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A Link Between Hurricane-Induced Tree Sprouting, High Stem Density And Short Canopy In Tropical Dry Forest, Skip Van Bloem, Peter G. Murphy, Ariel E. Lugo

Publications

The physiognomy of Caribbean dry forest is shorter, denser and contains a greater proportion of multi-stemmed trees than other neotropical dry forests. Our previous research, conducted after Hurricane Georges in 1998, has shown that dry forest trees sprout near the base following hurricane disturbance, even if the trees have not incurred structural damage. However, for these hurricane-induced sprouts to contribute to the physiognomy of the forest, they must grow and survive. We followed sprout dynamics and stem mortality on 1,407 stems from 1998, after Hurricane Georges, until 2005. The number of surviving sprouts and the proportion of sprouting stems decreased …