A Caribbean Forest Tapestry: The Multidimensional Nature of Disturbance and Response
Nicholas Brokaw, Todd Crowl, Ariel Lugo, William McDowell, Frederick Scatena, Robert Waide, and Michael Willig
Abstract
Global change threatens ecosystems worldwide, and tropical systems with their high diversity and rapid development are of special concern. We can mitigate the impacts of change if we understand how tropical ecosystems respond to disturbance. For tropical forests and streams in Puerto Rico this book describes the impacts of, and recovery from, hurricanes, landslides, floods, droughts, and human disturbances in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These ecosystems recover quickly after natural disturbances, having been shaped over thousands of years by such events. Human disturbance, however, ... More
Global change threatens ecosystems worldwide, and tropical systems with their high diversity and rapid development are of special concern. We can mitigate the impacts of change if we understand how tropical ecosystems respond to disturbance. For tropical forests and streams in Puerto Rico this book describes the impacts of, and recovery from, hurricanes, landslides, floods, droughts, and human disturbances in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. These ecosystems recover quickly after natural disturbances, having been shaped over thousands of years by such events. Human disturbance, however, has longer-lasting impacts. Chapters reflect many years of experience in Puerto Rico and other tropical areas and cover the history of research in these mountains, a framework for understanding disturbance and response, the environmental setting, the disturbance regime, response to disturbance, biotic mechanisms of response, management implications, and future directions. The text provides a strong perspective on tropical ecosystem dynamics over multiple scales of time and space.
Keywords:
global change,
tropical ecosystems,
tropical systems,
Puerto Rico,
natural disturbance,
human disturbance,
tropical ecosystem dynamics
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195334692 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195334692.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Nicholas Brokaw, editor
Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Studies, University of Puerto Rico-R¡o
Todd Crowl, editor
Department of Aquatic and Earth Sciences, Utah State University
Ariel Lugo, editor
International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service
William McDowell, editor
Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire
Frederick Scatena, editor
Department Earth & Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania
Robert Waide, editor
LTER Network Office, University of New Mexico
Michael Willig, editor
Center for Environmental Science, University of Connecticut
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