Tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia are known for their exceptional biodiversity with hundreds of tree species coexist within a few hectares, which is ten times higher than the species diversity found in temperate forests. The mechanisms underlying this hyper-diversity in tropical forests remain unresolved.

This study utilizes long-term tree inventory data from Malaysia and Indonesia to analyze tree species based on their biomass and primary productivity. These data are used to parameterize multispecies competition models, which investigate the conditions promoting both species coexistence and exclusion.

The findings of this research contribute to the sustainable management of forest ecosystem services in Southeast Asia.

Among-species variation of woody productivity is related to species biomass
in a Malaysian rainforest