The Power of Accumulative Advantage

The Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Scientists have cataloged approximately 16,000 different tree species in the Amazon. But despite this remarkable level of diversity, researchers have discovered that there are approximately 227 “hyper dominant” tree species that makeup nearly half of the rainforest. Just 1.4 percent of tree species account for 50 percent of the trees in the Amazon.