title: Fundamental species traits explain provisioning services of tropical American palms.
abstract: The well-being of the global human population rests on provisioning services delivered by 12% of the Earth's ∼400,000 plant species1. Plant utilization by humans is influenced by species traits2-4, but it is not well understood which traits underpin different human needs5. Here, we focus on palms (Arecaceae), one of the most economically important plant groups globally6, and demonstrate that provisioning services related to basic needs, such as food and medicine, show a strong link to fundamental functional and geographic traits. We integrate data from 2,201 interviews on plant utilization from three biomes in South America-spanning 68 communities, 43 ethnic groups and 2,221 plant uses-with a dataset of 4 traits (leaf length, stem volume, fruit volume, geographic range size) and a species-level phylogeny7. For all 208 palm species occurring in our study area, we test for relations between their traits and perceived value. We find that people preferentially use large, widespread species rather than small, narrow-ranged species, and that different traits are linked to different uses. Further, plant size and geographic range size are stronger predictors of ecosystem service realization for palm services related to basic human needs than less-basic needs (for example, ritual). These findings suggest that reliance on plant size and availability may have prevented our optimal realization of wild-plant services, since ecologically rare yet functionally important (for example, chemically) clades may have been overlooked. Beyond expanding our understanding of how local people use biodiversity in mega-diverse regions, our trait- and phylogeny-based approach helps to understand the processes that underpin ecosystem service realization, a necessary step to meet societal needs in a changing world with a growing human population5,8.
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cámara-Leret
authors.affiliation: Department of Biogeography and Global Change, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Calle José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.|Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faurby
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología, Área de Botánica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Calle Darwin 2, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Macía
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Balslev
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bastian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Göldel
authors.affiliation: Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens-Christian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3415-0862
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Svenning
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: W Daniel
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Kissling
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Section, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Sølvgade 83S, 1307 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2002-5809
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rønsted
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Section, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Sølvgade 83S, 1307 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
authors.forename: C Haris
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2909-5459
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Saslis-Lagoudakis
mesh_terms: D028023:Arecaceae / Q000502:physiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D019448:Ethnobotany; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D013020:South America; D014197:Trees / Q000502:physiology; D014329:Tropical Climate