Broadening Our Understanding of Hurricanes and Forests on the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico: Where and What Should We Study Now?
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Forest and Cyclones in Puerto Rico: A Brief Overview
3. Methods
3.1. Systematic Literature Review
3.2. Article Search and Selection
- Irrelevant geographic location: If a study was not conducted in Puerto Rico.
- Irrelevant content: If the content of the article was not related or relevant to the purpose of our analysis. In this case, many of the articles excluded from the analysis were those that addressed topics related to forests or hurricanes, but not specifically the influence of hurricanes on forests. There were other cases in which the hazard of study was other than hurricanes (e.g., tsunamis or fires), hence they were excluded.
- Article type: If an article was a literature review, a summary article, or introductions or conclusions of special issues. As mentioned above, these sources were used, instead, to identify potential articles to be included in our analysis.
- Repeated article: If an article appeared more than once in the search, we eliminated it after its first appearance.
3.3. Article Categorization
- Focus of analysis: whether the article focused mainly on the biotic or the abiotic component of the forest ecosystem. In terms of the biotic component, articles were divided into five broad classifications based on the organism studied: plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and protists. Sub-categorizations were created for plants and animals. Plants were further subcategorized in terms of their structure, including woody- (trees, both gymnosperms and angiosperms, and lianas) and non-woody vegetation (palms, herbaceous plants, ferns, and vines). Animals, on the other hand, were subcategorized in three phyla: Chordata (including birds, mammals, and reptiles), Arthropoda (insects, spiders, and shrimp), and Mollusca (snails only). Regarding the abiotic component as the main focus of analysis, articles were categorized based on what forest system process was studied; in this case, including fluxes and accumulation of nutrients (fluxes, rates, and cycling of single or multiple molecules and elements), decomposition (studies of leaves, litter-fall and woody decay, and decay rates), and photosynthesis (including measurement of leaf photon flux or similar). Finally, we noted any studied interactions between any of these components, for example, if there were interactions between different organisms, with the abiotic component, or with other hazard types (e.g., droughts, landslides).
- Study approach: whether the research was a natural or observational experiment—where the researcher does not establish the effect, but instead selects sites or gradients where the effect is already occurring [32], a manipulative controlled experiment—where the researcher either in the field-outdoors or in a laboratory-indoors manipulates or controls variables to measure their effects [32], or a theoretical/mathematical model [33].
- Temporal scale or duration of study: the time of the study implied by the span of the collected data (days, weeks, months, years). What we refer to as temporal scale could be different from the sampling regime of the study, which is something not addressed in our analysis.
- Studied hurricane: the hurricane(s) or tropical storm(s) that was (were) the focus of analysis. We also noted cases when effects of multiple cyclones were studied.
- Year of publication: the year each article was published.
- Geographic focus: the geographic location of the study area, whether the sites were in protected or non-protected areas, and the environmental setting in which the study areas occurred (very wet/humid, wet, or dry zones). In terms of the geographic location of the studies, the specific geographic location (following geographic coordinates) was noted when this information was available. Otherwise, the general location of the study was assigned based on toponymical site description.
3.4. Analysis
3.5. Study Delimitations and Limitations
4. Results
4.1. Focus of Analysis, Study Approach, and Duration
4.2. Studied Hurricanes and Years of Publication
4.3. Geographic Location of Studies
5. Discussion
6. Concluding Remarks and Recommendations: Where and What Should We Study Now?
- More studies on rare, native, and endemic species provide insights regarding hurricane effects on these relatively less-studied species. Additionally, more studies about fungi and their effects and functions on post-hurricane forests are needed.
- Studies of potential interactive effects of hurricanes with different biotic and abiotic components of forest ecosystems are needed, as most hurricane impact studies are of individual species or as related to a single abiotic component. Likewise, more research studying the combined effects of different disturbances on forest ecosystems (e.g., hurricanes, landslides, and drought) can increase our understanding of various hazards and forests processes.
- Studies and data collected at different temporal scales are needed. Studying the immediate effects of hurricanes on species and forest processes could provide new and valuable information. Some processes and effects on forest components are ephemeral or can be more easily detected shortly after hurricane occurrence; not studying them at the appropriate temporal scale can result in a missed opportunity to expand our knowledge base.
- Continuing and increasing the number of long-term studies is also important. In this respect, addressing the historical context of hurricanes and forest ecosystem studies is critical in understanding forest processes (including, for example, forest recovery). In this sense, it is crucial to take into consideration, and study, the cumulative effects on forests of different hurricanes thru time, as well as the varying physical, environmental, and anthropogenic conditions in which hurricanes occur. Hurricanes Irma and María (2017), along with the wealth of studies generated in the aftermath of hurricanes Hugo (1989) and Georges (1998), provide an opportunity to increase the number of long-term studies and understand hurricane effects on forest ecosystems within different contexts and at different temporal scales.
- Studies that integrate various methodological approaches are needed. Combining observational studies with other experimental approaches (such as manipulative experiments and modeling) will provide a better understanding of hurricane effects on ecosystem processes and of the mechanisms associated with these processes.
- Studies in more diverse habitats and forest types with varying geologic, edaphic, geomorphologic, topographic, and climatic conditions are needed as most published studies were conducted in montane and wet zones. More studies on the effects of hurricanes on coastal forest (including both fresh- and saltwater forest systems, for example) are needed. Studies integrating different environmental conditions from mountain to coastal areas should be encouraged.
- Studies taking place in non-protected areas and within different landscape matrices (other than forests surrounded by forests) and human interactions (as those forests sharing edges with urban land cover and within areas with different land-use history, for example) are greatly needed. This approach is increasingly important to consider as dynamic forest-landscape changes and human interactions increase.
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Geographic Area | Boolean Operator | Hazard | Boolean Operator | Ecosystem |
---|---|---|---|---|
“Puerto Rico” | AND | hurricane* | AND | forest* |
“Porto Rico” | storm* | mangrove* | ||
cyclone* | wetland* |
Main Category | Elements Included in Subcategories |
---|---|
Focus of analysis | Biotic: Plants |
(Woody: trees, liana; Non-woody: palms, Herbaceous plants (ferns, vines, others) | |
Biotic: Animals | |
(Chordata phylum: birds, mammals, reptiles; Arthropoda phylum: insects, spiders, shrimp; Mollusca phylum: snails) | |
Non-biotic: Fluxes and accumulation of nutrients; Decomposition; Photosynthesis | |
Study approach | Natural or observational |
Manipulative controlled | |
Theoretical/mathematical | |
Temporal scale | Days to weeks (less than a month); Months (less than a year); Year (one to less than two years); Multiannual (two years or more) |
Geographic focus | Protected or non-protected area; Environmental setting (very wet/humid; wet; dry) |
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López-Marrero, T.; Heartsill-Scalley, T.; Rivera-López, C.F.; Escalera-García, I.A.; Echevarría-Ramos, M. Broadening Our Understanding of Hurricanes and Forests on the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico: Where and What Should We Study Now? Forests 2019, 10, 710. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10090710
López-Marrero T, Heartsill-Scalley T, Rivera-López CF, Escalera-García IA, Echevarría-Ramos M. Broadening Our Understanding of Hurricanes and Forests on the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico: Where and What Should We Study Now? Forests. 2019; 10(9):710. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10090710
Chicago/Turabian StyleLópez-Marrero, Tania, Tamara Heartsill-Scalley, Carlos F. Rivera-López, Isabel A. Escalera-García, and Mariangelí Echevarría-Ramos. 2019. "Broadening Our Understanding of Hurricanes and Forests on the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico: Where and What Should We Study Now?" Forests 10, no. 9: 710. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10090710