Abstract
The sophistication of forest structures plays a key role in controlling the roles of forest ecosystems and has a strong impact on biodiversity. Yet, knowledge of global forest structural complexity dynamics and determinants remains scarce. We measure the structural complexity of boreal complexity using a structural complexity index based on terrestrial laser scanning, temperate, subtropical and tropical primary forests. We find that annual precipitation and precipitation seasonality (R2 = 0.89) is primarily explained by the global heterogeneity in forest structural complexity. We model the potential structural complexity across biomes using the structural complexity of primary forests as a benchmark and present a global map of the potential structural complexity of the Eco regions of the Earth's forest. Our studies show distinct latitudinal trends of forest structure and illustrate that high structural complexity hotspots correlate with plant diversity hotspots. Our findings propose spatially comparing shifts in forest structure with climate change within and through biomes, taking into account the mechanistic underpinnings of forest structural complexity.
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