Post-agriculture versus post-hurricane succession in southeastern Nicaraguan rain forest

Abstract

We compared five-year old forests developing after agriculture to those recovering from Hurricane Joan (1988) and to the pre-hurricane forest, at two sites in tropical rain forest in southeastern Nicaragua. We used non-parametric cluster analysis to group transects by their species compositions, and compared their species richness, estimated total species richness, dominance, density and basal area. Post-agriculture transects showed distinctive species compositions and lower diversity than post-hurricane transects, which were in turn more similar to the pre-hurricane forest. These results are similar to those found by other researchers in the Amazon and in Puerto Rico. Land use history was more important than proximity in the landscape in determining the composition and structure of post-disturbance forests in this region.