TY - JOUR
T1 - Fundamental species traits explain provisioning services of tropical American palms
AU - Cámara Leret, Rodrigo
AU - Faurby, Søren
AU - Macía, Manuel
AU - Balslev, Henrik
AU - Göldel, Bastian
AU - Svenning, Jens-Christian
AU - Kissling, W. Daniel
AU - Rønsted, Nina
AU - Saslis Lagoudakis, Haris
PY - 2017/1/23
Y1 - 2017/1/23
N2 - The well-being of the global human population rests on provisioning services delivered by 12% of the Earth's â 1/4400,000 plant species 1. Plant utilization by humans is influenced by species traits 2-4, but it is not well understood which traits underpin different human needs 5. Here, we focus on palms (Arecaceae), one of the most economically important plant groups globally 6, and demonstrate that provisioning services related to basic needs, such as food and medicine, show a strong link to fundamental functional and geographic traits. We integrate data from 2,201 interviews on plant utilization from three biomes in South America - spanning 68 communities, 43 ethnic groups and 2,221 plant uses - with a dataset of 4 traits (leaf length, stem volume, fruit volume, geographic range size) and a species-level phylogeny 7. For all 208 palm species occurring in our study area, we test for relations between their traits and perceived value. We find that people preferentially use large, widespread species rather than small, narrow-ranged species, and that different traits are linked to different uses. Further, plant size and geographic range size are stronger predictors of ecosystem service realization for palm services related to basic human needs than less-basic needs (for example, ritual). These findings suggest that reliance on plant size and availability may have prevented our optimal realization of wild-plant services, since ecologically rare yet functionally important (for example, chemically) clades may have been overlooked. Beyond expanding our understanding of how local people use biodiversity in mega-diverse regions, our trait- and phylogeny-based approach helps to understand the processes that underpin ecosystem service realization, a necessary step to meet societal needs in a changing world with a growing human population 5,8.
AB - The well-being of the global human population rests on provisioning services delivered by 12% of the Earth's â 1/4400,000 plant species 1. Plant utilization by humans is influenced by species traits 2-4, but it is not well understood which traits underpin different human needs 5. Here, we focus on palms (Arecaceae), one of the most economically important plant groups globally 6, and demonstrate that provisioning services related to basic needs, such as food and medicine, show a strong link to fundamental functional and geographic traits. We integrate data from 2,201 interviews on plant utilization from three biomes in South America - spanning 68 communities, 43 ethnic groups and 2,221 plant uses - with a dataset of 4 traits (leaf length, stem volume, fruit volume, geographic range size) and a species-level phylogeny 7. For all 208 palm species occurring in our study area, we test for relations between their traits and perceived value. We find that people preferentially use large, widespread species rather than small, narrow-ranged species, and that different traits are linked to different uses. Further, plant size and geographic range size are stronger predictors of ecosystem service realization for palm services related to basic human needs than less-basic needs (for example, ritual). These findings suggest that reliance on plant size and availability may have prevented our optimal realization of wild-plant services, since ecologically rare yet functionally important (for example, chemically) clades may have been overlooked. Beyond expanding our understanding of how local people use biodiversity in mega-diverse regions, our trait- and phylogeny-based approach helps to understand the processes that underpin ecosystem service realization, a necessary step to meet societal needs in a changing world with a growing human population 5,8.
U2 - 10.1038/nplants.2016.220
DO - 10.1038/nplants.2016.220
M3 - Letter
C2 - 28112717
SN - 2055-026X
VL - 3
JO - Nature Plants
JF - Nature Plants
M1 - 16220
ER -
