Treesearch

Total aboveground forest biomass may be estimated through a variety of techniques based on commercial inventory stand and stock tables. Stand and stock tables from tropical countries commonly omit trees bellow a certain commercial limit.

Sexual habitat segregation by Black-throated Blue Warblers (Dendroica caerulescens) wintering In Puerto Rico appears to be related to the canopy height and successional stage of montane forests. A stepwise discriminant function analysis was based upon altitude and 13 vegetation variables measured at warbler capture sites in three study areas. Female capture sites differed from those of males by having smaller trees, more foliage at 0-2 m and 4-6 m above the ground, and less foliage at 12-15 m above the ground. Using a classificatory discriminant function analysis with four vegetation...

Bananaquits (Coerebaflaveola) in a high density island population with small permanent territories, numerous intraspecific interactions, and polygyny, showed many of the song characteristics expected for species with these life history traits. These song char-acteristics included high singing rates, relatively large song repertoires (120-340 song types per male); predominance of rare song types; and sequence of song types presented with a pattern approaching immediate variety. Note arrangement within a song was indeterminate and nonrandom; the probabilities of occurrence of a specific note...

Four months after Hurricane Gilbert we resampled 10 habitats that were sam-pled previously in December 1987. Overall, we found no change in the total number of species nor in the mean number of individual birds detected. The mean number of individuals declined in three montane habitats (cloud forest, pine plantation, and coffee plantation), where structural damage to tree trunks and branches was often severe, and trees were still defoliated. In the mountains, higher proportions of nectarivores and fruit ! seedeaters declined than insectivores. We found increased mean numbers of individuals...

Bird populations were sampled along road transects eight months after Hurricane Hugo struck St. Croix, at sites previously sampled on similar dates in 1987. Surveys revealed 33 species both before and after the hurricane, of which 30 species were detected during both samples. However, the average number of birds per stop was significantly lower after the storms’ passage than before. No pattern was evident in the changes of aquatic species, but this may reflect limited sample sizes. Among terrestrial species, higher proportions of nectarivores and fruit/seedeaters declined than insectivores...

The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the importance of epiphytes in understanding how global atmospheric changes impact tropical forests. The Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), like other peaks in the Caribbean, intercepts at least five major global weather systems: (1) trade winds originating in the Azores; (2) tropical depressions and hurricanes originating in western Africa; (3) northern cold fronts originating in the polar regions of North America; and systems originating (4) in the Pacific and (5) the Amazon basin. Each of these "global airsheds" has a particular return...

Fifteen species of Lepidoptera occurred in large numbers in spring and early summer after the passage of Hurricane Hugo over the north-east of Puerto Rico. Spodoptera eridania (Noctuidae) was the most common of the larvae and fed on 56 plant species belonging to 31 families. All the Lepidoptera fed on early successional vegetation. Some of the plants represent new host plants for these species. The outbreaks appeared to be based on the flush of new foliage that developed in the Luquillo Mountains after the passage of the hurricane. The end of the S. eridania outbreak was concurrent with...