@article{fdi:010092896,
  title = {{C}anopy functional trait variation across {E}arth's tropical forests},
  author = {{A}guirre-{G}uti{\'e}rrez, {J}. and {R}ifai, {S}. {W}. and {D}eng, {X}. {J}. and ter {S}teege, {H}. and {T}homson, {E}. and {C}orral-{R}ivas, {J}. {J}. and {G}uimaraes, {A}. {F}. and {M}uller, {S}. and {K}lipel, {J}. and {F}auset, {S}. and {R}esende, {A}. {F}. and {W}allin, {G}. and {J}oly, {C}. {A}. and {A}bernethy, {K}. and {A}du-{B}redu, {S}. and {S}ilva, {C}. {A}. and de {O}liveira, {E}. {A}. and {O}liveras {M}enor, {I}mma and {R}{\'e}jou-{M}{\'e}chain, {M}axime and et al.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{T}ropical forest canopies are the biosphere's most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy(1,2). {H}owever, in most {E}arth {S}ystem {M}odels, the diverse and heterogeneous tropical forest biome is represented as a largely uniform ecosystem with either a singular or a small number of fixed canopy ecophysiological properties(3). {T}his situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically(4). {H}ere, by combining field-collected data from more than 1,800 vegetation plots and tree traits with satellite remote-sensing, terrain, climate and soil data, we predict variation across 13 morphological, structural and chemical functional traits of trees, and use this to compute and map the functional diversity of tropical forests. {O}ur findings reveal that the tropical {A}mericas, {A}frica and {A}sia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. {T}ropical {A}merican forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical {A}frican and {A}sian forests. {M}eanwhile, {A}frican forests have the highest functional divergence-32% and 7% higher than that of tropical {A}merican and {A}sian forests, respectively. {A}n uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. {O}ur predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.},
  keywords = {{MONDE} ; {ZONE} {TROPICALE}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{N}ature},
  volume = {[{E}arly access]},
  numero = {},
  pages = {[19 p.]},
  ISSN = {0028-0836},
  year = {2025},
  DOI = {10.1038/s41586-025-08663-2},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010092896},
}