Tropical forest canopies are the biosphere's most concentrated atmospheric interface for carbon, water and energy1,2. However, in most Earth System Models, 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 properties3. This situation arises, in part, from a lack of understanding about how and why the functional properties of tropical forest canopies vary geographically4. Here, 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. Our findings reveal that the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia tend to occupy different portions of the total functional trait space available across tropical forests. Tropical American forests are predicted to have 40% greater functional richness than tropical African and Asian forests. Meanwhile, African forests have the highest functional divergence-32% and 7% higher than that of tropical American and Asian forests, respectively. An uncertainty analysis highlights priority regions for further data collection, which would refine and improve these maps. Our predictions represent a ground-based and remotely enabled global analysis of how and why the functional traits of tropical forest canopies vary across space.

• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Fungi are arguably the most diverse eukaryotic kingdom of organisms in terms of number of estimated species, trophic and life history strategies, and their functions in ecosystems. However, our knowledge of fungi is limited due to a distributional bias; the vast majority of available data on fungi have been compiled from non-tropical regions. Far less is known about fungi from tropical regions, with the bulk of these data being temporally limited surveys for fungal species diversity. Long-term studies (LTS), or repeated sampling from the same region over extended periods, are necessary to fully capture the extent of species diversity in a region, but LTS of fungi from tropical regions are almost non-existent. In this paper, we discuss the contributions of LTS of fungi in tropical regions to alpha diversity, ecological and functional diversity, biogeography, hypothesis testing, and conservation-with an emphasis on an ongoing tropical LTS in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. We show how these contributions refine our understanding of Fungi. We also show that public data repositories such as NCBI, IUCN, and iNaturalist contain less information on tropical fungi compared to non-tropical fungi, and that these discrepancies are more pronounced in fungi than in plants and animals.

Los hongos son, posiblemente, el reino más diverso dentro del dominio Eukaryota en cuanto al número de especies estimadas, estrategias tróficas, ciclos de vida y funciones en los ecosistemas. No obstante, nuestro conocimiento sobre ellos es limitado debido a un sesgo de distribución: la mayoría de los datos disponibles provienen de regiones no tropicales. Se sabe mucho menos sobre los hongos de las zonas tropicales, y la mayor parte de los estudios realizados en estas áreas han sido de corta duración, centrados en la diversidad de especies fúngicas. Los estudios a largo plazo (LTS, por sus siglas en inglés), es decir, muestreos repetidos en una misma región durante períodos prolongados, son fundamentales para captar de manera completa la diversidad de especies en una zona. Sin embargo, los LTS de hongos en regiones tropicales son prácticamente inexistentes. En este artículo, analizamos las contribuciones de los LTS de hongos en zonas tropicales en relación con la diversidad alfa, la diversidad ecológica y funcional, la biogeografía, la prueba de hipótesis y la conservación, destacando un estudio LTS en curso en las montañas Pakaraima de Guyana. Mostramos cómo estos estudios enriquecen nuestra comprensión de los hongos. Además, demostramos que los repositorios públicos de datos como NCBI, UICN e iNaturalist contienen menos información sobre los hongos tropicales en comparación con los de regiones no tropicales, y que estas discrepancias son más marcadas en los hongos que en las plantas y los animales.

• Klíčová slova
• Biodiversity, Biogeography, Citizen science, Conservation, Endemic fungi, Guiana shield, Taxonomy,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH

Studying current and future geographic distribution is essential for conserving endangered species such as the Boreal Owl and Eurasian Pygmy Owl. The main aim of this study was to determine the potential distribution of both species in the Balkan Peninsula by using spatial distribution models (SDMs) in MaxEnt. We used data from field surveys, the scientific and grey literature, and an online database. We considered the current time and two future periods, 2041-2060 and 2061-2080. For future periods, we included different climate scenarios (SSP 126, 245, 370, and 585) in studying the potential geographic distribution of both species. We identified two types of potential future refugia for species: in situ and ex situ. Our study shows the highly suitable area for the Boreal Owl increased during the 2041-2060 period compared with the current area in all scenarios, except in SSP 585. However, during the 2061-2080 period, the highly suitable areas contracted. For the Eurasian Pygmy Owl, highly suitable areas decreased during 2041-2060, but during the 2061-2080 period, it was larger than the current area. Our study is of importance for conservation and preserving areas of potential distribution and refugia for Boreal and Eurasian Pygmy Owls in the face of climate change.

• Klíčová slova
• Aegolius funereus, Balkan Peninsula, Glaucidium passerinum, MaxEnt, climate change, refugia, species distribution modelling, suitability modelling,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Although global assessments provide evidence of biodiversity decline, some have questioned the strength of the evidence, with local assemblage studies often showing a more balanced picture of biodiversity change. The multifaceted nature of biodiversity and imperfect monitoring datasets may partially explain these findings. Here, using an extensive dataset, we find significant biodiversity loss in the native avifauna of the European Union (EU). We estimate a decline of 17-19% in the overall breeding bird abundance since 1980: a loss of 560-620 million individual birds. Both total and proportional declines in bird numbers are high among species associated with agricultural land. The distribution of species' population growth rates (ln) is centered close to zero, with numerical decline driven by substantial losses in abundant species. Our work supports previous assessments indicating substantial recent biodiversity loss and calls to reduce the threat of extinctions and restore species' abundances, for the sake of nature and people.

• Klíčová slova
• Europe, assemblage, bird, conservation, population change,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Understanding the responses of biodiversity to drivers of change and the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem properties and ecosystem services is a key challenge in the context of global environmental change. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature linking direct drivers of change and ecosystem services via functional traits of three taxonomic groups (vegetation, invertebrates, and vertebrates) to: (1) uncover trends and research biases in this field; and (2) synthesize existing empirical evidence. Our results show the existence of important biases in published studies related to ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, direct drivers of change, ecosystem services, geographical range, and the spatial scale of analysis. We found multiple evidence of links between drivers and services mediated by functional traits, particularly between land-use changes and regulating services in vegetation and invertebrates. Seventy-five functional traits were recorded in our sample. However, few of these functional traits were repeatedly found to be associated with both the species responses to direct drivers of change (response traits) and the species effects on the provision of ecosystem services (effect traits). Our results highlight the existence of potential "key functional traits," understood as those that have the capacity to influence the provision of multiple ecosystem services, while responding to specific drivers of change, across a variety of systems and organisms. Identifying "key functional traits" would help to develop robust indicator systems to monitor changes in biodiversity and their effects on ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services supply.

• Klíčová slova
• biodiversity, ecosystem function, effect traits, global environmental change, response traits, systematic review,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH