The global spectrum of tree crown architecture
Tommaso Jucker, Fabian Jörg Fischer, Jérôme Chave, David A. Coomes, John P. Caspersen, Arshad Ali, Grâce Jopaul Loubota Panzou, Ted R. Feldpausch, Daniel S. Falster, V. А. Usoltsev, Toby Jackson, Stephen Adu‐Bredu, Luciana F. Alves, Mohammad Aminpour, Bhély Angoboy Ilondea, Niels P. R. Anten, Cécile Antin, Yousef Askari, Narayanan Ayyappan, Lindsay F. Banin, Nicolas Barbier, John J. Battles, Hans Beeckman, Yannick E. Bocko, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Frans Bongers, Samuel Bowers, Michiel van Breugel, Arthur Chantrain, Rajeev Chaudhary, Jingyu Dai, Michele Dalponte, Kangbéni Dimobe, Jean‐Christophe Domec, Jean‐Louis Doucet, Juan Manuel Dupuy Rada, Remko A. Duursma, Moisés Enríquez, Karin Y. van Ewijk, William Farfán-Ríos, Adeline Fayolle, Marco Ferretti, Éric Forni, David I. Forrester, Hammad Gilani, John L. Godlee, Matthias Haeni, Jefferson S. Hall, Jiekun He, Andreas Hemp, José Luis Hernández‐Stefanoni, Steven I. Higgins, Robert J. Holdaway, Kiramat Hussain, Lindsay B. Hutley, Tomoaki Ichie, Y. Iida, Haisheng Jiang, Puspa Raj Joshi, S H Kaboli, Maryam Kazempour Larsary, Tanaka Kenzo, Brian D. Kloeppel, Takashi Kohyama, Suwash Kunwar, Shem Kuyah, Jakub Kvasnica, Siliang Lin, Emily R. Lines, Hongyan Liu, Craig G. Lorimer, Jean‐Joël Loumeto, Yadvinder Malhi, Peter Marshall, Eskil Mattsson, Radim Matula, Jorge A. Meave, Sylvanus Mensah, Xiangcheng Mi, Stéphane Momo Takoudjou, Glenn R. Moncrieff, Francisco Mora, Rodrigo Muñoz, S. P. Nissanka, Zamah S. Nur Hajar, Kevin L. O’Hara, Steven Pearce, Raphaël Pélissier, Pablo L. Peri, Pierre Ploton, Lourens Poorter, Mohsen Javanmiri Pour, Hassan Pourbabaei, Sabina Cerruto Ribeiro, Casey M. Ryan, Anvar Sanaei, Jennifer Sanger, Michael Schlund, Giacomo Sellan, Alexander Shenkin
Abstract
Trees can differ enormously in their crown architectural traits, such as the scaling relationships between tree height, crown width and stem diameter. Yet despite the importance of crown architecture in shaping the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems, we lack a complete picture of what drives this incredible diversity in crown shapes. Using data from 374,888 globally distributed trees, we explore how climate, disturbance, competition, functional traits, and evolutionary history constrain the height and crown width scaling relationships of 1914 tree species. We find that variation in height-diameter scaling relationships is primarily controlled by water availability and light competition. Conversely, crown width is predominantly shaped by exposure to wind and fire, while also covarying with functional traits related to mechanical stability and photosynthesis. Additionally, we identify several plant lineages with highly distinctive stem and crown forms, such as the exceedingly slender dipterocarps of Southeast Asia, or the extremely wide crowns of legume trees in African savannas. Our study charts the global spectrum of tree crown architecture and pinpoints the processes that shape the 3D structure of woody ecosystems.