Mechanisms of Maintenance of Tree Species Diversity in Tropical Forests

Dear Colleagues,

Tropical forests are one of the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, tropical forests are in a critical situation due to development and global climate change. Understanding the mechanisms that maintain the species diversity of tropical trees is an important theme in community ecology and is essential for the conservation of tropical forests. Much research has been done on the mechanisms of species coexistence, especially in tropical rainforests, suggesting that niche partitioning, negative density dependence (Janzen–Connell hypothesis), growth-survival tradeoff, and neutral processes are the major mechanisms. However, the detailed mechanisms are still unclear in many cases, and most studies have been conducted in neotropical rainforests. Therefore, there is a need to accumulate more empirical studies in various forest types and regions. Evolutionary, phylogenetic, and biogeographical studies of tropical trees are limited, but they are important to determine the species pools that influence the species diversity of local forests. Theoretical studies are also important to discover new mechanisms. In this Special Issue, we invite a variety of studies on mechanisms that maintain the species diversity of tropical trees.

Prof. Dr. Akira Itoh
Guest Editor

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