Increasing tree size across Amazonia.
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s41477-025-02097-4.pdf
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Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Esquivel-Muelbert, Adriane
Banbury Morgan, Rebecca
Brienen, Roel
Gloor, Emanuel
Lewis, Simon L.
Dexter, Kyle G.
Almeida, Everton
Almeida de Oliveira, Edmar
Álvarez-Dávila, Esteban
Alves de Oliveira, Atila
Andrade, Ana
Vieira, Simone Aparecida
Aragão, Luiz
Araujo-Murakami, Alejandro
Arets, Eric
Arroyo, Luzmila
Aymard-Corredor, Gerardo
Banki, Olaf
de Camargo, Plinio Barbosa
Barroso, Jorcely
Blanc, Lilian
Brown, Foster
Camargo, José Luís
Castro, Wendeson
Chama Moscoso, Victor
Chave, Jérôme
Chavez, Ezequiel
Comiskey, James
da Costa, Antônio Carlos Lola
del Aguila Pasquel, Jhon
Derroire, Géraldine
Di Fiore, Anthony
Fauset, Sophie
Feldpausch, Ted R.
Flores Llampazo, Gerardo
Guillen Villaroel, Rene
Herrera, Rafael
Higuchi, Niro
Honorio Coronado, Eurídice
Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau
Huaraca Huasco, Walter
Jimenez, Eliana
Killeen, Timothy
Laurance, Susan
Laurance, William
Levesley, Aurora
Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela
Malhi, Yadvinder
Marimon, Beatriz
Marimon Junior, Ben Hur
Matias de Almeida Reis, Simone
Mendoza Bautista, Casimiro
Polo, Irina Mendoza
Monteagudo-Mendoza, Abel
Morandi, Paulo Sérgio
Nogueira Lima, Adriano
Núñez Vargas, Percy
Pallqui Camacho, Nadir
Parada Gutierrez, Alexander
Peacock, Julie
Peñuela-Mora, Maria Cristina
Pickavance, Georgia
Pipoly, John
Pitman, Nigel
Prieto, Adriana
Quesada, Carlos
Ramirez Arevalo, Freddy
Réjou-Méchain, Maxime
Restrepo Correa, Zorayda
Rojas, Rocio
Rodriguez Bayona, Lily
Roopsind, Anand
Salomão, Rafael
Silva, Natalino
Silva Espejo, Javier
Silveira, Marcos
Stropp, Juliana
Talbot, Joey
ter Steege, Hans
Terborgh, John
Thomas, Raquel
Gamarra, Luis Valenzuela
van der Hout, Peter
Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo
Guimarães Vieira, Ima Célia
Vilanova, Emilio
Zagt, Roderick
Baker, Timothy R.
Phillips, Oliver L.
Date published
September 25, 2025
Abstract
Climate change and increasing availability of resources such as carbon dioxide are modifying forest functioning worldwide, but the effects of these changes on forest structure are unclear. As additional resources become available, for example, through CO fertilization or nitrogen deposition, large trees, with greater access to light, may be expected to gain further advantages. Conversely, smaller light-suppressed trees might benefit more if their light compensation point changes, while bigger trees may be the most negatively impacted by increasing heat and drought. We assessed recent changes in the structure of Earth’s largest tropical forest by analysing 30 years of Amazonian tree records across 188 mature forest plots. We find that, at a stand level, trees have become larger over time, with mean tree basal area increasing by 3.3% per decade (95% CI 2.4; 4.1). Larger trees have increased in both number and size, yet we observed similar rates of relative size gain in large and small trees. This evidence is consistent with a resource-driven boost for larger trees but also a reduction in suppression among smaller trees. These results, especially the persistence and consistency of tree size increases across Amazonian forest plots, communities and regions, indicate that any negative impacts of climate change on forests and large trees here have so far been mitigated by the positive effects of increased resources.
Project(s)
Priority 4: Accelerated Taxonomy
Journal title
Nature Plants
Volume
11
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Place of publication
Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany
ISSN
2055-026X
eISSN
2055-0278
Date accepted
July 30, 2025
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright
Additional information
IF = 13.6 (2024)