Nature Communications (May 2025)
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 van 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. van 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 de Aquino Ximenes,
- Yaozhan Xu,
- Toshihiro Yamada,
- Miguel A. Zavala,
- Niklaus E. Zimmermann
Affiliations
- Tommaso Jucker
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
- Fabian Jörg Fischer
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
- Jérôme Chave
- UMR5300 Centre de Recherche sur la Biodiversité et l’Environnement, CNRS, INPT, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Bât 4R1, 118 route de Narbonne
- David A. Coomes
- Conservation Research Institute, University of Cambridge
- John Caspersen
- Institute of Forestry and Conservation, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street
- Arshad Ali
- Forest Ecology Research Group, College of Life Sciences, Hebei University
- Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou
- Institut Supérieur des Sciences Géographiques, Environnementales et de l’Aménagement (ISSGEA), Université DENIS SASSOU-N’GUESSO
- Ted R. Feldpausch
- Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter
- Daniel Falster
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales Sydney
- Vladimir A. Usoltsev
- Department of Forest Mensuration and Management, Ural State Forest Engineering and Economic University
- Toby D. Jackson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
- Stephen Adu-Bredu
- Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, University
- Luciana F. Alves
- Center for Tropical Research, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California Los Angeles
- Mohammad Aminpour
- Natural Recourses and Watershed Management Office, West Azerbaijan Province
- Bhely Angoboy Ilondea
- Institut National pour l’Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques
- Niels P. R. Anten
- Center for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University & Research
- Cécile Antin
- AMAP lab, Montpellier University, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE
- Yousef Askari
- Research Division of Natural Resources, Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO
- Narayanan Ayyappan
- Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry
- Lindsay F. Banin
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
- Nicolas Barbier
- AMAP lab, Montpellier University, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE
- John J. Battles
- University of California Berkeley
- Hans Beeckman
- Service of Wood Biology, Royal Museum for Central Africa
- Yannick E. Bocko
- Laboratoire de Biodiversité, de Gestion des Ecosystèmes et de l’Environnement (LBGE), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien NGOUABI, BP 69 Brazzaville
- Ben Bond-Lamberty
- Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5825 University Research Ct. #3500
- Frans Bongers
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research
- Samuel Bowers
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
- Michiel van Breugel
- Yale-NUS College, 12 College Avenue West
- Arthur Chantrain
- Université de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
- Rajeev Chaudhary
- Division Forest Office, Ministry of Forest, Sudurpashchim province
- Jingyu Dai
- College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University
- Michele Dalponte
- Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, via E. Mach 1
- Kangbéni Dimobe
- Département des Eaux, Forêts et Environnement, Institut des Sciences de l’Environnement et du Développement Rural, Université Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly
- Jean-Christophe Domec
- Bordeaux Sciences Agro-UMR ISPA, INRAE
- Jean-Louis Doucet
- Université de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
- Juan Manuel Dupuy Rada
- Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C. Unidad de Recursos Naturales, Calle 43 #130, Colonia Chuburná de Hidalgo, C.P
- Remko A. Duursma
- Statistics Netherlands, Henri Faasdreef 312
- Moisés Enríquez
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán
- Karin Y. van Ewijk
- Department of Geography and Planning, Queen’s University
- William Farfán-Rios
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis
- Adeline Fayolle
- Université de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
- Marco Ferretti
- Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111
- Eric Forni
- CIRAD, UPR Forêts et Sociétés
- David I. Forrester
- CSIRO Environment, GPO Box 1700
- Hammad Gilani
- Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University
- John L. Godlee
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
- Matthias Haeni
- Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111
- Jefferson S. Hall
- ForestGEO, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092
- Jie-Kun He
- Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou
- Andreas Hemp
- University of Bayreuth, Department of Plant Systematics, Universitätsstr. 30-31
- José L. Hernández-Stefanoni
- Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán A.C. Unidad de Recursos Naturales, Calle 43 #130, Colonia Chuburná de Hidalgo, C.P
- Steven I. Higgins
- Department of Botany, University of Otago
- Robert J. Holdaway
- Landcare Research
- Kiramat Hussain
- Gilgit-Baltistan Forest Wildlife and Environment Department
- Lindsay B. Hutley
- Research Institute for the Environment & Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory
- Tomoaki Ichie
- Faculty of Agriculture and Marine Science, Kochi University, B200 Monobe
- Yoshiko Iida
- Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato
- Hai-Sheng Jiang
- Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou
- Puspa Raj Joshi
- Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University, Hetauda Campus
- Hasan Kaboli
- Faculty of Desert Studies, Semnan University
- Maryam Kazempour Larsary
- Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan
- Tanaka Kenzo
- Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
- Brian D. Kloeppel
- Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, Princeton University
- Takashi S. Kohyama
- Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University
- Suwash Kunwar
- Division Forest Office, Ministry of Forest, Sudurpashchim province
- Shem Kuyah
- Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), 62000
- Jakub Kvasnica
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno
- Siliang Lin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of High Technology for Plant Protection, Plant Protection Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou
- Emily R. Lines
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place
- Hongyan Liu
- College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University
- Craig Lorimer
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Jean-Joël Loumeto
- Laboratoire de Biodiversité, de Gestion des Ecosystèmes et de l’Environnement (LBGE), Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Marien NGOUABI, BP 69 Brazzaville
- Yadvinder Malhi
- Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
- Peter L. Marshall
- Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia
- Eskil Mattsson
- IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Aschebergsgatan 44
- Radim Matula
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague 6
- Jorge A. Meave
- Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Coyoacán
- Sylvanus Mensah
- Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations Forestières, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université d’Abomey Calavi
- Xiangcheng Mi
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Stéphane T. Momo
- AMAP lab, Montpellier University, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE
- Glenn R. Moncrieff
- Global Science, The Nature Conservancy
- Francisco Mora
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
- Rodrigo Muñoz
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research
- Sarath P. Nissanka
- Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
- Zamah Shari Nur Hajar
- Forestry and Environment Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia
- Kevin L. O’Hara
- University of California Berkeley
- Steven Pearce
- The Tree Projects
- Raphaël Pelissier
- AMAP lab, Montpellier University, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE
- Pablo L. Peri
- Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (UNPA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) - CONICET, CC 332, (9400)
- Pierre Ploton
- AMAP lab, Montpellier University, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE
- Lourens Poorter
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research
- Mohsen Javanmiri Pour
- Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Kermanshah Province, Agricultural Research, Extension and Education Organization
- Hassan Pourbabaei
- Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan
- Sabina C. Ribeiro
- Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Natureza, Universidade Federal do Acre, Campus Universitário, BR 364, Km 04, Distrito Industrial
- Casey Ryan
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
- Anvar Sanaei
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University
- Jennifer Sanger
- The Tree Projects
- Michael Schlund
- Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Hengelosestraat 99
- Giacomo Sellan
- UMR EcoFoG, CIRAD, Campus Agronomique
- Alexander Shenkin
- School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff
- Bonaventure Sonké
- Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d’Ecologie, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de Yaoundé I
- Frank J. Sterck
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University & Research
- Martin Svátek
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno
- Kentaro Takagi
- Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University
- Anna T. Trugman
- Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara
- Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur
- Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire
- Ahmad Valipour
- Department of Forestry and Dr. Hedayat Ghazanfari Center for Research and Development of Northern Zagros Forestry, University of Kurdistan
- Mark C. Vanderwel
- Department of Biology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Pkwy
- Alejandra G. Vovides
- Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
- Peter Waldner
- Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111
- Weiwei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Li-Qiu Wang
- Department of Forest Resources Management, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University
- Christian Wirth
- Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University
- Murray Woods
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
- Wenhua Xiang
- Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology
- Fabiano de Aquino Ximenes
- Forest Science, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Locked Bag 5022
- Yaozhan Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Toshihiro Yamada
- Graduate School of Integrated Sciences of Life, Hiroshima University
- Miguel A. Zavala
- Universidad de Alcalá, Forest Ecology and Restoration Group (FORECO), Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida
- Niklaus E. Zimmermann
- Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60262-x
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 16,
no. 1
pp. 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.
