2026 Articles

Identifying hurricane and sea-level rise signatures in coastal oak forests of the Northeastern United States using a multi-parameter approach

Davi, Nicole K.; Andreu-Hayles, Laia; Leland, Caroline Wogan; Pacheco-Solana, Arturo; Rao, Mukund Palat; Cook, Edward R.; Pederson, Neil

Climate change is intensifying hurricanes. Understanding the occurrence and impact of past storm events on forests provides a critical historical context for recent and projected changes in hurricane activity. Strong winds, flooding, and saltwater inundation from hurricanes can damage the canopy and roots of trees that, in turn, can leave a distinct signature in different tree-ring parameters. Here, we evaluate hurricane impacts from major storms (Category 2–5) on tree-ring width records from three coastal oak forests from New York and Rhode Island, USA. We analyze additional parameters (earlywood/latewood width and anatomical traits) in Montauk, New York to better understand the mechanisms of how a storm signature manifests in different tree-ring features. We find a significant reduction of ring width (RW) and latewood (LW) width, and an increase in the ratio of lumen area to total ring area (LAR) in the year following major hurricane events. These results illustrate a significant impact of hurricanes on the growth and physiological functioning of coastal oak trees. Furthermore, when RW and LAR were used in a combined approach, the effectiveness of pinpointing hurricanes increased, suggesting potential to reconstruct hurricane events prior to the historical record. Our findings also show a negative association between tree radial growth and sea-level height anomalies over the last few decades, emphasizing the continuous rise in sea level as a serious threat to these coastal ecosystems.