Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest

Yves Basset, Lukas Cizek, Philippe Cuénoud, Raphael K. Didham, François Guilhaumon, Olivier Missa, Vojtech Novotny, Frode Ødegaard, Tomas Roslin, Jürgen Schmidl, Alexey K. Tishechkin, Neville N. Winchester, David W. Roubik, Henri-Pierre Aberlenc, Johannes Bail, Héctor Barrios, Jon R. Bridle, Gabriela Castaño-Meneses, Bruno Corbara, Gianfranco CurlettiWesley Duarte da Rocha, Domir De Bakker, Jacques H. C. Delabie, Alain Dejean, Laura L. Fagan, Andreas Floren, Roger L. Kitching, Enrique Medianero, Scott E. Miller, Evandro Gama de Oliveira, Jérôme Orivel, Marc Pollet, Mathieu Rapp, Sérvio P. Ribeiro, Yves Roisin, Jesper Birkedal Schmidt, Line Sørensen, Maurice Leponce

    Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

    475 Citationer (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Most eukaryotic organisms are arthropods. Yet, their diversity in rich terrestrial ecosystems is still unknown. Here we produce tangible estimates of the total species richness of arthropods in a tropical rainforest. Using a comprehensive range of structured protocols, we sampled the phylogenetic breadth of arthropod taxa from the soil to the forest canopy in the San Lorenzo forest, Panama. We collected 6144 arthropod species from 0.48 hectare and extrapolated total species richness to larger areas on the basis of competing models. The whole 6000-hectare forest reserve most likely sustains 25,000 arthropod species. Notably, just 1 hectare of rainforest yields >60% of the arthropod biodiversity held in the wider landscape. Models based on plant diversity fitted the accumulated species richness of both herbivore and nonherbivore taxa exceptionally well. This lends credence to global estimates of arthropod biodiversity developed from plant models.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TidsskriftScience
    Vol/bind338
    Udgave nummer6113
    Sider (fra-til)1481-1484
    Antal sider4
    ISSN0036-8075
    DOI
    StatusUdgivet - 2012

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