Global importance of large‐diameter trees

Aim: To examine the contribution of large-diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees >= 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees >= 60 cm DBH, and those rank-ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results: Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees >= 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare-scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees >= 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass (r(2) 5.62, p < .001). Large-diameter trees in high biomass forests represented far fewer species relative to overall forest richness (r(2) = 5.45, p < .001). Forests with more diverse large-diameter tree communities were comprised of smaller trees (r(2) = 5.33, p < .001). Lower large-diameter richness was associated with large-diameter trees being individuals of more common species (r(2) =5.17, p=5.002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude (r(2) = 5.46, p < .001), as did forest density (r(2) = 5.31, p < .001). Forest structural complexity increased with increasing absolute latitude (r(2) = 5.26, p < .001). Main conclusions: Because large-diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large-diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services.

David Kenfack | Min Cao | Xiangcheng Mi | Keping Ma | Stephen P. Hubbell | Sean M. McMahon | William J. McShea | Yadvinder Malhi | Alfonso Alonso | David F. R. P. Burslem | Glen Reynolds | Richard P. Phillips | Christian P. Giardina | Stuart J. Davies | Lisa Korte | Hervé R. Memiaghe | Gregory S. Gilbert | Robert W. Howe | Andrew J. Larson | Vojtech Novotny | Geoffrey G. Parker | David A. Orwig | Richard Condit | Andy Hector | Kamil Král | David Janík | Tomáš Vrška | Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin | Jennifer L. Baltzer | Akira Itoh | Wei-Chun Chao | María Uriarte | Kuo-Jung Chao | Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira | Lawren Sack | James A. Lutz | Norman A. Bourg | Li-Wan Chang | Amy T. Wolf | Jean-Remy Makana | Renato Valencia | C. Alina Cansler | Sandra Yap | Fangliang He | Chengjin Chu | Xugao Wang | Yue-Hua Hu | Chang-Fu Hsieh | Jess K. Zimmerman | Jill Thompson | I-Fang Sun | J. Zimmerman | S. Hubbell | YiChing Lin | M. Uriarte | Jill Thompson | G. Parker | D. Burslem | Y. Malhi | Á. Duque | R. Condit | C. A. Cansler | R. Sukumar | Shirong Liu | F. He | L. Sack | S. McMahon | K. Chao | A. Hector | W. McShea | J. Lutz | Xugao Wang | Zhanqing Hao | S. Davies | I. Sun | R. Howe | Richard P Phillips | C. Ewango | T. Hart | J. Makana | V. Novotný | G. Weiblen | A. Larson | X. Mi | K. Ma | T. Yamakura | D. Orwig | Daniel J. Johnson | A. Kassim | K. Anderson‐Teixeira | T. Vrška | Kamil Král | C. Giardina | G. Gilbert | S. Cordell | M. Swanson | D. Kenfack | A. Alonso | A. Oliveira | M. Morecroft | J. Baltzer | R. Valencia | Kendall M. L. Becker | Han Xu | Yide Li | M. Cao | Duncan W. Thomas | S. Bunyavejchewin | H. Dattaraja | A. Itoh | G. Reynolds | A. Wolf | C. Fletcher | A. Vicentini | Sylvester Tan | R. Ostertag | G. Chuyong | K. Clay | P. Musili | H. Suresh | Dairon Cárdenas | G. Fischer | B. Hau | Faith M Inman-Narahari | L. Korte | S. Lum | H. Memiaghe | J. Myers | P. Ong | S. Yap | S. Su | C. Hsieh | Chengjin Chu | Susan Cordell | Terese B. Hart | Abdul Rahman Kassim | Raman Sukumar | Sylvester Tan | Takuo Yamakura | H. S. Dattaraja | Michael D. Morecroft | Dairon Cárdenas | Tucker J. Furniss | James A. Freund | Jonathan Myers | Keith Clay | Shirong Liu | George B. Chuyong | Alexandre A. de Oliveira | Mark E. Swanson | Shawn K. Y. Lum | T. Furniss | Jyh-Min Chiang | Gunter A. Fischer | Christine Fletcher | Zhanqing Hao | Yiching Lin | Ana C Andrade | George D. Weiblen | Jyh-Min Chiang | Alvaro Duque | Sheng-Hsin Su | Hebbalalu S. Suresh | Sandra L. Yap | Rajit Patankar | Rebecca Ostertag | Han Xu | Yide Li | Li-Wan Chang | Guo-Zhang M Song | Alberto Vicentini | D. Janík | David Allen | Erika M. Blomdahl | Ke Cao | Wei-Chun Chao | Sara J. Germain | Yue-Hua Hu | Shu‐Hui Wu | Billy C.H. Hau | Faith Inman-Narahari | Corneille E. N. Ewango | David Allen | Ana Andrade | Ke Cao | Paul M. Musili | Perry S. Ong | Rajit Patankar | Guo-Zhang M. Song | Shu‐Hui Wu | G. Song | Dairón Cárdenas | K. Becker | Wei‐Chun Chao | Li‐Wan Chang | Yue‐Hua Hu | Yi‐Ching Lin | Zhanqing Hao | Ana C. Andrade | Kuo‐Jung Chao | Amy Wolf

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