Hurricane disturbance accelerated the thermophilization of a Jamaican montane forest

Thermophilization – changes in community composition towards greater relative abundances of species associated with warmer environments – has been described for plants and animals in many locations around the world. Disturbances of various kinds have increased rates of thermophilization in temperate sites, and this has been proposed, but not demonstrated, for some tropical environments. In this study, we tested whether disturbance by a Category four hurricane in 1988 (Hurricane Gilbert) increased thermophilization in a Jamaican montane forest by using pre- and post-hurricane data collected over four decades (1974–2014). We analysed tree species composition in permanent plots at c. 1580 m elevation in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. There were 66 tree species with stem diameters ≥3 cm at breast height. We used published data on the altitudinal distribution of 62 species (94% of genetic individuals (genets)) to calculate the mean community altitude scores (MCAS) of the trees recorded in each ce...

热适应化（thermophilization）指群落组成向相对丰度更偏向温暖环境关联物种的方向发生改变，该现象已在全球多地的动植物类群中被报道。各类干扰已被证实会提升温带生境中的热适应化速率，而部分热带环境虽曾被提出存在该现象，但尚未得到验证。本研究依托1974–2014年长达四十年的飓风前后监测数据，以1988年四级飓风（吉尔伯特飓风，Hurricane Gilbert）引发的干扰为研究对象，检验其是否提升了牙买加山地森林的热适应化速率。我们对牙买加蓝山海拔约1580米处的永久样地内的树木物种组成进行了分析，共记录到66种胸径≥3厘米的乔木。我们利用已发表的62种（占遗传个体（基株，genets）的94%）物种的海拔分布数据，计算了各调查样地内树木的平均群落海拔得分（mean community altitude scores，MCAS）