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02:40Epiphytes, Parasites, and Carnivores
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Plants often form mutualistic relationships with soil-dwelling fungi or bacteria to enhance their roots’ nutrient uptake ability. Root-colonizing fungi (e.g., mycorrhizae) increase a plant’s root surface area, which promotes nutrient absorption. While root-colonizing, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g., rhizobia) convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3), making nitrogen available to plants for various biological functions. For example, nitrogen is essential for the...
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02:16Light Acquisition
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In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
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01:27C4 Pathway and CAM
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Most plants use the C3 pathway for carbon fixation. However, some plants, such as sugar cane, corn, and cacti that grow in hot conditions, use alternative pathways to fix carbon and conserve energy loss due to photorespiration. Photorespiration is the process that occurs when the oxygen concentration is high. Under such conditions, the rubisco enzyme in the Calvin cycle binds O2 instead of CO2, which halts photosynthesis and consumes energy.
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
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02:31Habitat Fragmentation
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Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
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02:02Ecological Niches
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All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
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02:27Background and Environment Affect Phenotype
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Although the genetic makeup of an organism plays a major role in determining the phenotype, there are also several environmental factors, such as temperature, oxygen availability, presence of mutagens, that can alter an organism’s phenotype.
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
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Canopy functional trait variation across Earth's tropical forests.
Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez1,2, Sami W Rifai3, Xiongjie Deng4
1Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. jeaggu@gmail.com.
Nature
|March 5, 2025
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
Tropical forests exhibit significant functional diversity across continents. Tropical American forests show greater richness, while African forests display higher divergence in tree traits, impacting ecosystem functions.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Biogeography
- Remote Sensing
Background:
- Tropical forest canopies are critical interfaces for global carbon, water, and energy cycles.
- Current Earth System Models oversimplify tropical forests, lacking representation of their functional heterogeneity.
- Geographical variation in tropical forest canopy functional properties is poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To predict and map the functional diversity of tropical forests globally.
- To understand the geographical variation in tree functional traits across tropical regions.
- To identify areas for future data collection to improve global tropical forest models.
Main Methods:
- Combined field data from over 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate, and soil data.
Main Results:
- Tropical American, African, and Asian forests occupy distinct functional trait spaces.
- Tropical American forests exhibit 40% greater functional richness compared to African and Asian forests.
- African forests show the highest functional divergence, exceeding American and Asian forests by 32% and 7%, respectively.
Conclusions:
- Geographical variation in tropical forest functional traits is substantial and predictable.
- Distinct functional trait spaces highlight regional differences in tropical forest ecosystems.
- The study provides a foundation for improved Earth System Model parameterization and identifies key areas for future research.