Changes in Light Availability Following Hurricane Hugo in a Subtropical Montane Forest in Puerto Rico

Fernández, Diego; Fetcher, Ned

doi:10.2307/2388257

Cited by 127 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…3), which was similar to that of this same forest after Hurricane Hugo (14 months; curve A in Fig. 3; Fernández and Fetcher, 1991). After Hurricane Gilbert passed through Jamaican montane forest (1600 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Microclimatic Attributes (Light Moisture Debris)supporting

confidence: 77%

Responses to canopy loss and debris deposition in a tropical forest ecosystem: Synthesis from an experimental manipulation simulating effects of hurricane disturbance

Shiels¹,

González

Willig

2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tHurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons are intense and broad-scale disturbances that affect many island and coastal ecosystems throughout the world. We summarize the findings of the articles that compose this special issue of Forest Ecology and Management, which focuses on a manipulative experiment (the Canopy Trimming Experiment, CTE) that simulates two key aspects of hurricane effects in a wet tropical forest. Although previous studies of tropical and subtropical forests have documented changes resulting from hurricanes, it is not clear which of the two simultaneously occurring direct effects of hurricanes-canopy openness or debris deposition-most influence responses. In the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico, a multi-disciplinary team of scientists used replicated factorial manipulations to determine the independent and interactive effects of canopy openness and debris deposition on structural and functional characteristics of the forest. The majority of responses were primarily driven by canopy openness rather than by debris deposition. Canopy openness resulted in significant increases in densities of and compositional changes in woody plants, ferns, and some litter arthropods, and significant decreases in coqui frog abundances, leaf decomposition, and litterfall. Debris deposition significantly increased tree basal area and microbial diversity on leaf litter, but these increases were relatively small and ephemeral. Several interactive effects of canopy openness and debris addition emerged, including those involving understory herbivory, canopy arthropod structure, terrestrial gastropod abundances and composition, and soil solution chemistry. Arguably, hurricanes are the most important natural disturbance that affect the LEF, and most characteristics that were measured in the CTE showed evidence of resistance or resilience. By identifying the causal factors affecting secondary successional trajectories of diverse taxa ranging from microbes to vertebrates, biogeochemical attributes, microclimatic characteristics, and measures of ecosystem processes following hurricane disturbance, we better understand tropical forest dynamics resulting from past hurricanes and are better able to predict mechanisms of change related to future hurricanes.Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Section: Microclimatic Attributes (Light Moisture Debris)supporting

confidence: 77%

Responses to canopy loss and debris deposition in a tropical forest ecosystem: Synthesis from an experimental manipulation simulating effects of hurricane disturbance

Shiels¹,

González

Willig

2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…Understory light and canopy openness in our study returned to pre-hurricane conditions within about 18 months ( Fig. 5a; Richardson et al, 2010;Shiels et al, 2010), which was similar to that of this same forest after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 (14 months; Fernández and Fetcher, 1991). An additional pattern of interest was the apparent reduction in canopy openness in the plots where the canopy was unaltered (i.e., No trim plots; Fig.…”

Section: Post-treatment Abiotic Conditions and Comparisons To Naturalsupporting

confidence: 74%

Understanding the key mechanisms of tropical forest responses to canopy loss and biomass deposition from experimental hurricane effects

Shiels¹,

González

2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tTo date, it is not clear which are the factors that most influence tropical forest recovery from hurricanes. Increased canopy openness and increased detritus (debris) deposition are two of the most likely factors, but due to their simultaneous occurrence during a hurricane, their relative effects cannot be separated without a manipulative experiment. Hence, in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico, the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) has undertaken experimental manipulations in replicated 30 Â 30 m plots to simulate the major effects of hurricane disturbance-increased canopy openness and debris addition to the forest floor. Using a factorial experiment enabled investigation of the separate and combined effects of canopy opening and debris on this wet tropical forest; the experimental outcomes may help direct forest management decisions in similar disturbance-prone environments. In this first article of the special issue, we (1) provide details of the design and methodology for this manipulative experiment (the Canopy Trimming Experiment, CTE), (2) report some principal abiotic responses to treatments, and (3) introduce the subject areas of the 12 additional CTE manuscripts in this special issue. The physical conditions created by canopy and understory treatment and the amounts of debris added to CTE plots were similar to the LEF's conditions following Hurricane Hugo (a category 4 storm) in 1989; although more wood and a 37% (1.5 cm) deeper litter layer was present in the CTE. Our selective cutting and removal of the forest canopy above 3 m, which included trimming 234 palm trees and 342 non-palm trees, greatly altered the understory micro-environment by increasing light levels and decreasing litter moisture for 18 months; throughfall and soil moisture were elevated in trim plots for 3 months. In plots where the canopy was trimmed and the debris (6 kg m À2) was added to the forest floor, the canopy debris persisted on the forest floor for at least 4 years; debris decomposed more quickly in plots with intact canopies. The diverse collection of papers in this special issue provide mechanistic understandings of response patterns of tropical forest biota (microbes, plants, animals) and processes (decomposition, herbivory, nutrient cycling, primary production) to canopy and understory disturbance that resembles a major (Pcategory 3) hurricane. Although measurements for this experiment are ongoing to further identify the mechanisms of long-term forest change resulting from hurricanes, we include findings up to the first seven years post-treatment at this time.Published by Elsevier B.V.

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“…While our 30 Â 30 m plots were similar in size to canopy disturbances following past severe hurricanes in the LEF (Brokaw and Grear, 1991;Shiels and González, 2014), these were the only plots disturbed in a comparatively undisturbed forest. However, the two-fold increase in canopy openness in Trim plots in our study returned to pre-hurricane conditions within about 16 months (Shiels and González, 2014), which was similar to that of this same forest after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 (14 months;Fernández and Fetcher, 1991). An additional difference between our treatment methodology and the conditions of a natural hurricane was that the length of time required to complete the canopy trimming allowed the litter to begin to decompose outside of the plots for an average of 75 days, a period in which two reproductive cycles of coqui could have occurred (Rivero, 1978).…”

supporting

confidence: 72%

Coqui frog populations are negatively affected by canopy opening but not detritus deposition following an experimental hurricane in a tropical rainforest

Klawinski

Dalton

Shiels

2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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Changes in Light Availability Following Hurricane Hugo in a Subtropical Montane Forest in Puerto Rico

Cited by 127 publications

References 16 publications

Responses to canopy loss and debris deposition in a tropical forest ecosystem: Synthesis from an experimental manipulation simulating effects of hurricane disturbance

Responses to canopy loss and debris deposition in a tropical forest ecosystem: Synthesis from an experimental manipulation simulating effects of hurricane disturbance

Understanding the key mechanisms of tropical forest responses to canopy loss and biomass deposition from experimental hurricane effects

Coqui frog populations are negatively affected by canopy opening but not detritus deposition following an experimental hurricane in a tropical rainforest

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