Cyclone–Fire Interactions Enhance Fire Extent and Severity in a Tropical Montane Pine Forest

Interactions between tropical cyclones and wildfires occur widely and can tip closed forests into open-canopy structures that initiate a ‘grass–fire’ cycle. We examined cyclone–fire interactions in a monodominant tropical montane pine forest in the Dominican Republic using remotely-sensed imagery to quantify damage from fires between 1986 and 2004, a category 1 cyclone in 1998, and an extensive wildfire in 2005. We also measured forest structure and composition 14.7 years after the 2005 fire. The area inside the 2005 burn scars (fire perimeters) totaled 25,206 ha, of which 81