TY - JOUR
T1 - The number of tree species on Earth
AU - Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto
AU - Reich, Peter B.
AU - Gamarra, Javier G. P.
AU - Crowther, Tom
AU - Hui, Cang
AU - Morera, Albert
AU - Bastin, Jean-Francois
AU - de-Miguel, Sergio
AU - Nabuurs, Gert-Jan
AU - Svenning, Jens-Christian
AU - Serra-Diaz, Josep M.
AU - Merow, Cory
AU - Enquist, Brian
AU - Kamenetsky, Maria
AU - Lee, Junho
AU - Zhu, Jun
AU - Fang, Jinyun
AU - Jacobs, Douglass F.
AU - Pijanowski, Bryan
AU - Banerjee, Arindam
AU - Giaquinto, Robert A.
AU - Alberti, Giorgio
AU - Almeyda Zambrano, Angelica Maria
AU - Alvarez-Davila, Esteban
AU - Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro
AU - Avitabile, Valerio
AU - Aymard, Gerardo A.
AU - Balazy, Radomir
AU - Baraloto, Chris
AU - Barroso, Jorcely G.
AU - Bastian, Meredith L.
AU - Birnbaum, Philippe
AU - Bitariho, Robert
AU - Bogaert, Jan
AU - Bongers, Frans
AU - Bouriaud, Olivier
AU - Brancalion, Pedro H. S.
AU - Brearley, Francis Q.
AU - Broadbent, Eben North
AU - Bussotti, Filippo
AU - da Silva, Wendeson Castro
AU - César, Ricardo Gomes
AU - Češljar, Goran
AU - Moscoso, Víctor Chama
AU - Chen, Han Y. H.
AU - Cienciala, Emil
AU - Clark, Connie J.
AU - Coomes, David A.
AU - Dayanandan, Selvadurai
AU - Pfautsch, Sebastian
AU - et al, null
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknown. Here, based on global ground sourced data, we estimate the total tree species richness at global, continental, and biome levels. Our results indicate that there are ∼73,000 tree species globally, among which ∼9,000 tree species are yet to be discovered. Roughly 40% of undiscovered tree species are in South America. Moreover, almost one-third of all tree species to be discovered may be rare, with very low populations and limited spatial distribution (likely in remote tropical lowlands and mountains). These findings highlight the vulnerability of global forest biodiversity to anthropogenic changes in land use and climate, which disproportionately threaten rare species and thus, global tree richness. Please note an (erratum/corrigendum) for this article is available via https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2202784119
AB - One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknown. Here, based on global ground sourced data, we estimate the total tree species richness at global, continental, and biome levels. Our results indicate that there are ∼73,000 tree species globally, among which ∼9,000 tree species are yet to be discovered. Roughly 40% of undiscovered tree species are in South America. Moreover, almost one-third of all tree species to be discovered may be rare, with very low populations and limited spatial distribution (likely in remote tropical lowlands and mountains). These findings highlight the vulnerability of global forest biodiversity to anthropogenic changes in land use and climate, which disproportionately threaten rare species and thus, global tree richness. Please note an (erratum/corrigendum) for this article is available via https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2202784119
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:70777
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2115329119
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2115329119
M3 - Article
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 119
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
IS - 6
M1 - e2115329119
ER -