Deforestation in the Dominican Republic: a village-level view, 1997, Brothers Ts,

Deforestation is still rapid in some parts of the Caribbean, though it has attracted much less attention than deforestation in mainland Latin America. This paper examines the history and causes of the recent rapid deforestation of a lowland karst region of the Dominican Republic in the light of models derived from studies in Central America and the Amazon. Investigation was limited to the vicinity of a single village (Los Limones). Information was drawn from interviews, questionnaires and ground reconnaissance, in addition to archival information and aerial photographs. Deforestation at Los Limones involved many of the same elements seen in mainland deforestation, including construction of access roads, spontaneous agricultural colonization, and pasture conversion, but it followed no single mainland model. Logging, not normally emphasized as a cause of Latin American deforestation, played an important role in opening up the forest to agricultural settlement. Pasture conversion was not a matter of aggregation of large ranches by wealthy absentee landowners, as in the Amazon, but apparently a local response to the economic and ecological advantages of cattle raising. Government actions strongly influenced deforestation, but not via colonization schemes or economic subsidies for cattle ranching; the rhythm of deforestation at Los Limones was tied to the monopolistic practices of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and the social disorganization following his assassination. The national government in fact bears the primary responsibility for deforestation of Los Haitises, a conclusion that contradicts the government's own suggestion that the destruction was largely carried out by poor farmers. Prospects for rehabilitation of the deforested area are gloomy because of the extent of ecological damage and the continued adversarial relationship between the government and the rural population

Late Quaternary Extinct mammals from caves in Sanchez Ramirez Province, Dominican Republic., 2000, Mcfarlane D. A. , Vale A. , Christenson K. , Lundberg J. , Atilles G. , And Lauritzen S. E.

Forest recovery in abandoned agricultural lands in a karst region of the Dominican Republic, 2000, Rivera L. W. , Zimmerman J. K. , Aide T. M. ,

This study documents the status of forest vegetation in the karst region of Los Haitises National Park, Dominican Republic, following the abandonment of pastures (less than or equal to 5 years), young (less than or equal to 5 years) 'conucos' (mixed plantings), old (7-30 years) conucos, and cacao plantations (> 25 years). We compared these sites to vegetation characteristics of patches of forest in karst valleys ('old forest'-too old to know their exact land use) and on mogote tops with no recent history of human disturbance. The youngest sites date to when squatters were removed from Los Haitises National Park. Forest structure (density, basal area, and species richness of woody plants greater than or equal to 1 cm DBH) were all significantly affected by land use. Density was highest in intermediate-aged valley sites (old conucos) and mogote tops, while both basal area and species richness tended to increase with age of abandonment. Although cacao plantations had been abandoned for more than 25 years the species diversity was low, due to continued regeneration of this persistent crop. Abandoned pastures had the greatest nonwoody biomass and were dominated by the fern Nephrolepis multiflora which had completely replaced pasture grasses. An ordination of the woody plant communities separated the mogote tops from valleys, emphasizing the strong control that topography has on the forest community in moist and wet tropical forests on karst substrates. Valley sites were arranged in the ordination in order of their age, suggesting a successional sequence converging on the composition of the 'old forest' sites

A new Megalonychid Sloth from the Late Wisconsinan of the Dominican Republic., 2002, Rega E. , Mcfarlane, D. A. , Lundberg, J. , And Christenson, K.

Land use change and soil nutrient transformations in the Los Haitises region of the Dominican Republic, 2005, Templer P. H. , Groffman P. M. , Flecker A. S. , Power A. G. ,

We characterized soil cation, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) transformations within a variety of land use types in the karst region of the northeastern Dominican Republic. We examined a range of soil pools and fluxes during the wet and dry seasons in undisturbed forest, regenerating forest and active agricultural sites within and directly adjacent to Los Haitises National Park. Soil moisture, soil organic matter (SOM), soil cations, leaf litter C and pH were significantly greater in regenerating forest sites than agricultural sites, while bulk density was greater in active agricultural sites. Potential denitrification, microbial biomass C and N, and microbial respiration g(-1) dry soil were significantly greater in the regenerating forest sites than in the active agricultural sites. However, net mineralization, net nitrification, microbial biomass C, and microbial respiration were all significantly greater in the agricultural sites on g(-1) SOM basis. These results suggest that land use is indirectly affecting microbial activity and C storage through its effect on SOM quality and quantity. While agriculture can significantly decrease soil fertility, it appears that the trend can begin to rapidly reverse with the abandonment of agriculture and the subsequent regeneration of forest. The regenerating forest soils were taken out of agricultural use only 5-7 years before our study and already have soil properties and processes similar to an undisturbed old forest site. Compared to undisturbed mogote forest sites, regenerating sites had smaller amounts of SOM and microbial biomass N, as well as lower rates of microbial respiration, mineralization and nitrification g(-1) SOM. Initial recovery of soil pools and processes appeared to be rapid, but additional research must be done to address the long-term rate of recovery in these forest stands. (C) 2004, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved