The global spectrum of tree crown architecture

Jucker, Tommaso; Fischer, Fabian Jörg; Chave, Jérôme; Coomes, David A.; Caspersen, John; Ali, Arshad; Panzou, Grace Jopaul Loubota; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Falster, Daniel; Usoltsev, Vladimir A.; Jackson, Toby D.; Adu-Bredu, Stephen; Alves, Luciana F.; Aminpour, Mohammad; Ilondea, Bhely Angoboy; Anten, Niels P. R.; Antin, Cécile; Askari, Yousef; Ayyappan, Narayanan; Banin, Lindsay F.; Barbier, Nicolas; Battles, John J.; Beeckman, Hans; Bocko, Yannick E.; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Bongers, Frans; Bowers, Samuel; Breugel, Michiel; Chantrain, Arthur; Chaudhary, Rajeev; Dai, Jingyu; Dalponte, Michele; Dimobe, Kangbéni; Domec, Jean-Christophe; Doucet, Jean-Louis; Rada, Juan Manuel Dupuy; Duursma, Remko A.; Enríquez, Moisés; Ewijk, Karin Y.; Farfán-Rios, William; Fayolle, Adeline; Ferretti, Marco; Forni, Eric; Forrester, David I.; Gilani, Hammad; Godlee, John L.; Haeni, Matthias; Hall, Jefferson S.; He, Jie-Kun; Hemp, Andreas; Hernández-Stefanoni, José L.; Higgins, Steven I.; Holdaway, Robert J.; Hussain, Kiramat; Hutley, Lindsay B.; Ichie, Tomoaki; Iida, Yoshiko; Jiang, Hai-Sheng; Joshi, Puspa Raj; Kaboli, Hasan; Larsary, Maryam Kazempour; Kenzo, Tanaka; Kloeppel, Brian D.; Kohyama, Takashi S.; Kunwar, Suwash; Kuyah, Shem; Kvasnica, Jakub; Lin, Siliang; Lines, Emily R.; Liu, Hongyan; Lorimer, Craig; Loumeto, Jean-Joël; Malhi, Yadvinder; Marshall, Peter L.; Mattsson, Eskil; Matula, Radim; Meave, Jorge A.; Mensah, Sylvanus; Mi, Xiangcheng; Momo, Stéphane T.; Moncrieff, Glenn R.; Mora, Francisco; Muñoz, Rodrigo; Nissanka, Sarath P.; Hajar, Zamah Shari Nur; O’Hara, Kevin L.; Pearce, Steven; Pelissier, Raphaël; Peri, Pablo L.; Ploton, Pierre; Poorter, Lourens; Pour, Mohsen Javanmiri; Pourbabaei, Hassan; Ribeiro, Sabina C.; Ryan, Casey; Sanaei, Anvar; Sanger, Jennifer; Schlund, Michael; Sellan, Giacomo; Shenkin, Alexander; Sonké, Bonaventure; Sterck, Frank J.; Svátek, Martin; Takagi, Kentaro; Trugman, Anna T.; Vadeboncoeur, Matthew A.; Valipour, Ahmad; Vanderwel, Mark C.; Vovides, Alejandra G.; Waldner, Peter; Wang, Weiwei; Wang, Li-Qiu; Wirth, Christian; Woods, Murray; Xiang, Wenhua; Ximenes, Fabiano; Xu, Yaozhan; Yamada, Toshihiro; Zavala, Miguel A.; Zimmermann, Niklaus E.

The global spectrum of tree crown architecture

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. Jackson, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Luciana F. Alves, Mohammad Aminpour, Bhely Angoboy Ilondea, Niels P. R. Anten, Cécile Antin, Yousef Askari, Narayanan Ayyappan, Lindsay F. Banin, Nicolas Barbier, John J. Battles, Hans Beeckman, Yannick E. Bocko, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Frans Bongers, Samuel Bowers, Michiel Breugel, Arthur Chantrain, Rajeev Chaudhary, Jingyu Dai, Michele Dalponte, Kangbéni Dimobe, Jean-Christophe Domec, Jean-Louis Doucet, Juan Manuel Dupuy Rada, Remko A. Duursma, Moisés Enríquez, Karin Y. Ewijk, William Farfán-Rios, Adeline Fayolle, Marco Ferretti, Eric Forni, David I. Forrester, Hammad Gilani, John L. Godlee, Matthias Haeni, Jefferson S. Hall, Jie-Kun He, Andreas Hemp, José L. Hernández-Stefanoni, Steven I. Higgins, Robert J. Holdaway, Kiramat Hussain, Lindsay B. Hutley, Tomoaki Ichie, Yoshiko Iida, Hai-Sheng Jiang, Puspa Raj Joshi, Hasan Kaboli, Maryam Kazempour Larsary, Tanaka Kenzo, Brian D. Kloeppel, Takashi S. Kohyama, Suwash Kunwar, Shem Kuyah, Jakub Kvasnica, Siliang Lin, Emily R. Lines, Hongyan Liu, Craig Lorimer, Jean-Joël Loumeto, Yadvinder Malhi, Peter L. Marshall, Eskil Mattsson, Radim Matula, Jorge A. Meave, Sylvanus Mensah, Xiangcheng Mi, Stéphane T. Momo, Glenn R. Moncrieff, Francisco Mora, Rodrigo Muñoz, Sarath P. Nissanka, Zamah Shari Nur Hajar, Kevin L. O’Hara, Steven Pearce, Raphaël Pelissier, Pablo L. Peri, Pierre Ploton, Lourens Poorter, Mohsen Javanmiri Pour, Hassan Pourbabaei, Sabina C. Ribeiro, Casey Ryan, Anvar Sanaei, Jennifer Sanger, Michael Schlund, Giacomo Sellan, Alexander Shenkin, Bonaventure Sonké, Frank J. Sterck, Martin Svátek, Kentaro Takagi, Anna T. Trugman, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Ahmad Valipour, Mark C. Vanderwel, Alejandra G. Vovides, Peter Waldner, Weiwei Wang, Li-Qiu Wang, Christian Wirth, Murray Woods, Wenhua Xiang, Fabiano Ximenes, Yaozhan Xu, Toshihiro Yamada, Miguel A. Zavala and Niklaus E. Zimmermann
Additional contact information
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Radim Matula: Prague 6
Jorge A. Meave: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán
Sylvanus Mensah: Université d’Abomey Calavi
Xiangcheng Mi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Stéphane T. Momo: INRAE
Glenn R. Moncrieff: The Nature Conservancy
Francisco Mora: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Rodrigo Muñoz: 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
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
Peter Waldner: Zürcherstrasse 111
Weiwei Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Li-Qiu Wang: Nanjing Forestry University
Christian Wirth: Leipzig University
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
Toshihiro Yamada: Hiroshima University
Miguel A. Zavala: Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida
Niklaus E. Zimmermann: Zürcherstrasse 111

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60262-x

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