Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Dry Evergreen Forest (Coppice) Communities of North Andros Island, Bahamas

1992; Torrey Botanical Society; Volume: 119; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/2997030

2325-8055

Inge K. Smith, John L. Vankat,

Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies

SMITH, I. K. AND J. L. VANKAT (Institute of Environmental Sciences and Department of Botany, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056). Dry evergreen forest (coppice) communities of North Andros Island, Bahamas. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 119: 181-191. 1992.-The vegetation of fifteen stands of dry evergreen forest was sampled by quadrats and the data analyzed by dominance-type classification and Detrended Correspondence Analysis. Coastal stands are generally at lower elevations and have fewer sinkholes than interior stands. They also are less dense, less rich in species, lower in species diversity, and have more trees with a low-branched or multiple-stemmed growth form. Coastal stands were divided into two communities: METOPIUM-COCCOLOBA (COASTAL) and COCCOLOBA and interior stands into three: METOPIUM-COCCOLOBA (INTERIOR), METOPIUM-EXOTHEA, and EXOTHEA-BURSERA-METOPIUM. Within the Bahamas, the dry evergreen forest of North Andros is more similar to vegetation which occurs on the northern and central islands than to scrubbier vegetation on the southern islands. Outside the Bahamas, it appears similar to the tropical hardwood hammocks of southern Florida and some communities on limestone and coral soils in the Greater Antilles.