Small-scale interactions between wind blowdowns and avalanches shape Nothofagus forests in southern Patagonia

AMOROSO, MARIANO; VILLALBA, RICARDO; RADINS, MARCOS; BLAZINA, A.; SRUR, ANA; RUIZ, MATÍAS

Melbourne

Conferencia; 9th International Conference on Dendrochronology; 2014

Wind and avalanches are important disturbances affecting the mountain forests of southern Patagonia.The effect of winds on forests depends on the magnitude, frequency and extension of affected area ranging from individual tree falls to blowdowns.Wave mortality is a process involving the death of trees along a narrow, moving front  perpendicular to the direction of the winds.Wind and avalanches are important disturbances affecting the mountain forests of southern Patagonia.The effect of winds on forests depends on the magnitude, frequency and extension of affected area ranging from individual tree falls to blowdowns.Wave mortality is a process involving the death of trees along a narrow, moving front  perpendicular to the direction of the winds.No research has reconstructed windblown event dates leading to wave regeneration in Patagonian forests.Little is known about the role of avalanches shaping forest dynamics and the interaction with other disturbances.Date wind blowdown and avalanche events to study the disturbances? interaction and to reconstruct the overall forest structure and dynamics in Nothofagus pumilio forests in Santa Cruz, Argentina.