TITLE:
Rain Forests in Subtropical Mountains of Dominican Republic
AUTHORS:
Eusebio Cano, Alverto Veloz, Ana Cano-Ortiz
KEYWORDS:
Cloud Forest, Hispaniola, Communitiy, Central and Eastern Ranges
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.10,
May
9,
2014
ABSTRACT:
This
article presents a study of the cloud forest dominated by the Prestoea montana (R. Graham) Nichols.
This is a hyperhumid forest located in ravines and shaded areas with cloud
condensation, and at heights ranging from 350 - 1250 masl. This type of forest
is always found in thermal and mesotropical belts, without ever reaching the supratropical
belt. This study was based on works published by other authors and on our own
field sampling. The article begins by describing the geological, bioclimatic,
biogeographic and floristic aspects of the areas in the study, specifically the
hyperhumid areas in the central and eastern mountains. Due to the scarcity of
phytosociological works on this area, we apply a statistical treatment to
compare our communities with other associations described in Cuba. This
comparison reveals that these forest groups are floristically quite distant
from each other, both with regard to alliance and association species. We
therefore propose two new communities: Cyathea
furfuracea Baker and Prestoea montana (Grah.) Nichol; Ormosia krugii Urb.
and Prestoea montana (Grah.) Nichol.