Wind shapes the growth strategies of trees in a tropical forest

Jackson, Toby D., Bittencourt, Paulo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1618-9077, Poffley, Jakob, Anderson, Juliet, Muller-Landau, Helene C., Ramos, Pablo A. R., Rowland, Lucy and Coomes, David 2024. Wind shapes the growth strategies of trees in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters 27 (9) , e14527. 10.1111/ele.14527

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Abstract

In tropical forests, trees strategically balance growth patterns to optimise fitness amid multiple environmental stressors. Wind poses the primary risk to a tree's mechanical stability, prompting developments such as thicker trunks to withstand the bending forces. Therefore, a trade-off in resource allocation exists between diameter growth and vertical growth to compete for light. We explore this trade-off by measuring the relative wind mortality risk for 95 trees in a tropical forest in Panama and testing how it varies with tree size, species and wind exposure. Surprisingly, local wind exposure and tree size had minimal impact on wind mortality risk; instead, species wood density emerged as the crucial factor. Low wood density species exhibited a significantly greater wind mortality risk, suggesting a prioritisation of competition for light over biomechanical stability. Our study highlights the pivotal role of wind safety in shaping the life-history strategy of trees and structuring diverse tropical forests.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1461-023X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	5 September 2024
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2024 13:32
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172686

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