Globally consistent impact of tropical cyclones on the structure of tropical and subtropical forests

1. Tropical cyclones (TCs) are large-scale disturbances that regularly impact tropical forests. Although long-term impacts of TCs on forest structure have been proposed, a global test of the relationship between forest structure and TC frequency and intensity is lacking. We test on a pantropical scale whether TCs shape the structure of tropical and subtropical forests in the long-term. 2. We compiled forest structural features (stem density, basal area, mean canopy height and maximum tree size) for plants ≥ 10 cm in diameter at breast height from published forest inventory data (438 plots ≥ 0.1 ha, pooled into 250 1 x 1-degree grid cells) located in dry and humid forests. We computed maps of cyclone frequency and energy released by cyclones per unit area (power dissipation index, PDI) using a high- resolution historical databases of TCs trajectories and intensities. We then tested the relationship between PDI and forest structural features using multivariate linear models, controlling f...