MIXED DIPTEROCARP FOREST
; TREE SPECIES-DIVERSITY
; LOWLAND RAIN-FORESTS
; YAI NATIONAL-PARK
; LAND-USE HISTORY
; FLORISTIC COMPOSITION
; DRY FORESTS
; STEM DENSITY
; BOTANICAL INVENTORY
; EVERGREEN FORESTS
WOS学科分类:
Plant Sciences
; Ecology
WOS研究方向:
Plant Sciences
; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
英文摘要:
1. Tropical cyclones (TCs) are large-scale disturbances that regularly impact tropical forests. Although long-term impacts of TCs on forest structure have been proposed, a global test of the relationship between forest structure and TC frequency and intensity is lacking. We test on a pantropical scale whether TCs shape the structure of tropical and subtropical forests in the long term.
2. We compiled forest structural features (stem density, basal area, mean canopy height and maximum tree size) for plants >= 10cm in diameter at breast height from published forest inventory data (438 plots >= 0.1ha, pooled into 250 1 x 1-degree grid cells) located in dry and humid forests. We computed maps of cyclone frequency and energy released by cyclones per unit area (power dissipation index, PDI) using a high-resolution historical database of TCs trajectories and intensities. We then tested the relationship between PDI and forest structural features using multivariate linear models, controlling for climate (mean annual temperature and water availability) and human disturbance (human foot print).
3. Forests subject to frequent cyclones (at least one TCs per decade) and high PDI exhibited higher stem density and basal area, and lower canopy heights. However, the relationships between PDI and basal area or canopy height were partially masked by lower water availability and higher human foot print in tropical dry forests.
4. Synthesis. Our results provide the first evidence that tropical cyclones have a long-term impact on the structure of tropical and subtropical forests in a globally consistent way. The strong relationship between power dissipation index and stem density suggests that frequent and intense tropical cyclones reduce canopy cover through defoliation and tree mortality, encouraging higher regeneration and turnover of biomass. The projected increase in intensity and poleward extension of tropical cyclones due to anthropogenic climate change may therefore have important and lasting impacts on the structure and dynamics of forests in the future.
1.Inst Agron Neo Caledonien IAC, Equipe Sol & Vegetat SolVeg, Noumea, New Caledonia 2.Univ Montpellier, CNRS, AMAP, CIRAD,INRA,IRD, Montpellier, France 3.Univ South Australia, Sch Nat & Built Environm, Adelaide, SA, Australia 4.Univ South Australia, Future Ind Inst, Adelaide, SA, Australia 5.Univ Gottingen, Fac Forest Sci & Forest Ecol, Biodivers Macroecol & Biogeog Grp, Gottingen, Germany 6.Univ Paris 06, UPMC, IRD Sorbonne Univ, LOCEAN,CNRS MNHN UMR 7159, Noumea, New Caledonia 7.Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Geog, Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA 8.Univ Paris 06, UPMC, Sorbonne Univ, CNRS IRD MNHN,LOCEAN Lab,IPSL, Paris, France 9.IISc NIO IITM IRD Joint Int Lab, Indofrench Cell Water Sci, Nio, Goa, India 10.Univ Montpellier, Univ Antilles, Univ Guyane, UMR ESPACE DEV,IRD,Univ La Reunion, Montpellier, France 11.Univ San Francisco Quito, Colegio Ciencias Biol & Ambientales, Quito, Ecuador 12.Univ San Francisco Quito, Galapagos Acad Inst Arts & Sci, Quito, Ecuador 13.Univ Florida, Dept Wildlife Ecol & Conservat, Gainesville, FL USA 14.CIRAD, UMR AMAP, Noumea, New Caledonia
Recommended Citation:
Ibanez, Thomas,Keppel, Gunnar,Menkes, Christophe,et al. Globally consistent impact of tropical cyclones on the structure of tropical and subtropical forests[J]. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY,2019-01-01,107(1):279-292