Treesearch

Shrubland vegetation has not received as much scientific attention in the Caribbean as forest vegetation has. However, shrublands constitute ~25% of the woody vegetation classification units in the Caribbean, and in 10 islands that we analyzed, the average cover of shrublands was 16% of the land area and 27% of the vegetation area. Caribbean vegetation is subject to strong environmental gradients, and many tree species change habit from arboreal to shrubby along those gradients. Shrublands usually occur at the extremes of edaphic and climatic gradients, which explains why many studies of...

Geospatial inventories of protected areas and information regarding additional conservation mechanisms that were established to protect natural resources are useful in evaluating conservation effectiveness and supporting conservation planning at broader scales. The lack of a single inventory and common terminology among stakeholders in Puerto Rico was identified as a major limitation in planning and monitoring conservation effectiveness across the island. This report describes the multiagency/organization effort to facilitate communication among managers and stakeholders of protected areas...

Los inventarios geoespaciales de áreas protegidas y la información sobre otros mecanismos de conservación que se establecen para proteger los recursos naturales son útiles para evaluar la efectividad de las medidas de conservación y apoyar la planificación de la conservación a gran escala. En Puerto Rico, la falta de un inventario detallado y de una terminología común entre las diferentes partes interesadas son las principales limitaciones en la planificación y el monitoreo de la efectividad de las estrategias de conservación. Este informe describe el esfuerzo de múltiples agencias...

Hurricanes shape ecosystems. A broad range of forested ecosystems is particularly affected by hurricanes, thus creating the need for studies addressing the effects of these disturbances. There is a long history of hurricane and forest research on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. In this study, we present results from a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles regarding ecological research conducted in Puerto Rico on the topic of hurricanes and forests published from 1900 through 2017. We present a summary of cyclonic activity on the island during the study period and the...

Current trends in the nation’s forest-sector research capacity were analyzed in terms of funding and number of scientists, and compared with prior data in the National Research Council’s 2002 report, National Capacity in Forestry Research. The total number of professors at institutions accredited by the Society of American Foresters, research scientists at the USDA Forest Service, and forest researchers in forest industry decreased approximately 12 percent since 2002. In 2016, there were an estimated 1,224 professors and 540 Forest Service research scientists, for a total of 1,764 scientist...

The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry (the Institute) celebrates its 75th Anniversary with the publication of this Special Issue of Forests. This Issue is based on presentations delivered in a symposium held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2014. It augments a quarter century of scientific knowledge and capitalizes on a unique set of synergies chartered by a strategy based on shared stewardship, innovative transdisciplinary collaborations, and breakthroughs in science and technology. The manuscripts contained here present...

Despite increasing attention to the role that multiple sets of knowledge, including citizen-based knowledge, have in developing more resilient and sustainable pathways for flood management, informal knowledge systems have yet to gain legitimacy and be integrated into formal planning and decision-making process. Here we show that a knowledge systems lens can bring to the fore the prospects and barriers to align different knowledge systems for urban resilience. Focusing on two communities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we use knowledge systems analysis to identify, analyze, and compare the...