IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v429y2004i6991d10.1038_nature02560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass in a rainforest canopy

Author

Listed:
  • Martin D. F. Ellwood

    (University of Cambridge)

  • William A. Foster

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

Forest canopies represent the functional interface between 90% of the Earth's terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere1 and include some of the most threatened of all terrestrial ecosystems2. However, we lack even a basic understanding of how the biomass of plants and animals is distributed throughout forest canopies, even though this information is vital for estimating energy flow, carbon cycling, resource use and the transfer of materials within this ecosystem3,4. Here we measure the biomass of invertebrates living in a common rainforest epiphyte, describe a striking relationship between fern size and the biomass of animals within the ferns, and reveal that one large epiphyte may contain an invertebrate biomass similar to that found in the whole of the rest of the tree crown on which it is growing. Using these data, we show that including the fauna of these epiphytes—a neglected component in rainforest ecosystems—can more than double our estimate of the total invertebrate biomass in an entire rainforest canopy.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin D. F. Ellwood & William A. Foster, 2004. "Doubling the estimate of invertebrate biomass in a rainforest canopy," Nature, Nature, vol. 429(6991), pages 549-551, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:429:y:2004:i:6991:d:10.1038_nature02560
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02560
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02560
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature02560?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    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:nature:v:429:y:2004:i:6991:d:10.1038_nature02560. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.