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Recovery of a tropical rain forest after hurricane damage

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Abstract

More than a year after Hurricane Hugo damaged a Puerto Rican tropical rain forest, recovery of the forest was assessed by observing resprouting of damaged trees in eleven transects which were established before the hurricane in 1989. In each transect, I relocated and identified standing trees and observed if they were resprouting after injury. I found that resprouting was rapid and depended on species. There was no significant relationship between sprouting and diameter classes of trees. This study suggests that resprouting of damaged trees plays major roles in the recovery of the tropical forests which are prone to hurricanes and are in non-equilibrium state.

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Author notes

  1. K. Basnet

    Present address: Woodlands Mountain Institute, P.O.Box 2785, Kathmandu, Nepal

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Nelson Laboratory, Rutgers University, 08854, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    K. Basnet

  2. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, The New York Botanical Garden, 12545, Millbrook, NY, USA

    K. Basnet

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  1. K. Basnet
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Basnet, K. Recovery of a tropical rain forest after hurricane damage. Vegetatio 109, 1–4 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149540

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00149540

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