Global patterns and climatic controls of forest structural complexity

authored by: Martin Ehbrecht, Dominik Seidel, Peter Annighöfer, Holger Kreft, Michael Köhler, Delphine Clara Zemp, Klaus Puettmann, Reuben Nilus, Fred Babweteera, Katharina Willim, Melissa Stiers, Daniel Soto, Hans Juergen Boehmer, Nicholas Fisichelli, Michael Burnett, Glenn Juday, Scott L. Stephens, Christian Ammer
Abstract: 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.
External Organisation(s): University of Göttingen
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Oregon State University
Forest Research Centre - Sandakan
Makerere University
University of Aysen
University of the South Pacific
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
U.S. Geological Survey
Stanford University
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Type: Article
Journal: Nature Communications
Volume: 12
ISSN: 2041-1723
Publication date: 22.01.2021
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Chemistry(all), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all), Physics and Astronomy(all)
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 15 - Life on Land
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20767-z (Access: Open)