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Hillslope roughness reveals forest sensitivity to extreme winds

Windthrow, or the uprooting of trees by extreme wind gusts, is a natural forest disturbance that creates microhabitats, turns over soil, alters hydrology, and removes carbon from the above-ground carbon stock. Long recurrence intervals between extreme wind events, however, make direct observations o...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Doane, Tyler H., Yanites, Brian J., Edmonds, Douglas A., Novick, Kimberly A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9934067/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36623184
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2212105120
Descripción
Sumario:Windthrow, or the uprooting of trees by extreme wind gusts, is a natural forest disturbance that creates microhabitats, turns over soil, alters hydrology, and removes carbon from the above-ground carbon stock. Long recurrence intervals between extreme wind events, however, make direct observations of windthrow rare, challenging our understanding of this important disturbance process. To overcome this difficulty, we present an approach that uses the geomorphic record of hillslope topographic roughness as a proxy for the occurrence of windthrow. The approach produces a probability function of the number of annual windthrow events for a maximum wind speed, allowing us to explore how windthrow or tree strengths may change due to shifting wind climates. Slight changes to extreme wind speeds may drive comparatively large changes in windthrow production rates or force trees to respond and change the distribution. We also highlight that topographic roughness has the potential to serve as an important archive of extreme wind speeds.