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

当飓风安德鲁以每小时170英里的风速袭击大沼泽地国家公园时，它摧毁了当地的森林，而开阔的湿地地区基本上没有受到损害。树木被剥光了所有的叶子，大部分树枝被折断，许多树木被推倒或折断。一些红树林里只剩下几棵树。常绿林地从郁郁葱葱的森林变成了棕色的无叶垃圾纠结。秃柏和湿地松林也遭到严重破坏。尽管安德鲁是一场规模巨大的自然灾害，但该地区的飓风过去一直很频繁，肯定是塑造这些森林的重要力量。作为25年来第一个直接袭击公园的主要飓风，安德鲁飓风提供了一个难得的机会来调查不同森林类型对飓风破坏的敏感性，并观察森林恢复的速度和模式。这一信息很重要，因为森林构成了重要的鱼类和野生动物栖息地和大沼泽地的娱乐区，尽管大沼泽地通常被认为是开放的湿地。破坏的程度和树木再生的速度都将决定哪些物种构成飓风后的森林。公园内的本地树种在抵御飓风和飓风破坏后重新生长的能力上似乎有很大的不同。恢复的森林应该包括那些受损最小的树种，那些可以重新萌发最快的树种，以及那些可以入侵开阔地带的树种。研究将集中在大沼泽地国家公园红树林、热带阔叶林、松林和柏林中树种受到的损害程度。数据还将包括哪些物种从破坏中恢复，它们恢复的速度有多快，以及哪些物种在飓风留下的森林中的开阔区域定居。这些信息将有助于预测恢复的森林应该是什么样子，以及了解飓风过去是如何影响这些森林的。//

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.//