(Press-News.org) New research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution reveals significant recent shifts in tree diversity among the tropical forests of the Andes and Amazon, driven by global change.
The study, led by Dr Belen Fadrique from the University of Liverpool, uses 40 years of records on tree species collected by hundreds of international botanists and ecologists in long-term plots to offer comprehensive insights into tree diversity change in the world’s most diverse forests.
Key Findings
At the continental level, the team found that species richness has remained largely stable, but this masks significant regional differences. In some extensive regions diversity was declining, while in others it increased.
The analysis revealed that forests in hotter, drier, and more seasonal areas tended to experience declines in species richness. Meanwhile, some areas with more intact ecosystems and with naturally more dynamic forests actually gained species.
In the Central Andes, Guyana Shield and Central-Eastern Amazon forests the majority of forest monitoring plots lost species through time, while most in the Northern Andes and Western Amazon showed an increase in tree species number.
While temperature increase has an overall pervasive effect on richness, the research highlights that rainfall and its seasonal patterns play a major role in shaping these regional trends.
Notably, the Northern Andes is identified as a potentially critical "refuge" that could shelter species displaced by climate change.
The research team analysed data from a huge region spanning the South American tropics which is home to more than 20,000 tree species.
They worked over 40 years across ten South American countries in 406 long-term floristic plots, measured periodically since the 1970s and 1980s. By examining these unique records, the team was able to track changes in tree richness for the first time and identify the driving factors behind those shifts.
Impact of climate change on plant species
Plant species have limited options to survive climate change: they can alter their distributions as environmental conditions change, or they can acclimate to these new conditions. If species cannot move or acclimate, their populations will decline, potentially leading to extinction.
Dr Belen Fadrique is a Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society and University of Liverpool Research Fellow with the Department of Geography & Planning. She is the lead author of the study and conducted the research when she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Leeds.
Dr Fadrique said: "Our work assessing species responses to climate change points to profound changes in forest composition, and species richness at multiple scales."
Flavia Costa, Professor at INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia) in Brazil, added "This study underscores the uneven impacts of climate change on tree diversity across different tropical forests, highlighting the need for specific monitoring and conservation efforts in each region."
Professor Oliver Phillips from the University of Leeds, who leads the pan-Amazon RAINFOR network, emphasised the significant threat posed by deforestation: "Our findings stress the vital links between preserving forests, protecting biodiversity, and fighting climate change. It is especially critical to protect remaining forests where the Amazon meets the Andes. Only if they stay standing can they offer a long-term home to species in adjacent lowlands.”
The research team plans to continue their work to better understand the impacts of climate change on tropical tree diversity.
Dr Fadrique added: “Future studies will focus on complex compositional questions, including the taxonomic and functional identities of species being lost or recruited, and whether this points to a large-scale process of homogenisation within the Andes-Amazon region”
The work was an international collaboration involving more than 160 researchers from 20 countries with many contributions coming from South American universities and partners. It benefited from the support of large research collectives, including RAINFOR, Red de Bosques Andinos, the Madidi Project, and the PPBio network.
The paper, titled "Tree Diversity is Changing Across Tropical Andean and Amazonian Forests in Response to Global Change", is available in Nature Ecology and Evolution: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02956-5
END
Forty years of tracking trees reveals how global change is impacting Amazon and Andean Forest diversity
2026-01-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Breathing disruptions during sleep widespread in newborns with severe spina bifida
2026-01-23
Children with spina bifida, a malformation of the spinal cord that can lead to mobility impairments and hydrocephalus — a buildup of fluid in the brain — face significant risk of cognitive difficulties throughout their lives. A new multi-center study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Michigan Medicine finds that breathing problems during sleep are a widespread but often undetected issue among these babies and raises the possibility that early treatment might significantly improve ...
Whales may divide resources to co-exist under pressures from climate change
2026-01-23
The North Atlantic Ocean is warming up. Higher temperatures and increased human activity in the region can trigger abrupt changes in marine ecosystems, for example how species are distributed and what they eat.
In a long-term study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers in Canada have examined the diet of three rorqual whale species and how these whales might have adapted their feeding habits as climate change and increasing human presence reshape the ecosystem of the Gulf of St Lawrence (GSL), a seasonally important feeding area for many whale species.
“A ...
Why wetland restoration needs citizens on the ground
2026-01-23
Wetland restoration is expanding worldwide, but long-term success often remains uncertain. Most projects rely on short-term, expert monitoring that ends long before restored wetlands stabilize, leaving major gaps in understanding how restored wetlands actually evolve over time. One increasingly discussed way to close these gaps is to extend monitoring beyond professional teams by engaging local communities and citizens in long-term observation.
In a Perspective published (DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100656) in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology in January 2026, researchers from Aarhus University ...
Sharktober: Study links October shark bite spike to tiger shark reproduction
2026-01-23
New University of Hawaiʻi research confirms that “Sharktober” is real, revealing a statistically significant spike in shark bite incidents in Hawaiian waters every October. The study, which analyzed 30 years of data (1995–2024), found that about 20% of all recorded bites occurred in that single month, a frequency far exceeding any other time of the year. Researchers at UH Mānoa’s Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Shark Lab published their findings in Frontiers in Marine Science.
The research, led by HIMB Professor Carl G. Meyer, determined ...
PPPL launches STELLAR-AI platform to accelerate fusion energy research
2026-01-23
A new computing platform that pairs artificial intelligence (AI) with high performance computing aims to end the bottleneck holding back fusion energy research by speeding the simulations needed to advance the field.
The project — known as the Simulation, Technology, and Experiment Leveraging Learning-Accelerated Research enabled by AI (STELLAR-AI ) — will be led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). STELLAR-AI will expand far beyond the Lab’s walls, however, bringing together national laboratories, universities, technology companies and industry partners to build the computational foundation ...
Breakthrough in development of reliable satellite-based positioning for dense urban areas
2026-01-23
Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are vital for positioning autonomous vehicles, buses, drones, and outdoor robots. Yet its accuracy often degrades in dense urban areas due to signal blockage and reflections. Now, researchers have developed a GNSS-only method that delivers stable, accurate positioning without relying on fragile carrier-phase ambiguity resolution. Tested across six challenging urban scenarios, the approach consistently outperformed existing methods, enabling safer and more reliable autonomous navigation.
Accurately determining position is critical for the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles and outdoor ...
DNA-templated method opens new frontiers in synthesizing amorphous silver nanostructures
2026-01-23
A research team from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel DNA origami-based technique to synthesize stable, monolithic amorphous silver nanostructures under ambient conditions. By using DNA scaffold with fivefold rotational symmetry, the method introduces geometric frustration that effectively suppresses crystallization in metallic silver, a traditionally challenging feat due to the natural tendency of silver to form crystalline structures. Detailed characterization and molecular ...
Stress-testing AI vision systems: Rethinking how adversarial images are generated
2026-01-23
Deep neural networks (DNNs) have become a cornerstone of modern AI technology, driving a thriving field of research in image-related tasks. These systems have found applications in medical diagnosis, automated data processing, computer vision, and various forms of industrial automation, to name a few. As our reliance on AI models grows, so does our need to test them thoroughly using adversarial examples. Simply put, adversarial examples are images that have been strategically modified with noise to trick an AI into making a mistake. Understanding adversarial image generation techniques is essential for identifying vulnerabilities in DNNs and for developing more secure, reliable systems.
Despite ...
Why a crowded office can be the loneliest place on earth
2026-01-23
A comprehensive new review published in the Journal of Management synthesizes decades of research to understand the epidemic of workplace loneliness. By analyzing 233 empirical studies, researchers from Portland State University have identified how workplace conditions contribute to isolation and offer evidence-based paths to reconnection.
The research emphasizes that loneliness is distinct from social isolation. While isolation is about being alone, loneliness is the subjective feeling that one’s social relationships are deficient—meaning ...
Choosing the right biochar can lock toxic cadmium in soil, study finds
2026-01-23
Cadmium contamination in agricultural soils is a growing global concern, threatening food safety, crop productivity, and human health. New research shows that not all biochars work the same way and that choosing the right type of biochar can make the difference between trapping toxic metals in soil or unintentionally making them more mobile.
In a study published online on January 15, 2026, researchers report that biochar produced at high temperatures can work together with soil microbes to effectively immobilize cadmium, one of the most hazardous heavy metals found in farmland ...