Storms Are an Important Driver of Change in Tropical Forests.

ABSTRACT: Tropical forest dynamics and composition have changed over recent decades, but the proximate drivers of these changes remain unclear. Investigations into these trends have focused on increasing drought stress, CO₂, temperature, and fires, whereas convective storms are generally overlooked. We argue that existing literature provides clear support for the importance of storms as drivers of forest change. We reanalyze the largest plot-based study of tropical forest carbon dynamics to show that lightning frequency-an indicator of storm activity-strongly predicts forest carbon storage and residence time, and its inclusion improves model fit and weakens evidence for the effects of high temperatures. Convective storm activity has increased 5%-25% per decade over the past half century.

SUBMITTER: Gora EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12272328 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature