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Resource availability and disturbance shape maximum tree height across the Amazon

View ORCID ProfileEric Gorgens, View ORCID ProfileMatheus Henrique Nunes, View ORCID ProfileTobias Jackson, View ORCID ProfileDavid Coomes, Michael Keller, View ORCID ProfileCristiano Rodrigues Reis, Rubén Valbuena, View ORCID ProfileJacqueline Rosette, View ORCID ProfileDanilo Roberti Alves de Almeida, View ORCID ProfileBruno Gimenez, View ORCID ProfileRoberta Cantinho, View ORCID ProfileAlline Zagnolli Motta, Mauro Assis, View ORCID ProfileFrancisca Rocha de Souza Pereira, Gustavo Spanner, View ORCID ProfileNiro Higuchi, View ORCID ProfileJean Pierre Ometto
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.097683
Eric Gorgens
1Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri
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  • For correspondence: e.gorgens@gmail.com
Matheus Henrique Nunes
2University of Helsinki
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Tobias Jackson
3University of Cambridge
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David Coomes
3University of Cambridge
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Michael Keller
4United States Forest Service
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Cristiano Rodrigues Reis
5Universidade de São Paulo
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Rubén Valbuena
6Bangor University
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Jacqueline Rosette
7Swansea Univesity
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Danilo Roberti Alves de Almeida
5Universidade de São Paulo
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Bruno Gimenez
8Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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Roberta Cantinho
9Universidade de Brasília
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Alline Zagnolli Motta
1Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri
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Mauro Assis
10Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
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Francisca Rocha de Souza Pereira
10Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
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Gustavo Spanner
11Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
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Niro Higuchi
11Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
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Jean Pierre Ometto
10Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
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Abstract

The factors shaping the distribution of giant tropical trees are poorly understood, despite its importance as a link between evolutionary biology and ecosystem biogeochemistry. The recent discovery of clusters of trees over 80 metres tall in the Guiana Shield region of the Amazon rainforest challenges the current understanding of the factors controlling the growth and survival of giant trees. The new discovery led us to revisit the question: what determines the distribution of the tallest trees of the Amazon?

Here, we used high-resolution airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys to measure canopy height across 282,750 ha of primary old-growth and secondary forests throughout the entire Brazilian Amazon to investigate the relationship between the occurrence of giant trees and the environmental factors that influence their growth and survival. Our results suggest that the factors controlling where trees grow extremely tall are distinct from those controlling their longevity. Trees grow taller in areas with high soil clay content (> 42%), lower radiation (< 130 clear days per year) and wind speeds, avoiding alluvial areas (elevations higher than 40 m a.s.l), and with an optimal precipitation range of 1,500 to 2,500 mm yr-1. We then used an envelope model to determine the environmental conditions that support the very tallest trees (i.e. over 70 m height). We found that, as opposed to the myriad of interacting factors that control the maximum height at a large scale, wind speed had by far the largest influence on the distribution of these sentinel trees, and explained 67% of the probability of finding trees over 70 m in the Brazilian Amazon forest.

The high-resolution pan-Amazon LiDAR data showed that environmental variables that drive growth in height are fundamentally different from environmental variables that support their survival. While precipitation and temperature seem to have lower importance for their survival than expected from previous studies, changes in wind and radiation regimes could reshape our forested biomes. This should be carefully considered by policy-makers when identifying important hotspots for the conservation of biodiversity in the Amazon.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted May 19, 2020.
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Resource availability and disturbance shape maximum tree height across the Amazon
Eric Gorgens, Matheus Henrique Nunes, Tobias Jackson, David Coomes, Michael Keller, Cristiano Rodrigues Reis, Rubén Valbuena, Jacqueline Rosette, Danilo Roberti Alves de Almeida, Bruno Gimenez, Roberta Cantinho, Alline Zagnolli Motta, Mauro Assis, Francisca Rocha de Souza Pereira, Gustavo Spanner, Niro Higuchi, Jean Pierre Ometto
bioRxiv 2020.05.15.097683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.097683
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Resource availability and disturbance shape maximum tree height across the Amazon
Eric Gorgens, Matheus Henrique Nunes, Tobias Jackson, David Coomes, Michael Keller, Cristiano Rodrigues Reis, Rubén Valbuena, Jacqueline Rosette, Danilo Roberti Alves de Almeida, Bruno Gimenez, Roberta Cantinho, Alline Zagnolli Motta, Mauro Assis, Francisca Rocha de Souza Pereira, Gustavo Spanner, Niro Higuchi, Jean Pierre Ometto
bioRxiv 2020.05.15.097683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.097683

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