Reconstructing Hurricane Disturbance in a Tropical Montane Forest Landscape in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic: Implications for Vegetation Patterns and Dynamics
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“…Future work is needed to better understand the effects of both natural and human disturbance on patterns of Caribbean SDTF composition. Hurricanes are an important natural disturbance in the Caribbean (Mumby, Vitolo, & Stephenson, ) driving forest dynamics (Gannon & Martin, ; Tanner, Rodriguez‐Sanchez, Healey, Holdaway, & Bellingham, ), whereas continental Neotropical SDTF experiences fewer hurricanes on average (Bullock, Mooney, & Medina, ). Human disturbance includes forest clearing (Chazdon, ) and selective tree removal (Murphy & Lugo, ).…”
Aim
Seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) of the Caribbean Islands (primarily West Indies) is floristically distinct from Neotropical SDTF in Central and South America. We evaluate whether tree species composition was associated with climatic gradients or geographical distance. Turnover (dissimilarity) in species composition of different islands or among more distant sites would suggest communities structured by speciation and dispersal limitations. A nested pattern would be consistent with a steep resource gradient. Correlation of species composition with climatic variation would suggest communities structured by broad‐scale environmental filtering.
Location
The West Indies (The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia), Providencia (Colombia), south Florida (USA) and Florida Keys (USA).
Taxon
Seed plants—woody taxa (primarily trees).
Methods
We compiled 572 plots from 23 surveys conducted between 1969 and 2016. Hierarchical clustering of species in plots, and indicator species analysis for the resulting groups of sites, identified geographical patterns of turnover in species composition. Nonparametric analysis of variance, applied to principal components of bioclimatic variables, determined the degree of covariation in climate with location. Nestedness versus turnover in species composition was evaluated using beta diversity partitioning. Generalized dissimilarity modelling partitioned the effect of climate versus geographical distance on species composition.
Results
Despite a set of commonly occurring species, SDTF tree community composition was distinct among islands and was characterized by spatial turnover on climatic gradients that covaried with geographical gradients. Greater Antillean islands were characterized by endemic indicator species. Northern subtropical areas supported distinct, rather than nested, SDTF communities in spite of low levels of endemism.
Main conclusions
The SDTF species composition was correlated with climatic variation. SDTF on large Greater Antillean islands (Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba) was characterized by endemic species, consistent with their geological history and the biogeography of plant lineages. These results suggest that both environmental filtering and speciation shape Caribbean SDTF tree communities.
“…Future work is needed to better understand the effects of both natural and human disturbance on patterns of Caribbean SDTF composition. Hurricanes are an important natural disturbance in the Caribbean (Mumby, Vitolo, & Stephenson, ) driving forest dynamics (Gannon & Martin, ; Tanner, Rodriguez‐Sanchez, Healey, Holdaway, & Bellingham, ), whereas continental Neotropical SDTF experiences fewer hurricanes on average (Bullock, Mooney, & Medina, ). Human disturbance includes forest clearing (Chazdon, ) and selective tree removal (Murphy & Lugo, ).…”
Aim
Seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) of the Caribbean Islands (primarily West Indies) is floristically distinct from Neotropical SDTF in Central and South America. We evaluate whether tree species composition was associated with climatic gradients or geographical distance. Turnover (dissimilarity) in species composition of different islands or among more distant sites would suggest communities structured by speciation and dispersal limitations. A nested pattern would be consistent with a steep resource gradient. Correlation of species composition with climatic variation would suggest communities structured by broad‐scale environmental filtering.
Location
The West Indies (The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia), Providencia (Colombia), south Florida (USA) and Florida Keys (USA).
Taxon
Seed plants—woody taxa (primarily trees).
Methods
We compiled 572 plots from 23 surveys conducted between 1969 and 2016. Hierarchical clustering of species in plots, and indicator species analysis for the resulting groups of sites, identified geographical patterns of turnover in species composition. Nonparametric analysis of variance, applied to principal components of bioclimatic variables, determined the degree of covariation in climate with location. Nestedness versus turnover in species composition was evaluated using beta diversity partitioning. Generalized dissimilarity modelling partitioned the effect of climate versus geographical distance on species composition.
Results
Despite a set of commonly occurring species, SDTF tree community composition was distinct among islands and was characterized by spatial turnover on climatic gradients that covaried with geographical gradients. Greater Antillean islands were characterized by endemic indicator species. Northern subtropical areas supported distinct, rather than nested, SDTF communities in spite of low levels of endemism.
Main conclusions
The SDTF species composition was correlated with climatic variation. SDTF on large Greater Antillean islands (Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba) was characterized by endemic species, consistent with their geological history and the biogeography of plant lineages. These results suggest that both environmental filtering and speciation shape Caribbean SDTF tree communities.
“…TMFs also have few to no lianas which can make gaps much larger in lowland forests by bringing down neighbouring trees when a tree falls (Grubb 1977, Putz 1984). Finally, when trees do fall in a TMF, they frequently survive partially or fully horizontal (Gannon & Martin 2014, Soethe et al . 2006), further limiting the opening in growing space created by the gap.…”
Section: Disturbance Regimes In Tropical Montane Forestsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“… Figure 4. Linear regression and 95% confidence intervals between cyclone return intervals and degrees of latitude (north or south) based on data reported in published papers from tropical montane forests from northeastern Mexico (Arriaga 2000), Mexico and Guatemala (Vargas-Rodriguez & Platt 2012), Puerto Rico (Walker et al . 1996), Dominican Republic (Gannon & Martin 2014), Jamaica (Bellingham et al . 1995) and Australia (Herwitz & Young 1994).…”
Section: Disturbance Regimes In Tropical Montane Forestsmentioning
Abstract:Disturbance is a central process in forest dynamics, yet the role of natural disturbance in tropical montane forests (TMFs) has not been systematically addressed. We posit that disturbance in TMFs has a wider role than commonly acknowledged and its effects are distinctive because: (1) TMFs often have very low rates of productivity due to low resources, and so recovery from disturbance may be slow, (2) montane forests have marked environmental heterogeneity which interacts with disturbance, (3) a large percentage of TMFs are regularly exposed to high energy windstorms and landslides, and (4) TMFs contain a biogeographically rich mixture of tree species with divergent evolutionary histories that interact differently with different disturbance types. We reviewed the literature on natural disturbance in TMFs and found 119 peer-reviewed papers which met our search criteria. Our review shows that disturbance is widespread in TMFs with pronounced effects on structure, function, composition and dynamics. Disturbance is also evident in the ecology of TMF biota with clear examples of plant life-history traits adapted to disturbance, including disturbance-triggered germination, treefall gap strategies and resprouting ability. Important aspects of TMF disturbances are stochastic and site-specific, but there are broad patterns in disturbance type, frequency and severity along latitudinal, altitudinal and environmental gradients. Compared with the lowland tropics, TMF disturbances are more spatially structured, TMFs experience more disturbance types in a given area due to environmental complexity, and TMFs are much more prone to small-scale yet severe landslides as well the large and potentially catastrophic disturbances of cyclones, forest die-back and fire. On the whole, natural disturbance should assume a larger role in models of ecosystem processes and vegetation patterns in TMFs. An improved understanding of what creates variation in disturbance severity and post-disturbance recovery rates, how composition and diversity feedback on disturbance type and likelihood, and how global change will alter these dynamics are important priorities in future TMF ecology research.
“…The causes of the ecotone at 2200 m, however, are not as clear-it appears to form due to a complex set of interactions where climate plays a more indirect role on vegetation through its influence on the fire regime, controlling how low fires are likely to extend. Frequent clouds at 2100 m prevent most fires (which usually occur in the dry season; Martin and Fahey, 2006) from burning lower than 2200 m. Indeed, the scarcity of fire in this zone is evident in the near complete absence of Pinus occidentalis in the cloud forest (Gannon and Martin, 2014). Direct observations of the behavior of a severe fire also indicated that it soon extinguished as it entered the cloud forest vegetation from the pine forest above (Sherman et al 2008).…”
Section: Climate and Forest Zonation Patternsmentioning
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