Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade

• Doctor in Ecology
• Senior Researcher at Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Adaptações da Biota Aquática da Amazônia

Background Volatile isoprenoids (VIs), such as isoprene, monoterpenes, and sesquiterpenes, participate in various forest-atmosphere processes ranging from plant cell regulation to atmospheric particle formation. The Amazon Forest is the greatest and most diverse source of VI emissions, but the lack of leaf-level studies and the logistical challenge...

Fish species characteristics and supply of food resources in Amazonian floodplain forests probably shape the trophic structure and composition of the fish community; however, this dynamic has rarely been studied in the context of trophic networks. In this study, we hypothesized that the main forces that structure the trophic web of the fish communi...

Plant responses to stress, inter-organismal signaling, and atmospheric chemistry are significantly influenced by leaf volatile isoprenoid (VI) emissions (e.g., isoprene and monoterpenes). Despite their critical roles in ecology and the atmosphere, we have little understanding of whether and how VI emissions vary with axes of plant functional variat...

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. The extent to which traits of dominant and rare tree species differ remains untested across a broad environmental range, limiting our understanding of how species traits and the environment shape forest functional composition. We use a global data...

Species identification in Amazonian forest inventories is challenging due to a shortage of taxonomists, high biodiversity, and morphological similarities leading to taxonomic errors. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a promising tool for improving species identification efficiency and reliability. This study assessed the effectiveness of NIRS in...

The increasing severity of droughts and their direct impact on the health of Amazon forest ecosystems underscore the urgent need to understand this phenomenon and to develop tools for large-scale monitoring. Leaf water potential (ψ leaf) is a critical indicator of plant water status. However, traditional methods for measuring ψ leaf are often logis...

Mapping the extent and different types of wetlands is essential in order to establish coherent policies for the sustainable management and protection of these important ecosystems. Few studies have been carried out on white-sand ecosystems (WSEs) in the Amazon based on the integration of meteorological data and remote sensing. In this study, the ab...

Mapping the extent and different types of wetlands is essential in order to establish coherent policies for the sustainable management and protection of these important ecosystems. Few studies have been carried out on white-sand ecosystems (WSEs) in the Amazon based on the integration of meteorological data and remote sensing. In this study, the ab...

Plants cope with the environment by displaying large phenotypic variation. Two spectra of global plant form and function have been identified: a size spectrum from small to tall species with increasing stem tissue density, leaf size, and seed mass; a leaf economics spectrum reflecting slow to fast returns on investments in leaf nutrients and carbon...

Guia das epífitas vasculares que ocorrem em ilhas de vegetação de campinaranas da Amazônia Central.

The Amazon is the world's largest tropical forest, has a great diversity of species, and provides essential ecosystem services. However, anthropic exploratory processes have intensified and are seriously influencing this biome. Approaches that are based on ecological network theory are an excellent tool for describing the structure of communities,...

Pentaclethra macroloba is a hyperdominant species with multiple uses in the Amazon. This species tolerates varying flood amplitudes, however the effect of flood topographic gradient on its ecophysiology remains unclear. We want to know if individuals from the high (10 trees) and low (20 trees) várzea show distinct phenological patterns as a functio...

Unlike most rivers globally, nearly all lowland Amazonian rivers have unregulated flow, supporting seasonally flooded floodplain forests. Floodplain forests harbor a unique tree species assemblage adapted to flooding and specialized fauna, including fruit-eating fish that migrate seasonally into floodplains, favoring expansive floodplain areas....

A new species of Cecropia (Urticaceae) is described for Amazonas state, Brazil. Collecting and processing of the vouchers followed the usual procedures for botanical specimens. Parallel to the herbarium procedures, phylogenetic analyses were performed and photographs of the species in the field were obtained. The species shares morphological simila...

Aquatic herbaceous plants play a crucial role in Amazonian wetland ecosystems which are characterized by their unique hydrological cycles and diverse plant life. However, the fragile balance of these ecosystems is facing unprecedented challenges due to anthropogenic activities and the impacts of climate change. In this chapter, we explore the profo...

The Amazon basin is undergoing an unprecedented transformation during recent decades driven by anthropogenic-dominated disturbance regimes and increasing hydroclimatic extremes. This affects the large Amazonian river-floodplains influenced by annual, regular and predictable flood pulses with high amplitudes, the várzeas and igapós, which cover an a...

Seeds of many Amazonian floodplain forest trees are dispersed during high-water periods and spend weeks or months underwater until the flooding retreats. To assess whether prolonged seed submersion affects germination and early seedling development, an experiment was carried out in a greenhouse with seeds of Campsiandra laurifolia, Cassia leiandra,...

Leaf and wood functional traits of trees are related to growth, reproduction, and survival, but the degree of phylogenetic conservatism in these relationships is largely unknown. In this study, we describe the variability of strategies involving leaf, wood and demographic characteristics for tree genera distributed across the Amazon Region, and qua...

RESUMO Os buritizais amazônicos são indicados pela monodominância da espécie de palmeira Mauritia flexuosa L.f. (buriti) e são pântanos com inundação permanente ou quase permanente sujeitos a um pulso de inundação de pequena amplitude. Por se formarem em cima de substratos relativamente impermeáveis, o regime hidrológico nos buritizais encontra-se...

Épocas chuvosas e secas resultam em fortes mudanças do nível da água nos grandes rios amazônicos, que criam largas áreas alagáveis ao longo dos seus cursos. Essas áreas ao longo dos rios de água branca, ricos em sedimentos e nutrientes dissolvidos, são chamadas várzeas, e aquelas ao longo dos rios com água preta e clara, pobres em sedimentos e nutr...

Riachos de baixa ordem fluvial (nascentes, cabeceiras, córregos, igarapés) formam uma rede de drenagem na paisagem, que é acompanhada por Áreas Úmidas (AUs) ripárias que se estendem em cada lado dos riachos. A densidade dessa rede e a extensão das AUs ripárias dependem da precipitação, da geomorfologia, da geologia, e da cobertura vegetal nas respe...

The density of wood is a key indicator of the carbon investment strategies of trees, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here we analyse information from 1.1 mil...

We describe the geographical variation in tree species composition across Amazonian forests and show how environmental conditions are associated with species turnover. Our analyses are based on 2023 forest inventory plots (1 ha) that provide abundance data for a total of 5188 tree species. Within-plot species composition reflected both local enviro...

The Amazonian river-floodplain systems face unprecedented threats from the construction of hydroelectric power plants aimed at meeting Brazil's energy demands. However, evidence suggests that the long-term economic, social, and environmental damages outweigh the hydroelectricity advantages. The Volta Grande do Xingu was dammed and its water diverte...

Tropical peatlands are among the most carbon-dense terrestrial ecosystems yet recorded. Collectively, they comprise a large but highly uncertain reservoir of the global carbon cycle, with wide-ranging estimates of their global area (441 025–1700 000 km²) and below-ground carbon storage (105–288 Pg C). Substantial gaps remain in our understanding of...

Inundations in Amazonian black‐water river floodplain result in the selection of different tree lineages, thus promoting coexistence between species. We investigated whether Amazonian tree communities are phylogenetically structured and distributed along a flooding gradient from irregularly flooded forests along streams embedded within upland (terr...

This study compared the diversity, richness, abundance, and biomass of fish collected in three environments in the Central Amazon: (1) the reservoir of the Balbina hydroelectric dam; (2) the Uatumã River downstream of the dam; and (3) the Abacate River. Through the analysis of food resources, we determined the fish trophic guilds for each environme...

Aim Ecological and anthropogenic factors shift the abundances of dominant and rare tree species within local forest communities, thus affecting species composition and ecosystem functioning. To inform forest and conservation management it is important to understand the drivers of dominance and rarity in local tree communities. We answer the followi...

Environmental stress is a fundamental facet of life and a significant driver of natural selection in the wild. Gene expression diversity may facilitate adaptation to environmental changes, without necessary genetic change, but its role in adaptive divergence remains largely understudied in Neotropical systems. In Amazonian riparian forests, species...

Aim We test the hypothesis that wind dispersal is more common among emergent tree species given that being tall increases the likelihood of effective seed dispersal. Location Americas, Africa and the Asia‐Pacific. Time period 1970–2020. Major taxa studied Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. Methods We used a dataset consisting of tree inventories from...

Introduction Trees from flooded forests have to adjust their xylem hydraulic structure to face the annual flooding and the climatic conditions of the atmosphere. Usually, this adjustment of anatomical tissues in the tropics is driven by drought events inducing conservative behavior and can be recorded annually in tree rings. However, how the flood...

The emergence of alternative stable states in forest systems has significant implications for the functioning and structure of the terrestrial biosphere, yet empirical evidence remains scarce. Here, we combine global forest biodiversity observations and simulations to test for alternative stable states in the presence of evergreen and deciduous for...

We conducted a study to characterize the nutritional composition of the main aquatic herbaceous plants in two protected areas within the Central Amazon. Our investigation aimed to evaluate possible nutritional variations in these plant species between two floodplains contrasting in fertility throughout the annual hydrological cycle and to examine i...

Wood density (WD) is a key functional trait for its importance in tree performance and in biomass calculations of forests. Yet, the variation of WD among different woody tree parts, how this varies across ecosystems, and how this influences estimates of forest carbon stocks remains little understood, particularly for diverse tropical forests such a...

Aim: We test the hypothesis that wind dispersal is more common among emergent tree species given that being tall increases the likelihood of effective seed dispersal. Location: Americas, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Time period: 1970–2020. Major taxa studied: Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. Methods: We used a dataset consisting of tree inventories fro...

The interaction between fish and plants is vital for the dynamics of ecosystems since it influences plant distribution and regeneration patterns. In the floodable areas of the Amazon, these interactions are mainly structured by the flood pulse, which enables seed dispersal via water (hydrochory) and fish (ichthyochory), and which contributes to the...

Amazonia’s floodplain system is the largest and most biodiverse on Earth. Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, our understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is still far too limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree...

Environmental factors and structural characteristics associated with tree communities influence patterns of diversity, and distribution of structurally dependent plants, such as vascular epiphytes. In this study, we investigated the diversity, composition, and structure of vascular epiphytes among five areas of white-sand ecosystems (WSEs or campin...

The density of wood is a key indicator of trees’ carbon investment strategies, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here, we analyze information from 1.1 million...

Aim Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated wi...

Fish can act as dispersal vectors for many plant species, and this mutualistic relationship is critical for structuring and regeneration in Amazonian floodable forests. However, anthropogenic threats, such as the deforestation of floodable forests and the overfishing of some species, can disrupt this mutualistic interaction. We investigated the rel...

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we inve...

Understanding the interactive relationships between organisms is key to understanding community structure and planning appropriate conservation measures. Even more so for plant-plant interactions, which are poorly understood. We studied the vascular epiphyte community and its interactions with the tree community (phorophytes) in Amazonian black-wat...

Aim To determine the relationships between the functional trait composition of forest communities and environmental gradients across scales and biomes and the role of species relative abundances in these relationships. Location Global. Time period Recent. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We integrated species abundance records from worldwide f...

The Amazonian clearwater igapós are poorly studied floodplain ecosystems that are mainly covered by forests and are undergoing massive threats due to changes in land use and climate. Their hydrochemical characteristics and edaphic conditions fall between those of the eutrophic várzea floodplains on whitewater rivers and those of the oligotrophic ig...

Key message Scarcity or excess water modulates the growth of Macrolobium spp. in different Amazonian wetlands. The trees developed different xylem functional arrangements in each hydroclimate-soil gradient. Abstract Tree growth is influenced by a combination of genetic, ontogenetic, physiological and morphological responses to environmental factor...

The interaction between fish and plants in Amazon floodplain is fundamental for the maintenance of frugivorous fish and tree communities. The viability of seeds after passing through the digestive tract of fish is a central factor for seed dispersal since it can influence colonization and regeneration of these environments. Our study investigated t...

Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system¹. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these est...

ARTICLE Mapping density, diversity and species-richness of the Amazon tree flora Using 2.046 botanically-inventoried tree plots across the largest tropical forest on Earth, we mapped tree species-diversity and tree species-richness at 0.1-degree resolution, and investigated drivers for diversity and richness. Using only location, stratified by fore...

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, ever...

Indigenous societies are known to have occupied the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years, but the scale of their influence on Amazonian forests remains uncertain. We report the discovery, using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) information from across the basin, of 24 previously undetected pre-Columbian earthworks beneath the forest canopy. Mo...

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species1,2. Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies3,4. Here, leveraging global tree databases5-7, we explore how the phy...

Roraimaea aurantiaca Struwe, S.Nilsson & V.A.Albert, a white-sand endemic species, was previously known from only two specimens collected in Roraima state, Brazil. Our new field collections and re-identified herbarium specimens expand this species’ distribution and include the first records from the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Based on this effort...

Graphical abstract Highlights d Ecological metadata were compiled for 7,694 sites across the Brazilian Amazon d Accessibility and proximity to research facilities influenced research probability d Knowledge gaps are greater in uplands than in wetlands and aquatic habitats d Undersampled areas overlap predicted hotspots of climate change and defores...

This article analyzes the influence of environmental factors and their correlations on the distribution of tree species, which is an efficient way to understand the differences in composition and richness between forest ecosystems. Although many works have traced an efficient profile in an attempt to describe the composition and species richness as...

1. Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all importa...

In tropical and highly diverse systems, Seed Dispersal Effectiveness (SDE) is a very useful approach to investigating the role of seed dispersers in one of the most important and complex phases of plants by analysing the quantitative (QC) and qualitative (QL) components of the seed dispersal process. Although fishes are recognized as an important g...

In tropical and highly diverse systems, Seed Dispersal Effectiveness (SDE) is a very useful approach to investigating the role of seed dispersers in one of the most important and complex phases of plants by analysing the quantitative (QC) and qualitative (QL) components of the seed dispersal process. Although fishes are recognized as an important g...

A diverse group of invasive grasses from tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia has spread throughout the Neotropics over the last decades. Despite their strong ecological impact, current and future distribution patterns of these grasses in the region according to climate change is poorly investigated. We chose ten high potential invasive grass s...

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large‐scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southe...

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important...

Introduction The productivity of the Amazon Rainforest is related to climate and soil fertility. However, the degrees to which these interactions influence multiannual to decadal variations in tree diameter growth are still poorly explored. Methods To fill this gap, we used radiocarbon measurements to evaluate the variation in tree growth rates ov...

The Amazon floodplains are specific ecosystems with high biodiversity and endemism, divided in várzeas, white fertile muddy waters, and igapós with poor and acid waters, black or clear, and mixed waters between the two typologies. The main purpose of this investigation was to characterize the seed germination and post-seminal development of Victori...

This book gives positive examples how humans and rivers have been, and are still in some places, living in harmony. It analyses how this knowledge can be transferred into modern river management schemes and thereby it attempts to mitigate the deplorable trend of the decline of biological and cultural heritages and diversities in and along rivers. A...

The Amazon floodplains are specific ecosystems with high biodiversity and endemism, divided in varzeas, white fertile waters, and Igapos with poor and acid waters, black or clear, and mixed waters between the two typologies. The main purpose of this investigation was to characterize the seed germination and post-seminal development of Victoria amaz...

Here we provide the ‘Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset’, containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits –plant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass – define the primary axes of variation in plant form...