Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T17:04:13.727Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soil-vegetation relationships in a tabonuco forest community in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Mark H. Johnston
Mark H. Johnston
Affiliation:
College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Soil-vegetation relationships were examined in a tabonuco forest community in eastern Puerto Rico using canonical correspondence analysis. Ca and pH were strongly correlated with the first ordination axis (r = 0.84 and 0.76, respectively), while Mg and Na were correlated with the second axis (r = 0.65 and 0.64, respectively); other soil variables were not significantly related to the first two axes. Four previously identified soil series corresponded well with the ordination, and statistically significant differences in soil variables were found among the soil series. Dominant canopy tree species Dacryodes excelsa and Manilkara bidentata were negatively associated with the first ordination axis and positively associated with dry soils having low concentrations of Ca and Mg and low pH. The palm Presloea montana was positively associated with the first axis and with wet soils having high concentrations of Ca and Mg and higher pH values. Another canopy species Sloanea bertenana was associated with the second ordination axis and with lower slope positions having higher concentrations of Mg.

Keywords

canonical correspondence analysisdirect gradient analysisordination, Puerto Ricosoil-vegetation relationshipstabonuco foresttropical soils
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 253 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Baillie, I. C. 1989. Soil characteristics and classification in relation to the mineral nutrition of tropical wooded ecosystems. Pp. 15–26 in Proctor, J. (ed.). Mineral nutrients in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.Google Scholar
Baillie, I. C., Ashton, P. S., Court, M. N., Anderson, J. A. R., Fit/Patrick, E. A. & Tinsley, J. 1987. Site characteristics and the distribution of tree species in mixed dipterocarp forest on Tertiary sediments in central Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 3:210–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basnet, K. B. 1990. Studies of ecological and geological factors controlling the pattern of tabonuco forest in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. PhD Thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. 180 pp.Google Scholar
Beard, J. S. 1948. The natural vegetation of the Windward and Leeward Islands. Oxford Forestry Memoirs, Number 21. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 192 pp.Google Scholar
Crabtree, R. W. 1986. Spatial distribution of solutional erosion. Pp. 329–361 in Trudgill, S. T. (ed.). Solute processes. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.Google Scholar
Crow, T. R. & Grigal, D. F. 1979. A numerical analysis of arborescent communities in the rain forest of the Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico. Vegetatio 40:135–146.Google Scholar
Davis, T. A. W. & Richards, P. W. 1933. The vegetation of Moraballi Creek, British Guyana. I. Journal of Ecology 21:350–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, T. A. W. & Richards, P. W. 1934. The vegetation of Moraballi Creek, British Guyana. II. Journal of Ecology 22:106–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denslow, J. S. 1987. Tropical rainforest gaps and tree species diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 18:431–451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frangi, J. L. & Lugo, A. K. 1985. Ecosystem dynamics of a subtropical floodplain forest. Ecological Monographs 55:351–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gartlan, J. S., Newbery, D. M., Thomas, D. W. & Waterman, P. G. 1986. The influence of topography and soil phosphorus on the vegetation of Korup Forest Reserve, Cameroun. Vegetatio 65:131–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, M. O. 1974. Correspondence analysis: a neglected multivariate method. Applied Statistics 23:340–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. 1979. Tree dispersion, abundance and diversity in a tropical dry forest. Science 203:1299–1309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbell, S. P. & Foster, R. B. 1986. Biology, chance and history and the structure of tropical rain forest tree communities. Pp. 314–329 in Diamond, J. & Case, T. J. (eds). Community ecology. Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Johnston, M. H. 1990. Successional change and species/site relationships in a Puerto Rican tropical forest. PhD Thesis, State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse. 253 pp.Google Scholar
Jongman, R. H., Ter Braak, C. J. F. & Van Tongeren, O. F. R. 1987. Data analysis in community and landscape ecology. Pudoc, Wageningen. 299 pp.Google Scholar
Jordan, C. F. 1970. Flow of soil water in the lower montane tropical rain forest. Pp. H199–H200 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Lescure, J.-P. & Boulet, R. 1985. Relationships between soil and vegetation in a tropical rain forest in French Guiana. Biotropica 17:155–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, E. L. & Wadsworth, F. H. 1964. Common trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Agriculture Handbook 249. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McCaig, M. 1985. Soil properties and subsurface hydrology. Pp. 121–140 in Richards, K. S., Arnett, R. R. & Ellis, S. (eds). Geomorphology and soils. George Allen & Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Newbery, D. M., Alexander, I. J., Thomas, D. W. & Gartland, J. S. 1988. Ectomycorrhizal Rain-forest legumes and soil phosphorus in Korup National Park, Cameroon. New Phylologist 109:433–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). 1970 A tropical rain forest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Ovington, J. D. & Olson, J. S. 1970. Biomass and chemical content of El Verde lower montane rain forest plants. Pp. H53–H78 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rainforest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Richards, P. W. 1936. Ecological observations on the rain forest of Mount Dulit, Sarawak. Journal of Ecology 24:1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scatena, F. N. 1989. An introduction to the physiography and history of the Bisley Experimental Watersheds in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. General Technical Report SO-72. USDA Forest Service Southern Forest Experiment Station, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 22 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, R. F. 1970. The vegetation structure of a Puerto Rican rain forest before and after short-term gamma radiation. Pp. D103–D140 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff. 1975. Soil taxonomy: a basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. Agriculture Handbook 436. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sollins, P. & Drewry, G. 1970. Electrical conductivity and flow rate of water through the forest canopy. Pp. H137–H153 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rainforest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Sollins, P., Robertson, G. P. & Uehara, G. 1988. Nutrient mobility in variable- and permanentcharge soils. Biogeochemistry 6:181–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ter Braak, C. J. F. 1987a. CANOCO – A FORTRAN program for canonical community ordination by (partial) (deli-ended) (canonical) correspondence analysis, principal components analysis and redundancy analysis. Version 2.1. TNO Institute of Applied Computer Science, Wageningen.Google Scholar
Ter Braak, C. J. F. 1987b. The analysis of vegetation-environment relationships by canonical correspondence analysis. Vegetatio 69:69–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tracey, J. G. 1969. Edaphic differentiation of some forest types in eastern Australia. I. Soil physical factors. Journal of Ecology 57:808–816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vitousek, P. M. & Sanford, R. L. 1986. Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:137167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadsworth, F. H. 1957. Tropical rain forest. Pp. 13–23 in Haig, I. T., Huberman, M. A. & Din, U. A. (eds). Tropical Silviculture, Volume II. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome.Google Scholar
Wadsworth, R. K. 1970. Point-quarter sampling of forest-site type relations at El Verde. Pp. B97–B104 in Odum, H. T. & Pigeon, R. F. (eds). A tropical rain forest. National Technical Information Service, Springfield.Google Scholar
Wilde, S. A., Voigt, G. K. & Iyer, J. C. 1972. Soil and plant analysis for tree, culture. Oxford and IBH Publishing, New Delhi. 224 pp.Google Scholar