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Chronic Winds Reduce Tropical Forest Structural Complexity Regardless of Climate, Topography, or Forest Age

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Abstract

Tropical forests are the world’s most structurally complex ecosystems, providing key functions like biomass accumulation, which is linked to this complexity. Tropical forests are also exposed to chronic, non-severe winds, yet their effect on forest structural complexity is understudied. Here we examine drivers of forest structural complexity in Puerto Rico with a particular focus on chronic wind exposure. We used airborne light detection and ranging data collected in 2016 to quantify canopy height and rugosity (variation in height) in ~ 20,000, 0.28 ha forested sites stratified by forest age. We used random forest models to analyze variation in canopy height and rugosity as a function of chronic wind exposure, forest age, mean annual precipitation, elevation, slope (in degrees), soil type, soil available water storage, and exposure to a previous hurricane. Canopy height was driven by precipitation, forest age, and chronic wind exposure, decreasing by 2.12 m (16%) on average in wind-exposed forests across all forest ages. Canopy height increased by 4.0 m (41%) on average in forests aged 25–66 years, and by 4.0 m between sites with 1000 and 2000 mm y−1 precipitation. Canopy rugosity was driven by canopy height, precipitation, forest age, and elevation, increasing log-linearly with canopy height and precipitation, decreasing with elevation, and was highest in younger forests. Chronic wind exposure did not drive variation in canopy rugosity. Our results suggest that chronic wind exposure plays an integral role in limiting canopy height, potentially reducing aboveground carbon accumulation in older tropical forests.

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Data Availability

Data for analyses and figures can be found at Dryad: https://datadryad.org/stash/share/DjL6uLjBN-jvHrPqfXRy5_3xjVHhHvPsFk8Ytqo4GcM. No novel code was used for this manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

Research was supported by NSF award DEB-1801315 to M.U. and J.K.Z and NSF DEB-1546686 to the Luquillo LTER. RM was supported by grant 2019-03758 from the Swedish Research Council, Vetenskapsrådet. We would like to thank Dr. Thomas Mote for his advice regarding wind data in Puerto Rico. Drs. Ruth Defries, Duncan Menge, and Kevin Griffin offered useful input and advice.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sebastián Martinuzzi

    Present address: SILVIS Lab, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

  2. Jazlynn Hall

    Present address: Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, 12545, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, 10027, USA

    Roi Ankori-Karlinsky, Jazlynn Hall, Lora Murphy & María Uriarte

  2. Plant Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Robert Muscarella

  3. Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Code 618, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA

    Sebastián Martinuzzi

  4. Department of Natural Resources, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Robert Fahey

  5. Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA

    Robert Fahey

  6. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00925, USA

    Jess K. Zimmerman

Authors
  1. Roi Ankori-Karlinsky
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  2. Jazlynn Hall
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  3. Lora Murphy
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  4. Robert Muscarella
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  5. Sebastián Martinuzzi
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  6. Robert Fahey
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  7. Jess K. Zimmerman
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  8. María Uriarte
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roi Ankori-Karlinsky.

Additional information

Author contributions: RAK and MU conceived the ideas and led the writing of the manuscript. RAK, MU, RF, JH, and SM designed methodology. JKZ, JH, LM, RM, and MU collected data. RAK, JH, SM, and RF analyzed the data. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

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Ankori-Karlinsky, R., Hall, J., Murphy, L. et al. Chronic Winds Reduce Tropical Forest Structural Complexity Regardless of Climate, Topography, or Forest Age. Ecosystems 27, 479–491 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-024-00900-5

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