Title
Global importance of large‐diameter trees
Author(s)
Lutz, James A.;Furniss, Tucker J.;Johnson, Daniel J.;Davies, Stuart J.;Hart, Terese;et al
Published
2018
Publisher
Global Ecology and Biogeography
Abstract
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 (r2?=?.62, p?
Keywords
forest biomass;forest structure;large‐diameter trees;latitudinal gradient;resource inequality;Smithsonian ForestGEO
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PUB24074