TY - JOUR
T1 - Global patterns and climatic controls of forest structural complexity
AU - Ehbrecht, Martin
AU - Seidel, Dominik
AU - Annighöfer, Peter
AU - Kreft, Holger
AU - Köhler, Michael
AU - Zemp, Delphine Clara
AU - Puettmann, Klaus
AU - Nilus, Reuben
AU - Babweteera, Fred
AU - Willim, Katharina
AU - Stiers, Melissa
AU - Soto, Daniel
AU - Boehmer, Hans Juergen
AU - Fisichelli, Nicholas
AU - Burnett, Michael
AU - Juday, Glenn
AU - Stephens, Scott L.
AU - Ammer, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - The complexity of forest structures plays a crucial role in regulating forest ecosystem functions and strongly influences biodiversity. Yet, knowledge of the global patterns and determinants of forest structural complexity remains scarce. Using a stand structural complexity index based on terrestrial laser scanning, we quantify the structural complexity of boreal, temperate, subtropical and tropical primary forests. We find that the global variation of forest structural complexity is largely explained by annual precipitation and precipitation seasonality (R² = 0.89). Using the structural complexity of primary forests as benchmark, we model the potential structural complexity across biomes and present a global map of the potential structural complexity of the earth´s forest ecoregions. Our analyses reveal distinct latitudinal patterns of forest structure and show that hotspots of high structural complexity coincide with hotspots of plant diversity. Considering the mechanistic underpinnings of forest structural complexity, our results suggest spatially contrasting changes of forest structure with climate change within and across biomes.
AB - The complexity of forest structures plays a crucial role in regulating forest ecosystem functions and strongly influences biodiversity. Yet, knowledge of the global patterns and determinants of forest structural complexity remains scarce. Using a stand structural complexity index based on terrestrial laser scanning, we quantify the structural complexity of boreal, temperate, subtropical and tropical primary forests. We find that the global variation of forest structural complexity is largely explained by annual precipitation and precipitation seasonality (R² = 0.89). Using the structural complexity of primary forests as benchmark, we model the potential structural complexity across biomes and present a global map of the potential structural complexity of the earth´s forest ecoregions. Our analyses reveal distinct latitudinal patterns of forest structure and show that hotspots of high structural complexity coincide with hotspots of plant diversity. Considering the mechanistic underpinnings of forest structural complexity, our results suggest spatially contrasting changes of forest structure with climate change within and across biomes.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099942957&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-20767-z
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-20767-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 33483481
AN - SCOPUS:85099942957
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 519
ER -
