The impacts of strong winds and their effects on forest ecosystem structure and functioning.

<p>Storms can have various impacts on trees, ranging from uprooting to mechanical damage of different tree compartments. These impacts result in two different types of responses: an effect on ecosystem structure (e.g., via tree mortality), and a functional response (i.e., changes in fundamental ecophysiological processes). Structural effects relate to changes in demographics and composition, while functional effects concern the response of the existing/remaining vegetation and soil. Assessments of wind effects in the context of forestry and ecosystem management have to date focused largely on the former, while we here estimate the significance and magnitude of the functional effect of strong winds at the landscape scale, focusing on short-term tree growth changes. Note that this schematic illustration focuses on first order effects only; structural effects will influence functioning (and vice versa) over the course of forest dynamics.