Nutrients matter in tropical forests

A study on species distributions in response to individual soil nutrients and seasonal drought across a community of tropical trees published in PNAS reveales that dry-season intensity and soil phosphorus have the strongest influence. The results presented by the researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute - among them Prof. Dr. Bettina Engelbrecht - provide the data necessary for understanding distributional limits of tree species and predicting future changes in forest composition.