Rainforest fragmentation kills big trees (original) (raw)

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Nature volume 404, page 836 (2000) Cite this article

Abstract

In tropical forests, large canopy and emergent trees are crucial sources of fruits, flowers and shelter for animal populations1,2. They are also reproductively dominant2 and strongly influence forest structure, composition, gap dynamics, hydrology2 and carbon storage3. Here we show that forest fragmentation in central Amazonia is having a disproportionately severe effect on large trees, the loss of which will have major impacts on the rainforest ecosystem.

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Figure 1: Percentage increase in mortality rates of rainforest trees near fragment edges, relative to rates in forest interiors.

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W. F. LAURANCE

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), CP 478, Manaus, 69011–970, Amazonas, Brazil
    William F. Laurance, Patricia Delamônica, Susan G. Laurance, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos & Thomas E. Lovejoy
  2. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 20560, USA
    William F. Laurance & Thomas E. Lovejoy

Authors

  1. William F. Laurance
  2. Patricia Delamônica
  3. Susan G. Laurance
  4. Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
  5. Thomas E. Lovejoy

Corresponding author

Correspondence toWilliam F. Laurance.

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Laurance, W., Delamônica, P., Laurance, S. et al. Rainforest fragmentation kills big trees.Nature 404, 836 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35009032

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