| 1. |
- Cooper, Declan L.M., et al.
(författare)
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Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities
- 2024
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Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 625:7996, s. 728-734
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations 1–6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories 7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.
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| 2. |
- Poorter, Lourens, et al.
(författare)
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Functional recovery of secondary tropical forests
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 118:49, s. e2003405118-e2003405118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One-third of all Neotropical forests are secondary forests that regrow naturally after agricultural use through secondary succession. We need to understand better how and why succession varies across environmental gradients and broad geographic scales. Here, we analyze functional recovery using community data on seven plant characteristics (traits) of 1,016 forest plots from 30 chronosequence sites across the Neotropics. By analyzing communities in terms of their traits, we enhance understanding of the mechanisms of succession, assess ecosystem recovery, and use these insights to propose successful forest restoration strategies. Wet and dry forests diverged markedly for several traits that increase growth rate in wet forests but come at the expense of reduced drought tolerance, delay, or avoidance, which is important in seasonally dry forests. Dry and wet forests showed different successional pathways for several traits. In dry forests, species turnover is driven by drought tolerance traits that are important early in succession and in wet forests by shade tolerance traits that are important later in succession. In both forests, deciduous and compound-leaved trees decreased with forest age, probably because microclimatic conditions became less hot and dry. Our results suggest that climatic water availability drives functional recovery by influencing the start and trajectory of succession, resulting in a convergence of community trait values with forest age when vegetation cover builds up. Within plots, the range in functional trait values increased with age. Based on the observed successional trait changes, we indicate the consequences for carbon and nutrient cycling and propose an ecologically sound strategy to improve forest restoration success.
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| 3. |
- Poorter, Lourens, et al.
(författare)
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Wet and dry tropical forests show opposite successional pathways in wood density but converge over time
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2397-334X. ; 3:6, s. 928-934
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tropical forests are converted at an alarming rate for agricultural use and pastureland, but also regrow naturally through secondary succession. For successful forest restoration, it is essential to understand the mechanisms of secondary succession. These mechanisms may vary across forest types, but analyses across broad spatial scales are lacking. Here, we analyse forest recovery using 1,403 plots that differ in age since agricultural abandonment from 50 sites across the Neotropics. We analyse changes in community composition using species-specific stem wood density (WD), which is a key trait for plant growth, survival and forest carbon storage. In wet forest, succession proceeds from low towards high community WD (acquisitive towards conservative trait values), in line with standard successional theory. However, in dry forest, succession proceeds from high towards low community WD (conservative towards acquisitive trait values), probably because high WD reflects drought tolerance in harsh early successional environments. Dry season intensity drives WD recovery by influencing the start and trajectory of succession, resulting in convergence of the community WD over time as vegetation cover builds up. These ecological insights can be used to improve species selection for reforestation. Reforestation species selected to establish a first protective canopy layer should, among other criteria, ideally have a similar WD to the early successional communities that dominate under the prevailing macroclimatic conditions.
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| 4. |
- Vasefi, Fartash, et al.
(författare)
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Multimode optical dermoscopy (SkinSpect) analysis for skin with melanocytic nevus
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings Volume 9711, Imaging, Manipulation, and Analysis of Biomolecules, Cells, and Tissues IX; 971110 (2016). - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have developed a multimode dermoscope (SkinSpect™) capable of illuminating human skin samples in-vivo with spectrally-programmable linearly-polarized light at 33 wavelengths between 468nm and 857 nm. Diffusely reflected photons are separated into collinear and cross-polarized image paths and images captured for each illumination wavelength. In vivo human skin nevi (N = 20) were evaluated with the multimode dermoscope and melanin and hemoglobin concentrations were compared with Spatially Modulated Quantitative Spectroscopy (SMoQS) measurements. Both systems show low correlation between their melanin and hemoglobin concentrations, demonstrating the ability of the SkinSpect™ to separate these molecular signatures and thus act as a biologically plausible device capable of early onset melanoma detection.
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| 5. |
- Vasefi, Fartash, et al.
(författare)
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Polarization-Sensitive Hyperspectral Imaging in vivo : A Multimode Dermoscope for Skin Analysis
- 2014
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 4:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Attempts to understand the changes in the structure and physiology of human skin abnormalities by non-invasive optical imaging are aided by spectroscopic methods that quantify, at the molecular level, variations in tissue oxygenation and melanin distribution. However, current commercial and research systems to map hemoglobin and melanin do not correlate well with pathology for pigmented lesions or darker skin. We developed a multimode dermoscope that combines polarization and hyperspectral imaging with an efficient analytical model to map the distribution of specific skin bio-molecules. This corrects for the melanin-hemoglobin misestimation common to other systems, without resorting to complex and computationally intensive tissue optical models. For this system's proof of concept, human skin measurements on melanocytic nevus, vitiligo, and venous occlusion conditions were performed in volunteers. The resulting molecular distribution maps matched physiological and anatomical expectations, confirming a technologic approach that can be applied to next generation dermoscopes and having biological plausibility that is likely to appeal to dermatologists.
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| 6. |
- Vasefi, Fartash, et al.
(författare)
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Quantifying the optical properties and chromophore concentrations of turbid media using polarization sensitive hyperspectral imaging : optical phantom studies
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings Volume 8587, Imaging, Manipulation, and Analysis of Biomolecules, Cells, and Tissues XI; 85870Z (2013) SPIE BiOS, 2013, San Francisco, California, United States. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a polarization-sensitive hyperspectral imaging system (SkinSpect) that employs a spectrally-programmable light source in the visible and NIR domains. Multiple tissue-mimicking phantoms were fabricated to mimic the optical properties of normal skin as well as pigmented light and dark moles. The phantoms consist of titanium dioxide and a mixture of coffee, red food dye, and naphthol green as the scattering and the three absorptive agents in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) base. Phantoms were produced with both smooth and rough textured surfaces and tested using Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) and Spatially Modulated Quantitative Spectroscopy (SMoQS) for homogeneity as well as determining absorption and scattering variance, respectively. The reflectance spectral images were also recorded using the SkinSpect research prototype; the spectral signatures of the phantoms were calculated using a two-flux single-layer Kubelka-Munk model and non-negative least square fitting routine was applied to extract the relative concentrations of the individual phantom components.
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| 7. |
- Vasefi, Fartash, et al.
(författare)
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Quantifying the optical properties of turbid media using polarization sensitive hyperspectral imaging (SkinSpect) : two-layer optical phantom studies
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings SPIE 9328, Imaging, Manipulation, and Analysis of Biomolecules, Cells, and Tissues XIII, 93280A (25 March 2015). - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- A polarization-sensitive hyperspectral imaging system (SkinSpect) has been built and evaluated using two-layer tissue phantoms, fabricated to mimic the optical properties of melanin in different epidermal thickness and hemoglobin in dermal layers. Multiple tissue-mimicking phantoms with varying top layer thicknesses were measured for optical system calibration and performance testing. Phantom properties were characterized and validated using SkinSpect. The resulting analysis shows that the proposed system is capable of distinguishing and differentiating the layer-dependent absorption spectra and the depths at which this absorption occurs.
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