Journal article
Positive feedbacks and alternative stable states in forest leaf types
- Abstract:
- The emergence of alternative stable states in forest systems has significant implications for the functioning and structure of the terrestrial biosphere, yet empirical evidence remains scarce. Here, we combine global forest biodiversity observations and simulations to test for alternative stable states in the presence of evergreen and deciduous forest types. We reveal a bimodal distribution of forest leaf types across temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere that cannot be explained by the environment alone, suggesting signatures of alternative forest states. Moreover, we empirically demonstrate the existence of positive feedbacks in tree growth, recruitment and mortality, with trees having 4-43% higher growth rates, 14-17% higher survival rates and 4-7 times higher recruitment rates when they are surrounded by trees of their own leaf type. Simulations show that the observed positive feedbacks are necessary and sufficient to generate alternative forest states, which also lead to dependency on history (hysteresis) during ecosystem transition from evergreen to deciduous forests and vice versa. We identify hotspots of bistable forest types in evergreen-deciduous ecotones, which are likely driven by soil-related positive feedbacks. These findings are integral to predicting the distribution of forest biomes, and aid to our understanding of biodiversity, carbon turnover, and terrestrial climate feedbacks.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Supplementary materials, pdf, 4.2MB, Terms of use)
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 8.6MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41467-024-48676-5
Authors
Contributors
+ Hector, A
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- MPLS
- Department:
- Biology
- Role:
- Contributor
+ Malhi, Y
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- SSD
- Department:
- SOGE
- Sub department:
- Geography
- Role:
- Contributor
- ORCID:
- 0000-0002-3503-4783
+ Werner, GDA
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- MPLS
- Department:
- Zoology
- Role:
- Contributor
+ European Union
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/019w4f821
- Grant:
- 101059888
- Programme:
- CLIMB-FOREST Horizon Europe Project
+ European Union
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/019w4f821
- Grant:
- 265171
- Programme:
- Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)
+ National Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/03bjn0010
- Grant:
- 403710/2012-0
+ European Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- 291585
+ Danish National Research Foundation
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/00znyv691
- Grant:
- DNRF173
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Nature Communications More from this journal
- Volume:
- 15
- Issue:
- 1
- Article number:
- 4658
- Place of publication:
- England
- Publication date:
- 2024-05-31
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-05-09
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
2041-1723
- Pmid:
-
38821957
- Language:
-
English
- Pubs id:
-
2007733
- Local pid:
-
pubs:2007733
- Deposit date:
-
2025-06-11
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Zou et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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