World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
47
Citations
11599
World Ranking
4357
National Ranking
1514

Overview

Sylvester Tan is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of environmental science and agricultural and biological sciences, with a particular focus on ecological dynamics and interactions within forest ecosystems.

Their main subfields of study include nature and landscape conservation, ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics, ecological modeling, plant science, and insect science. The work of Sylvester Tan covers a range of topics such as ecology and vegetation dynamics studies, plant and animal studies, species distribution and climate change, mycorrhizal fungi and plant interactions, forest ecology and biodiversity studies, animal ecology and behavior studies, and forest ecology and management.

Recent papers authored by Sylvester Tan and collaborators include:

  • The interspecific growth-mortality trade-off is not a general framework for tropical forest community structure, 2020, Nature Ecology & Evolution
  • Consistency of demographic trade-offs across 13 (sub)tropical forests, 2022, Journal of Ecology
  • Lithological constraints on resource economies shape the mycorrhizal composition of a Bornean rain forest, 2020, New Phytologist
  • Latitudinal patterns in stabilizing density dependence of forest communities, 2024, Nature
  • Demographic composition, not demographic diversity, predicts biomass and turnover across temperate and tropical forests, 2022, Global Change Biology

Frequent co-authors of Sylvester Tan include Stuart J. Davies, Akira Itoh, Mohizah Mohamad, Jill Thompson, and Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin. These collaborations have contributed significantly to their body of work in forest ecology and related disciplines.

Their research has been published primarily in outlets such as Nature Ecology & Evolution, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Journal of Ecology, New Phytologist, and Nature.

Best Publications

  • Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size.

    N. L. Stephenson;A. J. Das;Richard S. Condit;S. E. Russo

  • Height-diameter allometry of tropical forest trees

    T.R. Feldpausch;L. Banin;O.L. Phillips;T.R. Baker

  • CTFS-ForestGEO: A worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change

    Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira;Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira;Stuart J. Davies;Stuart J. Davies;Amy C. Bennett;Erika B. Gonzalez-Akre

  • Tree height integrated into pantropical forest biomass estimates

    T. R. Feldpausch;J. Lloyd;J. Lloyd;S. L. Lewis;S. L. Lewis;R. J. W. Brienen

  • Global importance of large‐diameter trees

    James A. Lutz;Tucker J. Furniss;Daniel J. Johnson;Stuart J. Davies

  • The role of wood density and stem support costs in the growth and mortality of tropical trees

    David A. King;Stuart James Davies;Sylvester Tan;Nur Supardi Md.Noor

  • Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests

    Helene C Muller-Landau;Richard S Condit;Jerome Chave;Sean C Thomas

  • Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

    Martin J. P. Sullivan;Joey Talbot;Simon L. Lewis;Simon L. Lewis;Oliver L. Phillips

  • Scale-dependent relationships between tree species richness and ecosystem function in forests

    Ryan A. Chisholm;Helene C. Muller-Landau;Kassim Abdul Rahman;Daniel P. Bebber

  • Soil-related performance variation and distributions of tree species in a Bornean rain forest

    Sabrina E. Russo;Stuart James Davies;David A. King;Sylvester Tan

  • The importance of demographic niches to tree diversity.

    Richard Condit;Richard Condit;Peter Ashton;Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin;H. S. Dattaraja

  • Tree growth is related to light interception and wood density in two mixed dipterocarp forests of Malaysia

    D. A. King;S. J. Davies;M. N. Nur Supardi;S. Tan

  • Consequences of defaunation for a tropical tree community

    Rhett D Harrison;Rhett D Harrison;Sylvester Tan;Joshua B. Plotkin;Ferry Slik

  • What controls tropical forest architecture: testing environmental, structural and floristic drivers

    L. Banin;L. Banin;T. R. Feldpausch;O. L. Phillips;T. R. Baker

  • Assessing Evidence for a Pervasive Alteration in Tropical Tree Communities

    Jérôme Chave;Richard Condit;Helene C Muller-Landau;Sean C Thomas

  • Nonrandom Processes Maintain Diversity in Tropical Forests

    Christopher Wills;Kyle E. Harms;Richard Condit;David King

  • Comparing tropical forest tree size distributions with the predictions of metabolic ecology and equilibrium models

    Helene C Muller-Landau;Richard S Condit;Kyle E Harms;Kyle E Harms;Christian O Marks

  • ForestGEO: Understanding forest diversity and dynamics through a global observatory network

    Stuart J. Davies;Iveren Abiem;Kamariah Abu Salim;Salomón Aguilar

  • Potential link between plant and fungal distributions in a dipterocarp rainforest: community and phylogenetic structure of tropical ectomycorrhizal fungi across a plant and soil ecotone

    Kabir G. Peay;Peter G. Kennedy;Stuart James Davies;Sylvester Tan

  • Long-term carbon sink in Borneo’s forests halted by drought and vulnerable to edge effects

    Lan Qie;Lan Qie;Simon L. Lewis;Simon L. Lewis;Martin J.P. Sullivan;Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez

  • Interspecific Demographic Trade-Offs and Soil-Related Habitat Associations of Tree Species along Resource Gradients

    Sabrina E. Russo;Patrick Brown;Sylvester Tan;Stuart James Davies

Frequent Co-Authors

Stuart J. Davies
Stuart J. Davies Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peter S. Ashton
Peter S. Ashton Harvard University
Stephen P. Hubbell
Stephen P. Hubbell University of California, Los Angeles
Richard Condit
Richard Condit Independent Scientist / Consultant, US
Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin
Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin Royal Forest Department
Raman Sukumar
Raman Sukumar Indian Institute of Science
David Kenfack
David Kenfack Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Renato Valencia
Renato Valencia Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Yadvinder Malhi
Yadvinder Malhi University of Oxford
George B. Chuyong
George B. Chuyong University of Buea

If you think any of the details on this page are incorrect, let us know.

Report an issue

We appreciate your kind effort to assist us to improve this page, it would be helpful providing us with as much detail as possible in the text box below:

Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

Studying Ecology and Evolution in the USA opens doors to diverse academic journeys and career opportunities, often with flexible online options. Many students enhance their skills by pursuing online graphic design courses to improve their ability to communicate scientific findings through visual media—a skill in high demand for research presentations and public outreach.

Interdisciplinary education is another popular route for ecology majors. Exploring online interdisciplinary studies admissions and costs helps students blend environmental science with policy, data science, or education at an affordable rate.

Graduate education can further your expertise and career prospects. Those seeking budget-friendly programs may consider options among the cheapest online masters in history. These programs often intersect with ecology, especially for those interested in environmental history or conservation policy.

Additionally, environmental professionals with an interest in information management can explore what schools offer library science degrees. Such programs equip graduates to manage data, archives, and educational resources critical in ecological research and education.

Best Scientists Citing Sylvester Tan

Trending Scientists

Recently Published Articles