Simulating Lightning-Induced Tree Mortality in the Dynamic Global Vegetation Model LPJ-GUESS.

ABSTRACT: Lightning is an important yet often overlooked disturbance agent in forest ecosystems. Recent research conducted in Panama suggests that lightning is a major cause of large tree mortality in tropical forests. However, lightning-induced tree mortality is not included in state-of-the-art ecosystem models. Here, we implement a general lightning mortality module in the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS to explore the impacts of lightning on forests at local and global scales. Lightning mortality was implemented stochastically in dependency of local cloud-to-ground lightning density and simulated forest structure based on findings from the Panamanian forest. For this site, LPJ-GUESS adequately simulates the average number of trees of different size classes killed per lightning strike, w

SUBMITTER: Krause A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12186139 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature