Table 1.

Location, climate attributes and additional details about data collection at the seven Neotropical forests

Site	Latitude, longitude	MAT (°C)	Annual rainfall (mm)	Months with rain <100 mm
BCI	9°10′N, 79°85′W (Barro Colorado Island, Panama)	26·2	2632	4
Fort Sherman	9°17′N, 79°58′W (Fort Sherman canopy crane, Panama)	26·2	3057	3
La Chonta	15°45′S, 62°60′W (La Chonta, Bolivia)	24·8	1517	7
La Selva	18°34–36′N, 95°04–09′W (La Selva Biological Research Station, Costa Rica)	26·1	4323	0
Los Tuxtlas	18°N, 93°30′W (Los Tuxtlas Tropical Rainforest Reserve, Mexico)	24·6	4725	0
PNM	8°59′N, 79°33′W (Parque Natural Metropolitano canopy crane, Panama)	25·8	1778	4
Yasuní/Manu	0°26′–1°08′S, 75°25′–76°40′W (Yasuní National Park, Ecuador)	26·1	3110	0
	11°19′–13°11′S, 71°10′–72°22′W (Manu National Park, Peru)	24·5	2603	2

Climate. Data for mean annual temperature (MAT) and annual rainfall were averaged or summed (rainfall) across all months of the year. Sources of climate data: BCI, site-specific data, 1929–2004; Fort Sherman, site-specific data, 1997–2004; La Chonta, data from nearest weather station (approx. 60 km away), rainfall 1970–1992, temperature 1981–1992; La Selva, site-specific data, rainfall 1962–2002, temperature 1982–2003; Los Tuxtlas, data from nearby Coyame weather station, 1953–1981 (Ibarra-Manriquez and Sinaca, 1987); PNM, site-specific data, 1995–2004; Yasuní/Manu: data estimated separately for the Ecuador and Peru sites from an interpolated 1961–1990 global dataset (New et al., 1999).

Species selection. Only species with stems >1 cm dbh were sampled at sites in Panama; plot sizes, BCI 50 ha, Fort Sherman 6 ha, PNM 1 ha. Leaf data from La Chonta are mostly for understory saplings. At La Selva, only woody species (lianas and trees) growing in the shade were sampled.