Abstract
Hurricanes can cause severe damage to tropical forests. To understand the nature of hurricane impacts, we analyze and compare immediate effects from category-4 hurricane María in 2017 and category-3 hurricane Hugo in 1989 at Bisley Experimental Watersheds (BEW) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. We show that hurricane María caused lower mortality than hurricane Hugo, even though hurricane María was a stronger event with higher sustained wind. The lower mortality was due to the combination of lower accumulated cyclone energy at the site and more wind-resistant forest structure and composition at the time of disturbance. We compare our study site with a nearby location that has the same forest type, Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP), and describe the similarities and differences of mortality and impact factors between the two sites during the two events. During hurricane Hugo, LFDP experienced much lower mortality than BEW, even though the accumulated cyclone energy at LFDP was higher. The difference in mortality was due to contrasting forest structure and composition of the two sites. Our results demonstrate that forest structure and composition at the time of the disturbance were more critical to hurricane-induced mortality at the two sites than accumulated cyclone energy.
Highlights
Hurricanes are a major disturbance to tropical forests [1,2,3,4]
Hugo was a weaker event in terms of hurricane strength
Conclude hurricane strength, topographic exposure, and forest hurricanes—both were dominated by the wind resistant palm species and medium-sized structure and composition prior to disturbance were all important factors affecting hurricane-induced mortality, yet forest structure and composition played the most critical role, especially when combined with accumulated cyclone energy at the forest
Summary
Hurricanes are a major disturbance to tropical forests [1,2,3,4]. Persistent heavy precipitation associated with hurricanes saturates soils, leading to easier uprooting [12,13], and causes landslides that destroy patches of forest land and vegetation [14,15,16,17]. More severe hurricanes generally lead to higher forest damage and mortality [4]. Topographic location influences forest damage because of exposure in relation to hurricane disturbance [19,20,21]
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