Declining Radial Growth Response of Coastal Forests to Hurricanes and Nor'easters

作者：Fernandes Arnold^*; Rollinson Christine R; Kearney William S; Dietze Michael C; Fagherazzi Sergio

来源：Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 2018, 123(3): 832-849.

DOI：10.1002/2017JG004125

• storm surge
• coastal vegetation
• tree ring
• floods
• LTER

The Mid-Atlantic coastal forests in Virginia are stressed by episodic disturbance from hurricanes and nor'easters. Using annual tree ring data, we adopt a dendroclimatic and statistical modeling approach to understand the response and resilience of a coastal pine forest to extreme storm events, over the past few decades. Results indicate that radial growth of trees in the study area is influenced by age, regional climate trends, and individual tree effects but dominated periodically by growth disturbance due to storms. We evaluated seven local extreme storm events to understand the effect of nor'easters and hurricanes on radial growth. A general decline in radial growth was observed in the year of the extreme storm and 3years following it, after which the radial growth started recovering. The decline in radial growth showed a statistically significant correlation with the magnitude of the extreme storm (storm surge height and wind speed). This study contributes to understanding declining tree growth response and resilience of coastal forests to past disturbances. Given the potential increase in hurricanes and storm surge severity in the region, this can help predict vegetation response patterns to similar disturbances in the future.
Plain Language Summary Every few years the hurricane season makes the news highlight for its devastating impacts and 2017 has been such a year. Although hurricanes and nor'easters occur every year in the Atlantic Ocean, it is only the extreme events making landfall that leave a major mark on the society, as well as natural ecosystems. It is therefore important to understand the impacts of such extreme events using historical proxy records. Here we use annual tree ring growth as a proxy to understand how past extreme storm events affected the Mid-Atlantic coastal forests in Virginia. Our results show a general decline in radial growth for up to 4years after the extreme storm event, after which the radial growth starts recovering. A statistically significant correlation is observed between the magnitude of growth decline and the storm characteristics (wind speed and storm surge height). Given the potential increase in hurricanes and storm surge severity in the region, such studies can help predict vegetation response patterns to similar disturbances in the future.

• 出版日期2018-3