Contrasting Growth Rate Patterns in Eighteen Tree Species From a Post-Hurricane Forest in Nicaragua1

Hurricane Joan struck the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua in October 1988 causing extensive damage to the lowland rain forest of the zone. Six permanent plots were established in 1990 and the growth rates of all individuals in a total area of 6000 m² monitored for six years. Eighteen of the species were abundant enough to measure species-specific growth rates. The post hurricane successional process included a great deal of resprouting of pre-existing individuals and the current state of the forest includes a low but very dense canopy, suggesting that competition is entering an intensive phase. Specific growth rates between the time of the hurricane and the present thus represent establishment or regenerative growth rates and provide an indication of whether or not distinct regeneration niches exist. Three distinct patterns of growth rate seem apparent, fast-growing heliophyles (eight species), slow-growing resprouters (nine species), and vochysia ferruginea, which seems to have a special pattern.