Abstract
Tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons) cause large-scale disturbances in forest ecosystems all over the world. In the summer of 2016, a strong tropical cyclone named Lionrock created windthrow patches in the area of more than 400 km2 on the forested eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin Range, in the Russian Far East. Such large-scale forest destruction by wind had never been recorded in the area prior to this event. We examined the tropical cyclone impact upon the forest composition, structure and tree mortality rates on two study sites (1 ha and 0.5 ha in size)—a contiguous windthrow patch site, and a site with partial canopy damage. Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Siebold and Zucc.), Manchurian fir (Abies nephrolepis Trautv.) and Dahurian larch (Larix cajanderi Mayr.) were the primary tree species represented in the affected forest communities. Combined with the partial canopy damage, 7.7% of trees were blown down by the disturbance event. We determined that this one event mortality rate nearly equaled the average mortality rate for a ten year period for these forests (8.5 ± 4.0%) under normal conditions (no large-scale disturbances). Within a contiguous windthrow patch, tree mortality was determined to be 52.6%, which is significantly higher than the cumulative tree loss for the previous 50 years (42.4%). A substantial portion of thinner-stemmed trees (DBH (diameter measured at breast height) < 30 cm) were wind snapped, and those with larger diameters (DBH > 60 cm) were uprooted. Our results indicate that the probability of tree loss due to catastrophic wind loads increases as a result of the decrease in local density. We believe that tree loss estimates should include the impacts within contiguous patches of windthrows, as well as the patches with only partial tree canopy damage. Strong wind impact forecasting is possible with accounting for species composition within the stand sites and their spatial structure.
Highlights
IntroductionImpact on the forest ecosystem caused by strong winds during typhoons (referred to as hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere) have been reported in many studies [1,2]
Impact on the forest ecosystem caused by strong winds during typhoons have been reported in many studies [1,2]
The results of our study show that the impact of the tropical cyclone Lionrock led to the appearance of windthrow patches, decreasing tree stem density by 52.6% and basal area by 58.5%
Summary
Impact on the forest ecosystem caused by strong winds during typhoons (referred to as hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere) have been reported in many studies [1,2]. Strong winds are the cause of tree crown damages that lead to tree death in temperate and boreal forests. Tropical forests are located in the areas where typhoons are more common, and tree mortality rates caused by strong wind are comparable to baseline mortality in temperate and boreal forests. This can be explained by the complex structure of tropical forest ecosystems adapted to regular heavy wind loads, where wind disturbances play a significant role in the formation and maintenance of the forests’ high biodiversity [12,13]
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