Quintero Nazario, Braulio A.

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    Forest recovery on abandoned farms of the Añasco River Watershed of western Puerto Rico
    (2007) Quintero Nazario, Braulio A.; Chinea Rivera, Jesús D.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Santos, Carlos J.; Breckon, Gary J.; Kolterman, Duane A.; Department of Biology; Van Bloem, Skip
    Species composition and forest structure were described for abandoned farmlands in the Añasco River Watershed. Prior to abandonment, coffee was cultivated on the slopes surrounding the valley while sugar cane and coconut palms were cultivated in the valley. Plots were randomly chosen from an age class map produced from aerial images taken in 1936, 1963, 1994, 2001 and vegetation data collected in 1978. Vegetation was sampled in 500 m2 circular plots, individuals with diameter at breast height (dbh) greater than 2.5 cm were measured and identified. Structural characteristics were calculated from the data collected in the field. Communities on abandoned coffee plantations and palm plantation were clearly identified, but not for abandoned sugar plantations. There were a total of sixty-nine species identified and six unknown species. Results from the ordination technique determined that age since abandonment was the highest correlated variable to species composition. No significant differences were determined in structural characteristics between plot of the same age on the valley and on the mountains, except for tree density. Species composition at the abandoned coffee plantations resembles the composition of species at the Luquillo Experimental Forest and Central Cordillera Forest of Puerto Rico. Forest structure for some plots on the Añasco River Watershed reached levels comparable to that of mature forests after 80 years of vegetation succession.