Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 8-11 http://genbreedpublisher.com/index.php/tgmb 8 Scientific Review Open Access Tropical Forest Mysteries: Unveiling the Global Consistency of Common Tree Species Patterns Josselynn X.Z. Feng Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572024, Hainan, China Corresponding email: josselynn.editor@gmail.com Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding, 2024, Vol.14, No.1 doi: 10.5376/tgmb.2024.14.0002 Received: 23 Dec., 2023 Accepted: 25 Jan., 2024 Published: 15 Feb., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Feng, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Feng J.X.Z., 2024, Tropical forest mysteries: unveiling the global consistency of common tree species patterns, Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding, 14(1): 8-11 (doi: 10.5376/tgmb.2024.14.0002) The paper titled "Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities" was published in the journal Nature on January 10, 2024, by authors Declan L.M. Cooper, Simon L.Lewis, Martin J.P. Sullivan, and others, are from the Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK; the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK; and the School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. The research presents a comprehensive study on the abundance patterns of common tree species across old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia, and Southeast Asia. Using inventory data of over a million trees, the study estimates that a small percentage of species account for half of the tropical trees in these regions. Despite differences in biogeographic history, a consistent pattern of species abundance distribution is observed across continents, suggesting universal mechanisms of tree community assembly. 1 Experimental Data Analysis The study's key results are derived from analyzing inventory data of 1 003 805 trees across 1 568 locations. Rarefaction analysis and resampling techniques are used to standardize sampling and assess species abundance patterns. The analysis shows that, consistently across continents, approximately 2.2%-2.3% of species comprise 50% of tropical trees. These findings are visualized through figures such as location maps of inventory plots and rarefaction curves, indicating a notable consistency in the proportion of common species across diverse tropical forests. Based on Figure 1, the study seems to have analyzed 1 568 plots across different tropical forest regions, with the plots marked by dots and categorized by continental areas. The dark green dots represent plots from the Amazonia, Africa, and Southeast Asia regions—these are areas to which the study's findings are extrapolated. The light green areas depict 'tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests', which is the biome the study considers as closed canopy tropical forests. This distribution of plots suggests a comprehensive geographic coverage within the specified tropical forest biome, potentially providing a diverse set of data points for the study. Figure 2 illustrates the relationship between sample size and biodiversity metrics in tropical tree communities by using rarefaction curves. It compares the number of hyperdominants, total species, hyperdominant percentage, and Fisher's α values across tropical Africa (magenta), Amazonia (cyan), and Southeast Asia (blue). As the sample size increases, indicated by the number of stems, there is a general rise in the number of hyperdominants and total species, which tends to plateau, suggesting a threshold of biodiversity in these regions. The hyperdominant percentage decreases with more samples, possibly indicating that hyperdominance is more apparent in smaller samples. The Fisher's α, a measure of diversity, shows a variable increase. The shaded areas denote 95% confidence intervals, giving a visual representation of the reliability of the data across resampling iterations. The curves emphasize the importance of sample size in estimating biodiversity and the dominance of certain species within these ecosystems.
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