20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm
Abstract Projected increases in hurricane intensity under a warming climate will have profound effects on many forest ecosystems. One key challenge is to disentangle the effects of wind damage from the myriad factors that influence forest structure and species distributions over large spatial scales...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10776 |
| _version_ | 1797448659471695872 |
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| author | María Uriarte Chengliang Tang Douglas C. Morton Jess K. Zimmerman Tian Zheng |
| author_facet | María Uriarte Chengliang Tang Douglas C. Morton Jess K. Zimmerman Tian Zheng |
| author_sort | María Uriarte |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Projected increases in hurricane intensity under a warming climate will have profound effects on many forest ecosystems. One key challenge is to disentangle the effects of wind damage from the myriad factors that influence forest structure and species distributions over large spatial scales. Here, we employ a novel machine learning framework with high‐resolution aerial photos, and LiDAR collected over 115 km2 of El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico to examine the effects of topographic exposure to two hurricanes, Hugo (1989) and Georges (1998), and several landscape‐scale environmental factors on the current forest height and abundance of a dominant, wind‐resistant species, the palm Prestoea acuminata var. montana. Model predictions show that the average density of the palm was 32% greater while the canopy height was 20% shorter in forests exposed to the two storms relative to unexposed areas. Our results demonstrate that hurricanes have lasting effects on forest canopy height and composition, suggesting the expected increase in hurricane severity with a warming climate will alter coastal forests in the North Atlantic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:13:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3cf8eec79b564ff199efe773f0fe3dd2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:13:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-3cf8eec79b564ff199efe773f0fe3dd22023-11-29T05:44:08ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582023-11-011311n/an/a10.1002/ece3.1077620th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palmMaría Uriarte0Chengliang Tang1Douglas C. Morton2Jess K. Zimmerman3Tian Zheng4Department of Ecology Evolution & Environmental Biology Columbia University New York New York USADepartment of Statistics Columbia University New York New York USABiospheric Sciences Laboratory NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Maryland USADepartment of Environmental Sciences Universidad de Puerto Rico San Juan Puerto Rico USADepartment of Statistics Columbia University New York New York USAAbstract Projected increases in hurricane intensity under a warming climate will have profound effects on many forest ecosystems. One key challenge is to disentangle the effects of wind damage from the myriad factors that influence forest structure and species distributions over large spatial scales. Here, we employ a novel machine learning framework with high‐resolution aerial photos, and LiDAR collected over 115 km2 of El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico to examine the effects of topographic exposure to two hurricanes, Hugo (1989) and Georges (1998), and several landscape‐scale environmental factors on the current forest height and abundance of a dominant, wind‐resistant species, the palm Prestoea acuminata var. montana. Model predictions show that the average density of the palm was 32% greater while the canopy height was 20% shorter in forests exposed to the two storms relative to unexposed areas. Our results demonstrate that hurricanes have lasting effects on forest canopy height and composition, suggesting the expected increase in hurricane severity with a warming climate will alter coastal forests in the North Atlantic.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10776canopy heightmachine learningtropical cyclones |
| spellingShingle | María Uriarte Chengliang Tang Douglas C. Morton Jess K. Zimmerman Tian Zheng 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm Ecology and Evolution canopy height machine learning tropical cyclones |
| title | 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm |
| title_full | 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm |
| title_fullStr | 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm |
| title_full_unstemmed | 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm |
| title_short | 20th‐Century hurricanes leave long‐lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind‐resistant palm |
| title_sort | 20th century hurricanes leave long lasting legacies on tropical forest height and the abundance of a dominant wind resistant palm |
| topic | canopy height machine learning tropical cyclones |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10776 |
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