Could Tropical Cyclone Expansion Boost Migration of Temperate Trees to Boreal Forests?

J. Altman,K. Korznikov

Published 2025 in WIREs Climate Change

ABSTRACT

The poleward expansion of tropical cyclones (TCs) inevitably triggers unprecedented ecological consequences for cool‐temperate and boreal forests, including shifts in species distribution, global carbon dynamics, or forest policies. However, our current understanding of the impact of TCs' expansion into new regions is limited and lacks attention by both, the media and research community, compared to TCs' impact on (sub‐) tropical forests. Shifts in TC activity are expected to pose a considerable threat to extensive areas globally under climate change. Nevertheless, we suggest that TCs should not only be perceived as destructive weather phenomena but also as a vehicle (i) facilitating the migration of temperate species to southern boreal forests and (ii) mitigating the impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. Hence, it is vital to establish globally coherent long‐term and large‐scale research to capture unique ongoing (and currently overlooked) ecological processes induced by TC expansion, which may lead to a complex unprecedented forest transition dynamic.

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