Tracking the Rates and Mechanisms of Canopy Damage and Recovery Following Hurricane Maria Using Multitemporal Lidar Data

Leitold, Veronika; Morton, Douglas C.; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Paynter, Ian; Uriarte, María; Keller, Michael; Ferraz, António; Cook, Bruce D.; Corp, Lawrence A.; González, Grizelle

doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00688-8

Cited by 17 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…We included a hurricane mortality module and a hurricane recovery module for hurricane disturbance. Crown damage is also an important part of hurricane disturbance and could have important impact on forest structure and carbon accumulation (Leitold et al, 2021), but we did not include crown damage in the hurricane disturbance module because the census data used to develop and calibrate the module do not include crown damage information. The hurricane mortality module was developed based on observations from two hurricane events at the study site.…”

Section: Uncertainty Of the Hurricane Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hurricanes are an important disturbance agent in tropical forests. They damage individual trees and reduce aboveground biomass (Zimmerman et al, 1994;Uriarte et al, 2019;Rutledge et al, 2021;Leitold et al, 2021). For example, Hurricane Hugo in 1989 uprooted and snapped 20 % of the trees at El Verde in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), Puerto Rico (Walker, 1991;Walker et al, 1992;Zimmerman et al, 1994), and reduced the aboveground biomass by 50 % at Bisley in the LEF (Scatena et al, 1993;Heartsill Scalley et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of hurricane disturbances on a tropical forest: implementing a palm plant functional type and hurricane disturbance module in ED2-HuDi V1.0

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Hurricanes commonly disturb and damage tropical forests. Hurricane frequency and intensity are predicted to change under the changing climate. The short-term impacts of hurricane disturbances to tropical forests have been widely studied, but the long-term impacts are rarely investigated. Modeling is critical to investigate the potential response of forests to future disturbances, particularly if the nature of the disturbances is changing with climate. Unfortunately, existing models of forest dynamics are not presently able to account for hurricane disturbances. Therefore, we implement the Hurricane Disturbance in the Ecosystem Demography model (ED2) (ED2-HuDi). The hurricane disturbance includes hurricane-induced immediate mortality and subsequent recovery modules. The parameterizations are based on observations at the Bisley Experimental Watersheds (BEW) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. We add one new plant functional type (PFT) to the model – Palm, as palms cannot be categorized into one of the current existing PFTs and are known to be an abundant component of tropical forests worldwide. The model is calibrated with observations at BEW using the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) approach. The optimal simulation obtained from GLUE has a mean relative error of −21 %, −12 %, and −15 % for stem density, basal area, and aboveground biomass, respectively. The optimal simulation also agrees well with the observation in terms of PFT composition (+1 %, −8 %, −2 %, and +9 % differences in the percentages of “Early”, “Mid”, “Late”, and “Palm” PFTs, respectively) and size structure of the forest (+0.8 % differences in the percentage of large stems). Lastly, using the optimal parameter set, we study the impact of forest initial condition on the recovery of the forest from a single hurricane disturbance. The results indicate that, compared to a no-hurricane scenario, a single hurricane disturbance has little impact on forest structure (+1 % change in the percentage of large stems) and composition (<1 % change in the percentage of each of the four PFTs) but leads to 5 % higher aboveground biomass after 80 years of succession. The assumption of a less severe hurricane disturbance leads to a 4 % increase in aboveground biomass.

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Section: Uncertainty Of the Hurricane Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of hurricane disturbances on a tropical forest: implementing a palm plant functional type and hurricane disturbance module in ED2-HuDi V1.0

et al. 2022

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“…The compound effects of these two storms led to rapid, post-hurricane dynamics (Uriarte et al, 2005(Uriarte et al, , 2009Zimmerman et al, 2010;Hogan et al, 2016;Heartsill Scalley, 2017). Average canopy height is 30 m, but hurricane damage can lead to canopy height losses ranging between 5 and 10 m (Brokaw & Grear, 1991;Gannon & Martin, 2014;Leitold et al, 2021).…”

Section: Study Site and Species Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Hurricanes increase tropical forest vulnerability to drought

et al. 2022

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Summary Rapid changes in climate and disturbance regimes, including droughts and hurricanes, are likely to influence tropical forests, but our understanding of the compound effects of disturbances on forest ecosystems is extremely limited. Filling this knowledge gap is necessary to elucidate the future of these ecosystems under a changing climate. We examined the relationship between hurricane response (damage, mortality, and resilience) and four hydraulic traits of 13 dominant woody species in a wet tropical forest subject to periodic hurricanes. Species with high resistance to embolisms (low P50 values) and higher safety margins (SMP50) were more resistant to immediate hurricane mortality and breakage, whereas species with higher hurricane resilience (rapid post‐hurricane growth) had high capacitance and P50 values and low SMP50. During 26 yr of post‐hurricane recovery, we found a decrease in community‐weighted mean values for traits associated with greater drought resistance (leaf turgor loss point, P50, SMP50) and an increase in capacitance, which has been linked with lower drought resistance. Hurricane damage favors slow‐growing, drought‐tolerant species, whereas post‐hurricane high resource conditions favor acquisitive, fast‐growing but drought‐vulnerable species, increasing forest productivity at the expense of drought tolerance and leading to higher overall forest vulnerability to drought.

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“…temperature, availability of moisture) may affect biodiversity, productivity, emissions of greenhouse gases [ 124 – 126 ], and ecosystem carbon storage [ 123 ]. For example, fires, floods, and tropical cyclones (hurricanes) all create openings in forest canopies [ 127 , 128 ], driving subsequent adjustment in the understorey vegetation to an acute or chronic increase in incident solar radiation; these increases in solar radiation are often accompanied by increases in temperature and decreases in soil moisture [ 129 – 131 ]. There is also an associated increase in the amplitude of fluctuations in these abiotic factors.…”

Section: Effects Of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion On Climate and Extr...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of changes in UV radiation and climate on terrestrial ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, and feedbacks to the climate system

Barnes

Robson

Zepp

et al. 2023

Photochem Photobiol Sci

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Terrestrial organisms and ecosystems are being exposed to new and rapidly changing combinations of solar UV radiation and other environmental factors because of ongoing changes in stratospheric ozone and climate. In this Quadrennial Assessment, we examine the interactive effects of changes in stratospheric ozone, UV radiation and climate on terrestrial ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles in the context of the Montreal Protocol. We specifically assess effects on terrestrial organisms, agriculture and food supply, biodiversity, ecosystem services and feedbacks to the climate system. Emphasis is placed on the role of extreme climate events in altering the exposure to UV radiation of organisms and ecosystems and the potential effects on biodiversity. We also address the responses of plants to increased temporal variability in solar UV radiation, the interactive effects of UV radiation and other climate change factors (e.g. drought, temperature) on crops, and the role of UV radiation in driving the breakdown of organic matter from dead plant material (i.e. litter) and biocides (pesticides and herbicides). Our assessment indicates that UV radiation and climate interact in various ways to affect the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems, and that by protecting the ozone layer, the Montreal Protocol continues to play a vital role in maintaining healthy, diverse ecosystems on land that sustain life on Earth. Furthermore, the Montreal Protocol and its Kigali Amendment are mitigating some of the negative environmental consequences of climate change by limiting the emissions of greenhouse gases and protecting the carbon sequestration potential of vegetation and the terrestrial carbon pool. Graphical abstract

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Tracking the Rates and Mechanisms of Canopy Damage and Recovery Following Hurricane Maria Using Multitemporal Lidar Data

Abstract: Tracking the rates and mechanisms of canopy damage and recovery following Hurricane Maria using multitemporal lidar data SHORT TITLE: Forest canopy damage and recovery after Maria

Cited by 17 publications

References 76 publications

The impact of hurricane disturbances on a tropical forest: implementing a palm plant functional type and hurricane disturbance module in ED2-HuDi V1.0

The impact of hurricane disturbances on a tropical forest: implementing a palm plant functional type and hurricane disturbance module in ED2-HuDi V1.0

Hurricanes increase tropical forest vulnerability to drought

Interactive effects of changes in UV radiation and climate on terrestrial ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles, and feedbacks to the climate system

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