Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest

Yves Basset, Lukas Cizek, Philippe Cuenoud, Raphael K. Didham, Francois Guilhaumon, Olivier Missa, Vojtech Novotny, Frode Odegaard, Tomas Roslin, Juergen Schmidl, Alexey K. Tishechkin, Neville N. Winchester, David W. Roubik, Henri-Pierre Aberlenc, Johannes Bail, Hector Barrios, Jon R. Bridle, Gabriela Castano-Meneses, Bruno Corbara, Gianfranco CurlettiWesley Duarte da Rocha, Domir de Bakker, Jacques H. C. Delabie, Alain Dejean, Laura L. Fagan, Andreas Floren, Roger L. Kitching, Enrique Medianero, Scott E. Miller, Evandro Gama de Oliveira, Jerome Orivel, Marc Pollet, Mathieu Rapp, Servio P. Ribeiro, Yves Roisin, Jesper B. Schmidt, Line Sorensen, Maurice Leponce

    Research output: Contribution to journalA1: Web of Science-articlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Most eukaryotic organisms are arthropods. Yet, their diversity in rich terrestrial ecosystems is still unknown. Here we produce tangible estimates of the total species richness of arthropods in a tropical rainforest. Using a comprehensive range of structured protocols, we sampled the phylogenetic breadth of arthropod taxa from the soil to the forest canopy in the San Lorenzo forest, Panama. We collected 6144 arthropod species from 0.48 hectare and extrapolated total species richness to larger areas on the basis of competing models. The whole 6000-hectare forest reserve most likely sustains 25,000 arthropod species. Notably, just 1 hectare of rainforest yields >60% of the arthropod biodiversity held in the wider landscape. Models based on plant diversity fitted the accumulated species richness of both herbivore and nonherbivore taxa exceptionally well. This lends credence to global estimates of arthropod biodiversity developed from plant models.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalScience (Washington)
    Volume338
    Issue number6113
    Pages (from-to)1481-1484
    Number of pages4
    ISSN0036-8075
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14-Dec-2012

    Thematic list

    • Insects
    • Monitoring networks

    Taxonomic list

    • insects (Insecta)

    Geographic list

    • Neotropic
    • New World (North, Central and South America)

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