| 英文摘要: | To the Editor —
Species assemblages are exceptionally rich in ever-wet tropical forests1, here broadly defined as tropical forests that experience high annual rainfall (≥2,000 mm yr−1) and are aseasonal (that is, zero months with ≤60 mm precipitation). Protecting as many of the remaining ever-wet tropical forests as we can stands to yield a double dividend through providing refugia for large numbers of tropical forest species that may be particularly vulnerable to the drier conditions presently occurring2 and predicted to occur over coming decades3, 4, and helping to mitigate climate change impacts overall5. We estimate that ever-wet zones currently cover 30% of the tropical forest biome6, 7, with 50% of this area remaining as intact natural forest8, of which only 6% is formally protected9 (Supplementary Information). A standard set of global climate models3, 7generally agree that tropical ever-wet zones will contract by at least 20% (Supplementary Fig. S1), potentially drying out one-fifth of extant intact ever-wet tropical forest and one-quarter of the protected ever-wet tropical forests by 2050 (Fig. 1 and Supplementary Tables S1,S2,S3). |