The Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project Volume 1: land cover, vertebrate species distributions, and land stewardship

Abstract

The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple use management of the Nation's forest resources for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the States and private forest owners, and management of the national forests and national grasslands, it strives-as directed by Congress-to provide increasingly greater service to a growing Nation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

Impacts of Urban Development on Precipitation in the Tropical Maritime Climate of Puerto Rico

“…Precipitation in Puerto Rico shows a yearly cycle with a bimodal distribution (two maxima) peaking first in May as the wet season starts followed by the "Mid Summer Drought" [43] and then a second and biggest peak in October-November, consistent with patterns across Central America and the Caribbean Basin [25,33,36,39,44,45]. Mean annual temperatures range from 22 °C to 25 °C [42]. Six distinctive Holdridge Ecological Lifezones (HELZ; [46]) are found in Puerto Rico (HELZ are defined by humidity, annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) ranging from Rain Forest (precipitation over 4000 mm/year) to Dry Forest (precipitation below 900 mm/year) [30]; however 99% of the island is covered by Moist Forest, Dry Forest, and Wet Forest HELZ ( Figure 1).…”

“…Puerto Rico is 160 km long by 50 km wide and includes several smaller islands [42]. The main island has a Central Mountain Range running east west, the Luquillo Mountains in the northeast and karst topography dominates in the northwest.…”

“…The main island has a Central Mountain Range running east west, the Luquillo Mountains in the northeast and karst topography dominates in the northwest. Fifty-three percent of the island's terrain is mountainous, 25% are plains and 20% hills [42]. Wetter regions occur on the northern side of mountains that shield the southern drier region from Atlantic moisture.…”

“…The US Forest Service's Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico provided Puerto Rico HELZ digital maps from the Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project [42] that were used in this study. There are six HELZs in Puerto Rico; Subtropical Dry Forest (DF), Subtropical Moist Forest (MF), Subtropical Wet Forest (WF), Subtropical Lower Montane Wet Forest (LMWF), Subtropical Lower Montane Rain Forest (LMRF), and Subtropical Rain Forest (RF).…”

Characterizing Predictability of Fire Occurrence in Tropical Forests and Grasslands: The Case of Puerto Rico

“…Dry, open forests are located in the south, and wetter, more closed forest are located in the north, east, and in the central mountains. The landscape is a complex matrix of wildlands, developed areas, and agricultural lands [42,43].…”