Stand Structure and Yield in the Tabonuco Forest of Puerto Rico

Abstract

Permanent plots were establised beginning in 1943 to study growth in the Tabonuco forest type in Puerto Rico. Initially, the most common species were Dacryodes excelsa; Euterpe globosa, 11%; Sloanea berteriana, 7%; Cordia borinquensis, 4%; and Manilkara bidentata, 4%. Species diversity was less than in mainland British Guiana. For canopy species the relation of overall density to diameter class follows the classical L-shaped, with less than 4% of the stems larger than 60 cm. Understory species scarcely occur above the minimum size class. Basal area, however, was related to diameter at breast height class by a straight line with a slight negative slope. Growth was greater on cutover plots than on undisturbed ones and was less on both for the second 10-year period. Mortality was not closely related to crown position but was related to tree diameter at breast height . There is some indication that the relation of mortality to diamter at breast height for understory species is independent of the relation for canopy species.

Citation

Briscoe, C. B.; Wadsworth, F. H. 1970. Stand Structure and Yield in the Tabonuco Forest of Puerto Rico. In: Odum, H. T. ed. A Tropical Rain Forest. Division nof Techinical Information, US Atomic Energy Commission: B79-B89. Chapter B-6.