SGER: Collaborative Research: Hurricane Andrew Effects on Forest Composition in the Everglades

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When Hurricane Andrew slammed into Everglades National Park with wind gusts over 170 mph, it decimated the local forests while leaving areas of open wetlands largely unharmed. Trees were stripped of all their leaves, most branches were broken off, and many trees were toppled or shattered. Only a few trees remained standing in some mangrove forests. Evergreen woodlands were transformed from lush forests to brown tangles of leafless debris. Bald cypress and slash pine forest were also heavily damaged. Although Andrew was a natural disaster of enormous scale, hurricanes in the region have been frequent in the past and must have been an important force shaping these forests. As the first major hurricane to directly strike the Park in over 25 years, Hurricane Andrew presents a rare opportunity to investigate the sensitivity of different forests types to hurricane damage and to observe the speed and patterns of forest recovery. This information is important because forests make up critical fish and wildlife habitats and recreational areas with the Everglades, even though the Everglades are commonly thought of as open wetlands. Both the degree of damage and the speed with which trees can regrow will determine which species make up a post-hurricane forest. The native tree species within the Park appear to differ greatly in their abilities both to withstand hurricane-force winds and to regrow after hurricane damage. The recovering forest should be composed of those tree species that were damaged the least, those that can resprout the fastest, as well as those that can invade open areas. Research will focus on the extent of damage to the tree species within mangrove, tropical hardwood, pine, and cypress forests in Everglades National Park. Data will also be taken on which species recover from damage, how fast they recover, and which species colonize open areas in the forests left by the hurricane. This information will help to predict what the recovered forests should look like as well as understand how hurricanes have affected these forests in the past.//