thailand; National Center Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (BIOTEC); University of Queensland; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS; Kasetsart University; National Chiayi University; Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington; Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago); Institute Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia; Indian Institute of Science (IISC) - Bangalore; Universidade de Sao Paulo; Wageningen University & Research; University of Waterloo; Institute Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia; University of Peradeniya; University of Hong Kong; University of Alberta; University of Wisconsin System; National Taiwan University; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; State University System of Florida; University of Florida; Nanyang Technological University & National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore; Nanyang Technological University; National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Botany, CAS; University of Montana System; University of Montana; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chinese Academy of Forestry; Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, CAF; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS; Tunghai University; Chinese Academy of Forestry; Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, CAF; Utah System of Higher Education; Utah State University; University of Oxford; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; Washington University (WUSTL); Washington University (WUSTL); Czech Academy of Sciences; Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences; University of South Bohemia Ceske Budejovice; University of the Philippines System; University of the Philippines Diliman; Harvard University; University of Hawaii System; University Hawaii Hilo; East China Normal University; Indian Institute of Science (IISC) - Bangalore; University of Toronto; Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador; Institute Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia; Mendel University in Brno; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; University of Wisconsin System; Far Eastern University
Type
Article
Source Title
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
Year
2019
Volume
107
Issue
6
Page
2598-2610
Open Access
Green Accepted, Bronze
Publisher
WILEY
DOI
10.1111/1365-2745.13199
Format
Abstract
Symbiotic nitrogen (N)-fixing trees can provide large quantities of new N to ecosystems, but only if they are sufficiently abundant. The overall abundance and latitudinal abundance distributions of N-fixing trees are well characterised in the Americas, but less well outside the Americas. Here, we characterised the abundance of N-fixing trees in a network of forest plots spanning five continents, ~5,000 tree species and ~4 million trees. The majority of the plots (86%) were in America or Asia. In addition, we examined whether the observed pattern of abundance of N-fixing trees was correlated with mean annual temperature and precipitation. Outside the tropics, N-fixing trees were consistently rare in the forest plots we examined. Within the tropics, N-fixing trees were abundant in American but not Asian forest plots (~7% versus ~1% of basal area and stems). This disparity was not explained by mean annual temperature or precipitation. Our finding of low N-fixing tree abundance in the Asian tropics casts some doubt on recent high estimates of N fixation rates in this region, which do not account for disparities in N-fixing tree abundance between the Asian and American tropics. Synthesis. Inputs of nitrogen to forests depend on symbiotic nitrogen fixation, which is constrained by the abundance of N-fixing trees. By analysing a large dataset of ~4 million trees, we found that N-fixing trees were consistently rare in the Asian tropics as well as across higher latitudes in Asia, America and Europe. The rarity of N-fixing trees in the Asian tropics compared with the American tropics might stem from lower intrinsic N limitation in Asian tropical forests, although direct support for any mechanism is lacking. The paucity of N-fixing trees throughout Asian forests suggests that N inputs to the Asian tropics might be lower than previously thought.
Keyword
forest | Legume | nitrogen fixation | nutrient limitation | Smithsonian ForestGEO | symbiosis
Industrial Classification
Knowledge Taxonomy Level 1
Knowledge Taxonomy Level 2
Knowledge Taxonomy Level 3
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