IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60262-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The global spectrum of tree crown architecture

Author

Listed:
  • Tommaso Jucker

    (University of Bristol)

  • Fabian Jörg Fischer

    (University of Bristol)

  • Jérôme Chave

    (118 route de Narbonne)

  • David A. Coomes

    (University of Cambridge)

  • John Caspersen

    (33 Willcocks Street)

  • Arshad Ali

    (Hebei University)

  • Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou

    (Université DENIS SASSOU-N’GUESSO
    BP 69 Brazzaville)

  • Ted R. Feldpausch

    (University of Exeter)

  • Daniel Falster

    (University of New South Wales Sydney)

  • Vladimir A. Usoltsev

    (Ural State Forest Engineering and Economic University)

  • Toby D. Jackson

    (University of Bristol)

  • Stephen Adu-Bredu

    (University)

  • Luciana F. Alves

    (University of California Los Angeles)

  • Mohammad Aminpour

    (West Azerbaijan Province)

  • Bhely Angoboy Ilondea

    (Institut National pour l’Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques
    Université Pédagogique Nationale)

  • Niels P. R. Anten

    (Wageningen University & Research)

  • Cécile Antin

    (INRAE)

  • Yousef Askari

    (AREEO)

  • Narayanan Ayyappan

    (French Institute of Pondicherry)

  • Lindsay F. Banin

    (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)

  • Nicolas Barbier

    (INRAE)

  • John J. Battles

    (University of California Berkeley)

  • Hans Beeckman

    (Royal Museum for Central Africa)

  • Yannick E. Bocko

    (BP 69 Brazzaville)

  • Ben Bond-Lamberty

    (5825 University Research Ct. #3500)

  • Frans Bongers

    (Wageningen University & Research)

  • Samuel Bowers

    (University of Edinburgh)

  • Michiel Breugel

    (12 College Avenue West
    Apartado Postal 0843-03092
    #03-01 Block AS2)

  • Arthur Chantrain

    (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech)

  • Rajeev Chaudhary

    (Sudurpashchim province)

  • Jingyu Dai

    (Peking University)

  • Michele Dalponte

    (via E. Mach 1)

  • Kangbéni Dimobe

    (Université Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly)

  • Jean-Christophe Domec

    (INRAE
    Duke University)

  • Jean-Louis Doucet

    (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech)

  • Juan Manuel Dupuy Rada

    (C.P)

  • Remko A. Duursma

    (Henri Faasdreef 312)

  • Moisés Enríquez

    (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán)

  • Karin Y. Ewijk

    (Queen’s University)

  • William Farfán-Rios

    (Washington University in St Louis)

  • Adeline Fayolle

    (Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
    UPR Forêts et Sociétés)

  • Marco Ferretti

    (Zürcherstrasse 111)

  • Eric Forni

    (UPR Forêts et Sociétés)

  • David I. Forrester

    (GPO Box 1700)

  • Hammad Gilani

    (New Mexico State University)

  • John L. Godlee

    (University of Edinburgh)

  • Matthias Haeni

    (Zürcherstrasse 111)

  • Jefferson S. Hall

    (Apartado Postal 0843-03092)

  • Jie-Kun He

    (Guangzhou)

  • Andreas Hemp

    (Universitätsstr. 30-31)

  • José L. Hernández-Stefanoni

    (C.P)

  • Steven I. Higgins

    (University of Otago)

  • Robert J. Holdaway

    (Landcare Research)

  • Kiramat Hussain

    (Gilgit-Baltistan Forest Wildlife and Environment Department)

  • Lindsay B. Hutley

    (Northern Territory)

  • Tomoaki Ichie

    (B200 Monobe)

  • Yoshiko Iida

    (1 Matsunosato)

  • Hai-Sheng Jiang

    (Guangzhou)

  • Puspa Raj Joshi

    (Hetauda Campus)

  • Hasan Kaboli

    (Semnan University)

  • Maryam Kazempour Larsary

    (University of Guilan)

  • Tanaka Kenzo

    (Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences)

  • Brian D. Kloeppel

    (Princeton University)

  • Takashi S. Kohyama

    (Hokkaido University)

  • Suwash Kunwar

    (Sudurpashchim province
    Nanjing Forestry University)

  • Shem Kuyah

    (62000)

  • Jakub Kvasnica

    (Mendel University in Brno)

  • Siliang Lin

    (Guangzhou)

  • Emily R. Lines

    (Downing Place)

  • Hongyan Liu

    (Peking University)

  • Craig Lorimer

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Jean-Joël Loumeto

    (BP 69 Brazzaville)

  • Yadvinder Malhi

    (University of Oxford)

  • Peter L. Marshall

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Eskil Mattsson

    (Aschebergsgatan 44
    Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre (GGBC))

  • Radim Matula

    (Prague 6)

  • Jorge A. Meave

    (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán)

  • Sylvanus Mensah

    (Université d’Abomey Calavi
    Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)

  • Xiangcheng Mi

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Stéphane T. Momo

    (INRAE
    Université de Yaoundé I)

  • Glenn R. Moncrieff

    (The Nature Conservancy
    Private Bag X3)

  • Francisco Mora

    (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

  • Rodrigo Muñoz

    (Wageningen University & Research
    Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán
    Wageningen University & Research)

  • Sarath P. Nissanka

    (University of Peradeniya)

  • Zamah Shari Nur Hajar

    (Forest Research Institute Malaysia)

  • Kevin L. O’Hara

    (University of California Berkeley)

  • Steven Pearce

    (The Tree Projects)

  • Raphaël Pelissier

    (INRAE)

  • Pablo L. Peri

    ((9400))

  • Pierre Ploton

    (INRAE)

  • Lourens Poorter

    (Wageningen University & Research)

  • Mohsen Javanmiri Pour

    (Extension and Education Organization)

  • Hassan Pourbabaei

    (University of Guilan)

  • Sabina C. Ribeiro

    (Distrito Industrial)

  • Casey Ryan

    (University of Edinburgh)

  • Anvar Sanaei

    (Leipzig University)

  • Jennifer Sanger

    (The Tree Projects)

  • Michael Schlund

    (Hengelosestraat 99)

  • Giacomo Sellan

    (Campus Agronomique
    Chester Street)

  • Alexander Shenkin

    (Northern Arizona University Flagstaff)

  • Bonaventure Sonké

    (Université de Yaoundé I)

  • Frank J. Sterck

    (Wageningen University & Research)

  • Martin Svátek

    (Mendel University in Brno)

  • Kentaro Takagi

    (Hokkaido University)

  • Anna T. Trugman

    (University of California Santa Barbara)

  • Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur

    (University of New Hampshire)

  • Ahmad Valipour

    (University of Kurdistan)

  • Mark C. Vanderwel

    (3737 Wascana Pkwy)

  • Alejandra G. Vovides

    (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
    East Quadrangle)

  • Peter Waldner

    (Zürcherstrasse 111)

  • Weiwei Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Li-Qiu Wang

    (Nanjing Forestry University)

  • Christian Wirth

    (Leipzig University
    German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig)

  • Murray Woods

    (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)

  • Wenhua Xiang

    (Central South University of Forestry and Technology)

  • Fabiano Ximenes

    (Locked Bag 5022)

  • Yaozhan Xu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Toshihiro Yamada

    (Hiroshima University)

  • Miguel A. Zavala

    (Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida)

  • Niklaus E. Zimmermann

    (Zürcherstrasse 111)

Abstract

Trees can differ enormously in their crown architectural traits, such as the scaling relationships between tree height, crown width and stem diameter. Yet despite the importance of crown architecture in shaping the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems, we lack a complete picture of what drives this incredible diversity in crown shapes. Using data from 374,888 globally distributed trees, we explore how climate, disturbance, competition, functional traits, and evolutionary history constrain the height and crown width scaling relationships of 1914 tree species. We find that variation in height–diameter scaling relationships is primarily controlled by water availability and light competition. Conversely, crown width is predominantly shaped by exposure to wind and fire, while also covarying with functional traits related to mechanical stability and photosynthesis. Additionally, we identify several plant lineages with highly distinctive stem and crown forms, such as the exceedingly slender dipterocarps of Southeast Asia, or the extremely wide crowns of legume trees in African savannas. Our study charts the global spectrum of tree crown architecture and pinpoints the processes that shape the 3D structure of woody ecosystems.

Suggested Citation

  • Tommaso Jucker & Fabian Jörg Fischer & Jérôme Chave & David A. Coomes & John Caspersen & Arshad Ali & Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou & Ted R. Feldpausch & Daniel Falster & Vladimir A. Usoltsev & Toby D. , 2025. "The global spectrum of tree crown architecture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60262-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60262-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60262-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60262-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qin Ma & Yanjun Su & Chunyue Niu & Qin Ma & Tianyu Hu & Xiangzhong Luo & Xiaonan Tai & Tong Qiu & Yao Zhang & Roger C. Bales & Lingli Liu & Maggi Kelly & Qinghua Guo, 2023. "Tree mortality during long-term droughts is lower in structurally complex forest stands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Bates, Douglas & Mächler, Martin & Bolker, Ben & Walker, Steve, 2015. "Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 67(i01).
    3. Ian J. Wright & Peter B. Reich & Mark Westoby & David D. Ackerly & Zdravko Baruch & Frans Bongers & Jeannine Cavender-Bares & Terry Chapin & Johannes H. C. Cornelissen & Matthias Diemer & Jaume Flexas, 2004. "The worldwide leaf economics spectrum," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6985), pages 821-827, April.
    4. George W. Koch & Stephen C. Sillett & Gregory M. Jennings & Stephen D. Davis, 2004. "The limits to tree height," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6985), pages 851-854, April.
    5. Compton Tucker & Martin Brandt & Pierre Hiernaux & Ankit Kariryaa & Kjeld Rasmussen & Jennifer Small & Christian Igel & Florian Reiner & Katherine Melocik & Jesse Meyer & Scott Sinno & Eric Romero & E, 2023. "Sub-continental-scale carbon stocks of individual trees in African drylands," Nature, Nature, vol. 615(7950), pages 80-86, March.
    6. Carlos P. Carmona & C. Guillermo Bueno & Aurele Toussaint & Sabrina Träger & Sandra Díaz & Mari Moora & Alison D. Munson & Meelis Pärtel & Martin Zobel & Riin Tamme, 2021. "Fine-root traits in the global spectrum of plant form and function," Nature, Nature, vol. 597(7878), pages 683-687, September.
    7. Mirco Migliavacca & Talie Musavi & Miguel D. Mahecha & Jacob A. Nelson & Jürgen Knauer & Dennis D. Baldocchi & Oscar Perez-Priego & Rune Christiansen & Jonas Peters & Karen Anderson & Michael Bahn & T, 2021. "The three major axes of terrestrial ecosystem function," Nature, Nature, vol. 598(7881), pages 468-472, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Yong & Liu, Yujiao & Chen, Xihui Haviour, 2025. "Green technology innovation, ESG ratings and corporate sustainable performance: Empirical evidence from listed semiconductor companies in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ulisse Gomarasca & Mirco Migliavacca & Jens Kattge & Jacob A. Nelson & Ülo Niinemets & Christian Wirth & Alessandro Cescatti & Michael Bahn & Richard Nair & Alicia T. R. Acosta & M. Altaf Arain & Mire, 2023. "Leaf-level coordination principles propagate to the ecosystem scale," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Tiago Conto & John Armston & Ralph Dubayah, 2024. "Characterizing the structural complexity of the Earth’s forests with spaceborne lidar," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Liting Zheng & Kathryn E. Barry & Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez & Dylan Craven & Peter B. Reich & Kris Verheyen & Michael Scherer-Lorenzen & Nico Eisenhauer & Nadia Barsoum & Jürgen Bauhus & Helge Bruel, 2024. "Effects of plant diversity on productivity strengthen over time due to trait-dependent shifts in species overyielding," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Tessa Camenzind & Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros & Stefan Hempel & Anika Lehmann & Milos Bielcik & Diana R. Andrade-Linares & Joana Bergmann & Jeane Cruz & Jessie Gawronski & Polina Golubeva & Heike Hasl, 2024. "Towards establishing a fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Eleonora Beccari & Carlos P. Carmona, 2024. "Aboveground and belowground sizes are aligned in the unified spectrum of plant form and function," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Daijun Liu & Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert & Nezha Acil & Julen Astigarraga & Emil Cienciala & Jonas Fridman & Georges Kunstler & Thomas J. Matthews & Paloma Ruiz-Benito & Jonathan P. Sadler & Mart-Jan Sc, 2024. "Mapping multi-dimensional variability in water stress strategies across temperate forests," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Stephan Kambach & Francesco Maria Sabatini & Fabio Attorre & Idoia Biurrun & Gerhard Boenisch & Gianmaria Bonari & Andraž Čarni & Maria Laura Carranza & Alessandro Chiarucci & Milan Chytrý & Jürgen De, 2023. "Climate-trait relationships exhibit strong habitat specificity in plant communities across Europe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Valentin Journé & Andrew Hacket-Pain & Michał Bogdziewicz, 2023. "Evolution of masting in plants is linked to investment in low tissue mortality," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Margot Neyret & Gaëtane Provost & Andrea Larissa Boesing & Florian D. Schneider & Dennis Baulechner & Joana Bergmann & Franciska T. Vries & Anna Maria Fiore-Donno & Stefan Geisen & Kezia Goldmann & An, 2024. "A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Laurent Augusto & Antra Boča, 2022. "Tree functional traits, forest biomass, and tree species diversity interact with site properties to drive forest soil carbon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Aryal, Kishor & Maraseni, Tek & Apan, Armando, 2023. "Examining policy−institution−program (PIP) responses against the drivers of ecosystem dynamics. A chronological review (1960–2020) from Nepal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    12. JANSSENS, Jochen & DE CORTE, Annelies & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2016. "Water distribution network design optimisation with respect to reliability," Working Papers 2016007, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    13. Teruaki Kido & Yuko Yotsumoto & Masamichi J. Hayashi, 2025. "Hierarchical representations of relative numerical magnitudes in the human frontoparietal cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Raymond Hernandez & Elizabeth A. Pyatak & Cheryl L. P. Vigen & Haomiao Jin & Stefan Schneider & Donna Spruijt-Metz & Shawn C. Roll, 2021. "Understanding Worker Well-Being Relative to High-Workload and Recovery Activities across a Whole Day: Pilot Testing an Ecological Momentary Assessment Technique," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Elisabeth Beckmann & Lukas Olbrich & Joseph Sakshaug, 2024. "Multivariate assessment of interviewer-related errors in a cross-national economic survey (Lukas Olbrich, Elisabeth Beckmann, Joseph W. Sakshaug)," Working Papers 253, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    16. Valentina Krenz & Arjen Alink & Tobias Sommer & Benno Roozendaal & Lars Schwabe, 2023. "Time-dependent memory transformation in hippocampus and neocortex is semantic in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Morán-Ordóñez, Alejandra & Ameztegui, Aitor & De Cáceres, Miquel & de-Miguel, Sergio & Lefèvre, François & Brotons, Lluís & Coll, Lluís, 2020. "Future trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests under global change scenarios," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    18. Damian M. Herz & Manuel Bange & Gabriel Gonzalez-Escamilla & Miriam Auer & Keyoumars Ashkan & Petra Fischer & Huiling Tan & Rafal Bogacz & Muthuraman Muthuraman & Sergiu Groppa & Peter Brown, 2022. "Dynamic control of decision and movement speed in the human basal ganglia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Dongyan Liu & Chongran Zhou & John K. Keesing & Oscar Serrano & Axel Werner & Yin Fang & Yingjun Chen & Pere Masque & Janine Kinloch & Aleksey Sadekov & Yan Du, 2022. "Wildfires enhance phytoplankton production in tropical oceans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Zhaogeng Yang & Yanhui Li & Peijin Hu & Jun Ma & Yi Song, 2020. "Prevalence of Anemia and its Associated Factors among Chinese 9-, 12-, and 14-Year-Old Children: Results from 2014 Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-10, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60262-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.