Categorization of topographical features into landform type is a long-standing method for understanding physiographic patterns in the environment. Differences in forest composition between landform types are driven primarily by concurrent differences in soil composition and moisture, but also disturbance regime. Many studies have focused on the interaction between fire disturbance, succession, and landforms, but the effects of hurricane disturbance on compositional differences between landforms are poorly understood. In the study presented here, we assess compositional and structural differences between landform types in the tree community of a young sub-tropical forest that is frequently subjected to hurricanes. Specifically, we ask whether the tree community (1) changed structurally over the study period, (2) experienced compositional change over the study period, (3) is compositionally different between landform types, and (4) exhibits compositional change mediated by landform type. The tree community experienced significant structural change over the course of our study, but compositional change was only significant for some landforms. Despite large-scale, intense, and frequent hurricane disturbance to our study system, compositional change in the tree community was localized and only significant for some landform types.

中文翻译：

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地貌类型介导了飓风扰动的亚热带森林的成分变化

将地形特征分类为地形类型是一种了解环境中的自然地理格局的长期方法。地貌类型之间森林组成的差异主要是由土壤组成和湿度的同时差异引起的，但也有干扰机制。许多研究集中在火灾干扰，演替和地貌之间的相互作用上，但是人们对飓风干扰对地貌组成差异的影响知之甚少。在此处提出的研究中，我们评估了经常遭受飓风袭击的亚热带年轻森林树木群落中地貌类型之间的成分和结构差异。具体来说，我们询问树木群落（1）在研究期内是否发生了结构变化，（2）在研究期内经历了组成变化，（3）地貌类型之间的组成有所不同，并且（4）表现出由地貌类型介导的组成变化。在我们的研究过程中，树木群落经历了显着的结构变化，但成分变化仅对某些地貌具有重大意义。尽管飓风对我们的研究系统造成了大规模，强烈和频繁的干扰，但树木群落的成分变化是局部的，仅对某些地貌类型有意义。