Skip to Main Content
-
The ecological consequences of socioeconomic and land-use changes in post agriculture Puerto Rico
Author(s): H. Ricardo Grau; T. Mitchell Aide; Jess K. Zimmerman; John R. Thomlinson; Eileen Helmer; Xioming Zou
Date: 2003
Source: BioScience. Vol. 53, no. 12 (Dec. 2003): Pages 1159-1168
Publication Series: Miscellaneous Publication
PDF: View PDF (0 B)Description
Contrary to the general trend in the tropics, forests have recovered in Puerto Rico from less than 10% of the landscape in the late 1940s to more than 40% in the present. The recent Puerto Rican history of forest recovery provides the opportunity to study the ecological consequences of economic globalization, reflected in a shift from agriculture to manufacturing and in human migration from rural to urban areas. Forest structure rapidly recovers through secondary succession, reaching mature forest levels of local biodiversity and biomass in approximately 40 years. Despite the rapid structural recovery, the legacy of pre-abandonment land use, including widespread abundance of exotic species and broadscale floristic homogenization, is likely to persist for centuries.Publication Notes
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
Citation
Grau, H. Ricardo; Aide, T. Mitchell; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Thomlinson, John R.; Helmer, Eileen; Zou, Xioming 2003. The ecological consequences of socioeconomic and land-use changes in post agriculture Puerto Rico. BioScience. Vol. 53, no. 12 (Dec. 2003): Pages 1159-1168Keywords
Land-use and land-cover change, Puerto Rico, secondary succession, exotic species, globalizationRelated Search
- The Ecological Consequences of Socioeconomic and Land-Use Changes in Postagriculture Puerto Rico.
- Gap model development, validation, and application to succession of secondary subtropical dry forests of Puerto Rico
- La otra mitad de la conservación forestal
XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer