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Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora

  • Hans ter Steege*
  • , Paulo I. Prado*
  • , Renato A.F.de Lima
  • , Edwin Pos
  • , Luiz de Souza Coelho
  • , Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho
  • , Rafael P. Salomão
  • , Iêda Leão Amaral
  • , Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos
  • , Carolina V. Castilho
  • , Oliver L. Phillips
  • , Juan Ernesto Guevara
  • , Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim
  • , Dairon Cárdenas López
  • , William E. Magnusson
  • , Florian Wittmann
  • , Maria Pires Martins
  • , Daniel Sabatier
  • , Mariana Victória Irume
  • , José Renan da Silva Guimarães
  • Jean François Molino, Olaf S. Bánki, Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade, Nigel C.A. Pitman, José Ferreira Ramos, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Eduardo Martins Venticinque, Bruno Garcia Luize, Percy Núñez Vargas, Thiago Sanna Freire Silva, Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo, Neidiane Farias Costa Reis, John Terborgh, Angelo Gilberto Manzatto, Katia Regina Casula, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Juan Carlos Montero, Alvaro Duque, Flávia R.C. Costa, Nicolás Castaño Arboleda, Jochen Schöngart, Charles Eugene Zartman, Timothy J. Killeen, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior, Rodolfo Vasquez, Bonifacio Mostacedo, Layon O. Demarchi, Ted R. Feldpausch, Julien Engel, Pascal Petronelli, Chris Baraloto, Rafael L. Assis, Hernán Castellanos, Marcelo Fragomeni Simon, Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros, Adriano Quaresma, Susan G.W. Laurance, Lorena M. Rincón, Ana Andrade, Thaiane R. Sousa, José Luís Camargo, Juliana Schietti, William F. Laurance, Helder Lima de Queiroz, Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento, Maria Aparecida Lopes, Emanuelle de Sousa Farias, José Leonardo Lima Magalhães, Roel Brienen, Gerardo A. Aymard C, Juan David Cardenas Revilla, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra, Pablo R. Stevenson, Yuri Oliveira Feitosa, Joost F. Duivenvoorden, Hugo F. Mogollón, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Leandro Valle Ferreira, José Rafael Lozada, James A. Comiskey, José Julio de Toledo, Gabriel Damasco, Nállarett Dávila, Aline Lopes, Roosevelt García-Villacorta, Freddie Draper, Alberto Vicentini, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Jon Lloyd, Vitor H.F. Gomes, David Neill, Alfonso Alonso, Francisco Dallmeier, Fernanda Coelho de Souza, Rogerio Gribel, Luzmila Arroyo, Fernanda Antunes Carvalho, Daniel Praia Portela de Aguiar, Dário Dantas do Amaral, Marcelo Petratti Pansonato, Kenneth J. Feeley, Erika Berenguer, Paul V.A. Fine, Marcelino Carneiro Guedes, Jos Barlow, Joice Ferreira, Boris Villa, Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora, Eliana M. Jimenez, Juan Carlos Licona, Carlos Cerón, Raquel Thomas, Paul Maas, Marcos Silveira, Terry W. Henkel, Juliana Stropp, Marcos Ríos Paredes, Kyle G. Dexter, Doug Daly, Tim R. Baker, Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, William Milliken, Toby Pennington, J. Sebastián Tello, José Luis Marcelo Pena, Carlos A. Peres, Bente Klitgaard, Alfredo Fuentes, Miles R. Silman, Anthony Di Fiore, Patricio von Hildebrand, Jerome Chave, Tinde R. van Andel, Renato Richard Hilário, Juan Fernando Phillips, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Janaína Costa Noronha, Adriana Prieto, Therany Gonzales, Rainiellene de Sá Carpanedo, George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales, Ricardo Zárate Gómez, Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues, Egleé L. Zent, Ademir R. Ruschel, Vincent Antoine Vos, Émile Fonty, André Braga Junqueira, Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza, Bruce Hoffman, Stanford Zent, Edelcilio Marques Barbosa, Yadvinder Malhi, Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates, Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda, Natalino Silva, Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa, César I.A. Vela, Linder Felipe Mozombite Pinto, Agustín Rudas, Bianca Weiss Albuquerque, Maria Natalia Umaña, Yrma Andreina Carrero Márquez, Geertje van der Heijden, Kenneth R. Young, Milton Tirado, Diego F. Correa, Rodrigo Sierra, Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa, Maira Rocha, Emilio Vilanova Torre, Ophelia Wang, Alexandre A. Oliveira, Michelle Kalamandeen, Corine Vriesendorp, Hirma Ramirez-Angulo, Milena Holmgren, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, David Galbraith, Bernardo Monteiro Flores, Veridiana Vizoni Scudeller, Angela Cano, Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui, Italo Mesones, Cláudia Baider, Casimiro Mendoza, Roderick Zagt, Ligia Estela Urrego Giraldo, Cid Ferreira, Daniel Villarroel, Reynaldo Linares-Palomino, William Farfan-Rios, William Farfan-Rios, Luisa Fernanda Casas, Sasha Cárdenas, Henrik Balslev, Armando Torres-Lezama, Miguel N. Alexiades, Karina Garcia-Cabrera, Luis Valenzuela Gamarra, Elvis H. Valderrama Sandoval, Freddy Ramirez Arevalo, Lionel Hernandez, Adeilza Felipe Sampaio, Susamar Pansini, Walter Palacios Cuenca, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Daniela Pauletto, Aurora Levesley, Karina Melgaço, Georgia Pickavance
*Corresponding author for this work
  • Naturalis Biodiversity Center
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Universidade de São Paulo
  • Utrecht University
  • Petrópolis
  • Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia
  • Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
  • Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária - Embrapa
  • University of Leeds
  • Universidad de las Americas - Ecuador
  • Field Museum of Natural History
  • Instituto de Pesquisas Científicas e Tecnológicas do Amapá - IEPA
  • Calle 20 No 5-44
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
  • CNRS)
  • Oxapampa
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
  • Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho
  • Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco
  • University of Stirling
  • Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais
  • Universidade Federal de Rondônia
  • University of Florida
  • James Cook University Queensland
  • Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana
  • Instituto Boliviano de Investigacion Forestal Bolivia
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia Medellin
  • Agteca-Amazonica
  • Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
  • Universidad Autónoma Gabriel Rene Moreno
  • University of Exeter
  • Florida International University
  • Campus agronomique
  • University of Oslo
  • Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana
  • Av. W5 Norte
  • Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá
  • Universidade Federal do Pará
  • Fiocruz Amazônia
  • Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
  • Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária
  • Herbario Universitario (PORT)
  • Universidad de los Andes Colombia
  • University of Amsterdam
  • Endangered Species Coalition
  • Universidad de Los Andes (ULA)
  • U.S. Department of the Interior
  • Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
  • Universidade Federal do Amapá
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Universidade Estadual de Campinas
  • Universidade de Brasília
  • Cornell University
  • Peruvian Center For Biodiversity And Conservation
  • Carnegie Institution of Washington
  • Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
  • Imperial College London
  • Centro Universitário do Pará
  • Universidad Estatal Amazónica
  • Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • University of Miami
  • Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
  • University of Oxford
  • Lancaster University
  • Direccíon de Evaluación Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre
  • Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia sede Amazonia
  • Universidad Central del Ecuador
  • Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development
  • Universidade Federal do Acre
  • Humboldt State University
  • Federal University of Alagoas
  • Servicios de Biodiversidad EIRL
  • EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
  • Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh
  • New York Botanical Garden
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
  • Missouri Botanical Garden
  • Universidad Nacional de Jaén
  • University of East Anglia
  • Herbario Nacional de Bolivia
  • Wake Forest University
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • Fundación Estación de Biología
  • CNRS and Université Paul Sabatier
  • Wageningen University & Research
  • Fundación Puerto Rastrojo
  • University of Florida
  • Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso
  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia
  • ACEER Foundation
  • Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (I.V.I.C.)
  • Universidad Autónoma Del Beni José Ballivián
  • ONF
  • Autonomous University of Barcelona
  • Amazon Conservation Team
  • Oxford University Centre for the Environment
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • University of Nottingham
  • GeoIS
  • University of QueenslandBrisbane
  • Universidad de Los Andes
  • University of Washington
  • Northern Arizona University
  • Laurentian University
  • Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense
  • Universidade Federal do Amazonas
  • University of Cambridge
  • PLUSPRETOL
  • Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security
  • Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS)
  • Tropenbos International
  • Washington University St. Louis
  • Aarhus University
  • University of Kent
  • University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Biology
  • Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana
  • Universidad Técnica del Norte
  • Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

110 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10130
JournalScientific Reports
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020

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