Author : Lisa C. Hansen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 82 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (613 download)
Book Synopsis The Structure and Composition of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest Communities on St. Lucia by : Lisa C. Hansen
Download or read book The Structure and Composition of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest Communities on St. Lucia written by Lisa C. Hansen and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dry forests of the Caribbean islands are regarded as highly disturbed ecosystems and have been characterized as having a high density of small diameter stems, a lower basal area at maturity and a lower species-richness than continental Neotropical dry forests. However, the emerging view regards these ecosystems as phenologically complex, where taxonomic and structural composition is variable over time and space, due to local hydraulic regimes induced by high topographic and climactic variability and varying forms and intensities of disturbance. The former view is derived from a few studies, the majority of which have been conducted in Puerto Rico and from one data review of small 0.1 ha plots representing 4 sites in the Antilles and 25 sits in the continental Neotropics. Overall, little is known about the less-disturbed dry forest formations of the Antilles. Given the emerging view and lack of research in less-disturbed Antillean dry forests, a case study of dry forest structure and composition on the island of St. Lucia is used to examine heterogeneity in dry forest floristic and structural composition on the topographically, floristically and climactically complex island of St. Lucia.