Tropical cyclonic storms with sustained winds above 120 km h−1 are calledhurricanes, typhoons or cyclones depending on their geographiclocation. They can cause considerable damage to forests. This damage may bein the form of pruned and fallen trees fromintense winds (Boucher et al. 1990, Walker et al. 1992), defoliation from acombination of winds and torrential rains (Vandermeer et al. 1997), ormortality from marine inundation of low-lying land (Gardner et al. 1991). Occasionally, extensive defoliation of forests can also occur fromwind-driven saltwater when winds are onshore and precipitation isinsufficient to dilute the seaspray (Chen & Horng 1993). Below I report thedramatic consequences of an unusual seaspray-laden typhoon on the vegetationof the western Micronesian island of Guam.
