Forest recovery in abandoned cattle pastures along an elevational gradient in northeastern Puerto Rico

A major cause of tropical deforestation has been the conversion of lowland forest into pastures for cattle grazing. We studied forest structure and species composition following abandonment of cattle pastures in 23 abandoned pastures 9.5-60 yr old and seven forested sites > 60 yr old. Sites were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biotropica 1996-12, Vol.28 (4), p.537-548
Main Authors: Aide, T.M. (University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR.), Zimmerman, J.K, Rosario, M, Marcano, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABANDONED LAND
BOSQUE SECUNDARIO
BOTANICAL COMPOSITION
COMPOSICION BOTANICA
COMPOSITION BOTANIQUE
Forest regeneration
Forest trees
FORET SECONDAIRE
Hurricanes
NATURAL REGENERATION
Pastures
Pioneer species
REGENERACION NATURAL
REGENERATION NATURELLE
SECONDARY FORESTS
Species diversity
SUBTROPICAL ZONES
TERRE ABANDONNEE
TIERRAS ABANDONADAS
Trees
Tropical forests
Tropical rain forests
Vegetation
ZONA SUBTROPICAL
ZONE SUBTROPICALE
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Summary:A major cause of tropical deforestation has been the conversion of lowland forest into pastures for cattle grazing. We studied forest structure and species composition following abandonment of cattle pastures in 23 abandoned pastures 9.5-60 yr old and seven forested sites > 60 yr old. Sites were chosen along an elevational gradient from 10-450 m and represented subtropical wet and moist forest life zones. Age since abandonment was the best predictor of stand characteristics. Woody plant density, basal area, species number, and diversity were low 10 yr after abandonment, but increased rapidly after 10 to 15 yr post-abandonment. Although distance to nearest seed source and hurricane exposure are factors that could affect forest recovery, there was little variation among sites and no effects were detected. Elevation and age were significant determinants of species composition. At higher elevations (> 100 m), the shrub Miconia prasina (Melastomataceae) was the dominant pioneer species, but in the low elevation, a larger group of shrubs and small trees colonized abandoned pastures. At higher elevations, the species composition of recovering sites did not include many mature forest species. After 40 yr of recovery, secondary forest stands cannot be distinguished from undisturbed sites in terms of density, basal area, species number, or diversity, but it appears that it will require centuries for these sites to return to a species composition similar to undisturbed forests.
ISSN:0006-3606
1744-7429
DOI:10.2307/2389095