Life Sciences Commons^™

Evolutionary Heritage Influences Amazon Tree Ecology, Fernanda Coelho De Souza, Kyle G. Dexter, Oliver L. Phillips, Roel J. W. Brienen, Jerome Chave, David Galbraith, Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez, Abel Monteagudo M., R. Toby Pennington, Lourens Poorter, Miguel Alexiades, Esteban Alvarez Davila, Ana Andrade, Luiz E. O. C. Aragao, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Eric Arets, Gerardo A. Aymard C., Christopher Baraloto, Jorcely Barroso, Damien Bonal, Rene G. A. Boot, Jose Luis C. Camargo, James A. Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Plinio Barbosa De Camargo, Anthony Di Fiore, Fernando Elias, Terry L. Erwin, Ted R. Feldpausch, Leandro Ferreira, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, Manuel Gloor, Bruno Herault, Rafael Herrera, Niro Higuchi, Euridice N. Honorio Coronado, Timothy Killeen, William F. Laurance, Susan G. W. Laurance, Jon Lloyd, Thomas E. Lovejoy, Yadvinder Malhi, Leandro Maracahipes, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben-Hur Marimon Jr., Casimiro Mendoza, Paulo S. Morandi, David Neill, Percy Nunez Vargas, Edmar A. Oliveira, Eddie Lenza, Walter Palacios, Maria C. Penuela-Mora, John J. Pipoly Iii, Nigel C. A. Pitman, Adriana Prieto, Carlos A. Quesada, Hirma Ramirez-Angulo, Agustin Rudas, Kalle Ruokolainen, Rafael P. Salomao, Marcos Silveira, Juliana Stropp, Hans Ter Steege, Raquel Thomas, Peter Van Der Hout, Geertje Van Der Heijden, Peter J. Van Der Meer, Rodolfo V. Vasquez, Simone A. Vieira, Emilio Vilanova, Vincent A. Vos, Ophelia Wang, Kenneth R. Young, Roderick J. Zagt

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Lineages tend to retain ecological characteristics of their ancestors through time. However, for some traits, selection during evolutionary history may have also played a role in determining trait values. To address the relative importance of these processes requires large-scale quantification of traits and evolutionary relationships among species. The Amazonian tree flora comprises a high diversity of angiosperm lineages and species with widely differing life-history characteristics, providing an excellent system to investigate the combined influences of evolutionary heritage and selection in determining trait variation. We used trait data related to the major axes of life-history variation among tropical trees (e.g. growth …