Understanding tropical forest abiotic response to hurricanes using experimental manipulations,  field observations, and satellite data

Van Beusekom, Ashley E.; González, Grizelle; Stankavich, Sarah; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Ramírez, Alonso

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3149-2020

Articles | Volume 17, issue 12

Biogeosciences, 17, 3149–3163, 2020

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3149-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Biogeosciences, 17, 3149–3163, 2020

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3149-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 12

Research article 23 Jun 2020

Research article | 23 Jun 2020

Understanding tropical forest abiotic response to hurricanes using experimental manipulations, field observations, and satellite data

Ashley E. Van Beusekom et al.

Data sets

Luquillo Experimental Forest Canopy Trimming Experiment data G. González, A. E. Van Beusekom, S. Stankavich, J. K. Zimmerman, and A. Ramírez https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2019-0051

Short summary

This study looks at forest abiotic responses to canopy openness and debris deposition that follow a hurricane. We find that recovery to full canopy may take over half a decade and that recovery of humidity, soil moisture, and leaf saturation under the canopy is not monotonic and may temporarily look recovered before the response is over. Furthermore, we find that satellite data show a quicker recovery than field data, necessitating caution when looking at responses to hurricanes with satellites.