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dc.contributor.authorBusby, Posy E.
dc.contributor.authorCanham, Charles D.
dc.contributor.authorMotzkin, Glen
dc.contributor.authorFoster, David Russell
dc.date.accessioned2010-07-26T13:44:55Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.identifier.citationBusby, Posy E., Charles D. Canham, Glenn Motzkin, and David R. Foster. 2009. Forest response to chronic hurricane disturbance in coastal New England. Journal of Vegetation Science 20(3): 487-497.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1100-9233en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4317714
dc.description.abstractQuestion: Hurricanes and cyclones cause a wide range of damage to coastal forests worldwide. Most of these storms are not catastrophic in ecological terms, but forest responses to storms of moderate intensities are poorly understood. In regions with a high frequency of moderate hurricanes, how does variation in disturbance intensity affect the magnitude of ecological responses? Location: Naushon Island, Massachusetts USA Methods: We use historical records and dendroecological methods to characterize establishment and growth of Fagus grandifolia, Quercus alba and Quercus velutina in response to seven non-catastrophic hurricanes of varying intensity and a major logging event, relative to baseline conditions, over the past ~ 150 years. Our aim was to document variation in the magnitude of responses to known disturbance events of varying intensity, and to determine whether tree growth after moderate hurricanes differs from growth during periods of no disturbance. Results: Forest harvesting in 1824-1827 had a strong impact on forest composition and growth. Since then, the study region has been characterized by little harvesting but frequent hurricanes. However, only one of the seven storms examined caused substantial increases in growth and new establishment for the dominant species; most moderate disturbances had minimal impacts on growth and regeneration dynamics. We also document highly variable responses among species to individual storms, including substantial growth decreases that may not be detected by standard analytical approaches. Conclusions: Our results caution against the use of simple metrics such as wind speed to predict forest response to specific hurricanes, and highlight the importance of individual disturbance events in controlling long-term forest dynamics, even in regions characterized by high disturbance frequency. Additionally, we show that standard approaches to reconstructing disturbance history based on increases in radial growth and pulses of tree establishment are likely to underestimate the frequency of moderate disturbances.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipOther Research Uniten_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherOpulus Pressen_US
dc.relation.isversionofdoi:10.1111/j.1654-1103.2009.01056.xen_US
dc.relation.hasversionhttp://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/publications/pdfs/Busby_JofVeg_2009.pdfen_US
dash.licenseOAP
dc.subjecthurricaneen_US
dc.subjectmoderate disturbanceen_US
dc.subjectwindthrowen_US
dc.subjectbeechen_US
dc.subjectFagus grandifoliaen_US
dc.subjectcoastal foresten_US
dc.subjectdendroecologyen_US
dc.subjectreleaseen_US
dc.subjectoaken_US
dc.subjectQuercusen_US
dc.titleForest Response to Chronic Hurricane Disturbance in Coastal New Englanden_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.description.versionAccepted Manuscripten_US
dc.relation.journalJournal of Vegetation Scienceen_US
dash.depositing.authorFoster, David Russell
dc.date.available2010-07-26T13:44:55Z
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1654-1103.2009.01056.x*
dash.contributor.affiliatedFoster, David


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