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Journal article
Advancing hurricane ecology to improve ecological resilience in endangered systems
Bioscience, Vol.75(9), pp.757-773
09/2025
Web of Science ID: WOS:001519604200001
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Abstract
Endangered coastal ecosystems, such as biodiverse longleaf pine savannas, have historically been resistant and resilient to the impacts of tropical cyclones. But changing hurricane regimes, coupled with little remaining habitat and detrimental management actions, threaten their persistence. We review the hurricane ecology of these systems and summarize risk factors across scales. We categorize extant longleaf pine habitat, 41% of which is privately owned, into risk categories based on coastal, inland, and continental hurricane regimes. The majority of habitat (85%) experiences inland hurricane regimes (6-year average return intervals). Considering increasing exposure to more intense cyclones, we review the ecological risk of linked disturbances, including fire, insect outbreaks, and management actions, such as salvage logging. Our adaptive management recommendations emphasize the need to maintain longleaf pine ecosystem resistance and resilience based on ecological research accounting for changing ecosystem dynamics and comprehensive postcyclone ecosystem responses to develop climate adaptation strategies and response plans.
Details
- Title
- Advancing hurricane ecology to improve ecological resilience in endangered systems
- Publication Details
- Bioscience, Vol.75(9), pp.757-773
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- Hurricanes in Shaping Southeastern Ecosystems
We conceived of this article after hosting a special session at the 2023 Ecological Society of America meeting titled "Hurricane Ecologies: The Role of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in Shaping Southeastern Ecosystems." We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers and Kier Klepzig (of the Jones Center at Ichauway) who provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We appreciate the Florida Natural Areas Inventory and the Longleaf Alliance for their curation of the Southeast Longleaf Pine Database. We would also like to acknowledge and thank Tara Tanaka, Chad Anderson, and Amy Jenkins for use of their photos in figures 5 and 6.
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2025. All rights reserved.
- Identifiers
- WOS:001519604200001; 99381436036806600
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences; Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English