Impacts of climate variability on tree demography in second growth tropical forests: the importance of regional context for predicting successional trajectories

Uriarte, María; Schwartz, Naomi B.; Powers, Jennifer S.; Marín-Spiotta, E.; Liao, Wenying; Werden, Leland K.

doi:10.1111/btp.12380

Cited by 58 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 224 publications

(262 reference statements)

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“…Wind and other disturbances can alter successional pathways in regrowing forests (Anderson-Teixeira et al 2013, Uriarte et al 2016. Variability in disturbance risk should thus be taken into account in spatial planning, management, and carbon accounting in tropical secondgrowth forests where the goal is to promote carbon sequestration.…”

Section: Wind Damage In Old-vs Second-growth Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape

Schwartz

Uriarte

DeFries

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Tropical second-growth forests could help mitigate climate change, but the degree to which their carbon potential is achieved will depend on exposure to disturbance. Wind disturbance is common in tropical forests, shaping structure, composition, and function, and influencing successional trajectories. However, little is known about the impacts of extreme winds on second-growth forests in fragmented landscapes, though these ecosystems are often located in mosaics of forest, pasture, cropland, and other land cover types. Indirect evidence suggests that fragmentation increases risk of wind damage in tropical forests, but no studies have found such impacts following severe storms. In this study, we ask whether fragmentation and forest type (old vs. second growth) were associated with variation in wind damage after a severe convective storm in a fragmented production landscape in western Amazonia. We applied linear spectral unmixing to Landsat 8 imagery from before and after the storm, and combined it with field observations of damage to map wind effects on forest structure and biomass. We also used Landsat 8 imagery to map land cover with the goals of identifying old- and second-growth forest and characterizing fragmentation. We used these data to assess variation in wind disturbance across 95,596 ha of forest, distributed over 6,110 patches. We find that fragmentation is significantly associated with wind damage, with damage severity higher at forest edges and in edgier, more isolated patches. Damage was also more severe in old-growth than in second-growth forests, but this effect was weaker than that of fragmentation. These results illustrate the importance of considering landscape context in planning tropical forest restoration and natural regeneration projects. Assessments of long-term carbon sequestration potential need to consider spatial variation in disturbance exposure. Where risk of extreme winds is high, minimizing fragmentation and isolation could increase carbon sequestration potential.

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Section: Wind Damage In Old-vs Second-growth Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape

Schwartz

Uriarte

DeFries

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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“…) and could be important drivers of forest demographics, including tree regeneration (Uriarte et al. ). Quantifying how mean climate trends and shorter‐term variability may jointly influence subalpine tree regeneration is an important research direction (Thompson et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of abrupt change? Postfire subalpine conifer regeneration declines nonlinearly with warming and drying

Hansen

Turner

2019

Ecological Monographs

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Robust tree regeneration following high‐severity wildfire is key to the resilience of subalpine and boreal forests, and 21st century climate could initiate abrupt change in forests if postfire temperature and soil moisture become less suitable for tree seedling establishment. Using two widespread conifer species, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) and Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca), we conducted complementary experiments to ask (1) How will projected early‐ to mid‐21st‐century warming and drying affect postfire tree seedling establishment and mortality? (2) How does early seedling growth differ between species and vary with warming and drying? With a four‐year in situ seed‐planting experiment and a one growing season controlled‐environment experiment, we explored effects of climate on tree seedling establishment, growth, and survival and identified nonlinear responses to temperature and soil moisture. In our field experiment, warmer and drier conditions, consistent with mid‐21st‐century projections, led to a 92% and 76% reduction in establishment of lodgepole pine and Douglas‐fir. Within three years, all seedlings that established under warmer conditions died, as might be expected at lower elevations and lower latitudes of species’ ranges. Seedling establishment and mortality also varied with aspect; approximately 1.7 times more seedlings established on mesic vs. xeric aspects, and fewer seedlings died. In the controlled‐environment experiment, soil temperatures were 2.0°–5.5°C cooler than the field experiment, and warming led to increased tree seedling establishment, as might be expected at upper treeline or higher latitudes. Lodgepole pine grew taller than Douglas‐fir and produced more needles with warming. Douglas‐fir grew longer roots relative to shoots, compared with lodgepole pine, particularly in dry soils. Differences in early growth between species may mediate climate change effects on competitive interactions, successional trajectories, and species distributions. This study demonstrates that climate following high‐severity fire exerts strong control over postfire tree regeneration in subalpine conifer forests. Climate change experiments, such as those reported here, hold great potential for identifying mechanisms that could underpin fundamental ecological change in 21st‐century ecosystems.

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“…, Uriarte et al. ). However, these early successional species tend to have faster growth rates under high‐resource conditions (Grime , Bazzaz and Pickett ), meaning they might be better able to take advantage of increased understory light following drought (Slik ), and thus recover more quickly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, Uriarte et al. ). However, recent work based on remote sensing analyses of large areas has shown that taller forests may exhibit lower sensitivity in their photosynthetic responses to precipitation variability (F. Giardina, A. G. Konings, M. Uriarte, R. S. Oliveira, and P. Gentine, unpublished manuscript ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmentation, forest structure, and topography modulate impacts of drought in a tropical forest landscape

Schwartz

Budsock

Uriarte

2019

Ecology

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Climate models predict increases in drought conditions in many parts of the tropics. Yet the response of tropical forests to drought remains highly uncertain, especially with regards to the factors that generate spatial heterogeneity in drought response across landscapes. In this study, we used Landsat imagery to assess the impacts of a severe drought in 2015 across an ~80,000‐ha landscape in Puerto Rico. Specifically, we asked whether drought effects varied systematically with topography and with forest age, height, and fragmentation. We quantified drought impacts using anomalies of two vegetation indices, the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI), and fit random forest models of these metrics including slope, aspect, forest age, canopy height, and two indices of fragmentation as predictors. Drought effects were more severe on drier topographic positions, that is, steeper slopes and southwest‐facing aspects, and in second‐growth forests. Shorter and more fragmented forests were also more strongly affected by drought. We also assessed which factors were associated with stronger recovery from drought. Factors associated with more negative drought anomalies were also associated with more positive postdrought anomalies, suggesting that increased light availability as a result of drought led to high rates of recovery in forests more severely affected by drought. In general, recovery from drought was rapid across the landscape, with postdrought anomalies at or above average across the study area. This suggests that forests in Puerto Rico might be resilient to a single‐year drought, though vulnerability to drought varies depending on forest characteristics and landscape position.

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Impacts of climate variability on tree demography in second growth tropical forests: the importance of regional context for predicting successional trajectories

Cited by 58 publications

References 224 publications

Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape

Fragmentation increases wind disturbance impacts on forest structure and carbon stocks in a western Amazonian landscape

Origins of abrupt change? Postfire subalpine conifer regeneration declines nonlinearly with warming and drying

Fragmentation, forest structure, and topography modulate impacts of drought in a tropical forest landscape

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