Data and code associated with: Gora, E., et al. How some tropical trees benefit from being struck by lightning.

Lightning strikes are exceptionally powerful phenomena that kill hundreds of millions of trees annually. Here, we use data from a unique lightning location system to show that some individual trees counterintuitively benefit from being struck by lightning. Lightning killed 56% of 93 directly struck trees and caused an average of 41% crown dieback among the survivors. However, 18 direct strikes to lightning-tolerant trees caused little observable damage to those individuals, while reducing the number of lianas infesting their crowns by 69% and killing an average of 2.1 Mg of competitor tree biomass. The average lightning-tolerant tree is struck by lightning multiple times, conferring these benefits repeatedly (predicted mean direct strikes while canopy-height range 1.5-8.1 strikes tree-1 among species). For the often-struck Dipteryx oleifera, we estimate that the ability to survive lightning increases lifetime fecundity 14-fold, with a majority of that increase attributable to the removal of lianas and reduced light competition. Not only do D. oleifera trees apparently benefit from lightning, but their unusual heights and wide crowns increase the probability of a direct strike by 49-68% relative to trees of the same diameter with average allometries. These patterns suggest that lightning plays an underappreciated role in tree competition, influencing selection on tree life histories and tree allometries with implications for species coexistence.

File list:

allometry.zip: abundant_species_df_taxa.csv, abundant_species_df_taxa_test.csv, species_allometry.csv, allometry_strike_frequency_deconstruction.R (4 files)

drone_map.zip: DipteryxStrikeHtData.csv, NonStrikeHtData.csv, drone_map_canopy_height.R (3 files)

group_comparisons.zip: direct_alltrees_allcensuses.csv, other_canopytree_surveys.csv, plot_lianas.csv, strike_recensuses2021.csv, ReadMe.csv, comparisons_dataframes_Dipteryx.R, comparisons_dataframes_tolerant.R (7 files)

lifetime_simulations.zip: combined_strike_dips.csv, dips_growth.csv, dips_mortality.csv, exposed_crowns.csv, liana_transitions_raw.csv, repro_data.csv, Dip_lifetime_simulations.R, summary_lightningSURV_IGNORElianas.rds, summary_NolianaREM_lightningDEATH_CONSTANTcompetition.rds, summary_NolianaREM_lightningSURV_CONSTANTcompetition.rds (10 files)

release.zip: alltrees_finalsurvey_sp.csv, release_from_competition.R (2 files)

survival_analyses_historic_neighborhoods.R

MovieS1_NarratedVideo.mp4

README_gora.md: This markdown file describes all data analyses in detail and provides definitions for variables contained in all .csv data files.