1. The primary effects of climatic conditions on invertebrate litter communities, and the secondary effects of different forest types, were distinguished by using the sierra palm as a control in a natural experiment along an elevational gradient in the Luquillo Mountains. These mountains have three well-defined forest types along the gradient, with the palm occurring as stands within each forest. 2. Palm litter samples were richer in nutrients, particularly phosphorus, than nonpalm litter, significantly so at higher elevations where leaching would have been expected. In nonpalm litter, mineral concentrations were significantly lower at higher elevations. 3. Animal abundance mirrored the pattern of mineral amounts and declined significantly in mid- and high-altitude forests, but did not decline with increasing elevation in palm stands. A pulse of post-hurricane litterfall was reflected in the high abundance of Coleoptera and Isoptera the following year. 4. The species richness of communities (Margalef’s index) declined with increasing elevation in nonpalm forest litter, but was remarkably similar in palm litter at all elevations. 5. Palm litter communities were more similar to each other (Sørensen’s index) than nonpalm communities, which became less similar with increasing elevation. 6. The differences observed from the lower slopes to the summits, in animal abundance, species richness and the uniformity of communities, are better explained by the contribution of forest composition to the chemical and physical nature of litter and forest heterogeneity, rather than to direct effects of temperature and rainfall differences.

Nutrient inputs into tank bromeliads were studied in relation to growth and productivity, and the abundance, diversity and biomass of their animal inhabitants, in three forest types along an elevational gradient. Concentrations of phosphorus, potassium and calcium in canopy-derived debris, and nitrogen and phosphorus in phytotelm water, declined with increasing elevation. Dwarf forest bromeliads contained the smallest amounts of debris/plant and lowest concentrations of nutrients in plant tissue. Their leaf turnover rate and productivity were highest and, because of high plant density, they comprised 12.8% of forest net primary productivity (0.47 t ha-1 y-1), and contained 3.3 t ha-1 of water. Annual nutrient budgets indicated that these microcosms were nutrient-abundant and accumulated < 5% of most nutrients passing through them. Exceptions were K and P in the dwarf forest, where accumulation was c. 25% of inputs. Animal and bromeliad biomass/plant peaked in the intermediate elevation forest, and were positively correlated with the debris content/bromeliad across all forest types. Animal species richness showed a signi®cant mid-elevational peak, whereas abundance was independent of species richness and debris quantities, and declined with elevation as forest net primary productivity declined. The unimodal pattern of species richness was not correlated with nutrient concentrations, and relationships among faunal abundance, species richness, nutrient inputs and environment are too complex to warrant simple generalizations about nutrient resources and diversity, even in apparently simple microhabitats.

Annual exports of suspended sediment, dissolved and particulate C and N, dissolved N and P, and major cations and anions were measured in three montane tropical rain forest watersheds in Puerto Rico during 1983-1986. Organic C was primarily exported in the form of DOC, and DOC export (33-94 kg ha-1 yr-1) was similar to values in larger tropical watersheds with similar runoff. Particulate and dissolved organic N accounted for 60-70% of the 4-9 kg ha-1 yr-1 of total N exported. Export of base cations and rates of weathering varied with bedrock geology in the three watersheds. Concentrations of suspended sediment, particulate C and N, and DOC increased as a function of discharge in all three streams. NH4+, NO3-, SO42-, and K+ concentrations showed little or no response to variations in discharge; Na-, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, HCO3-, and SiO2 all decreased at high flows. After removing the effects of discharge, residual NO, concentrations in each stream were inversely related to estimated rates of leaf fall. On a watershed basis, export and accumulation of N in biomass were greater than precipitation inputs, suggesting that unmeasured inputs (8-16 kg ha-1 yr-1) were large.

Five years after Hurricane Hugo reduced the aboveground biomass by 50 percent in two forested watersheds in the Luquillo Experimental Forest of Puerto Rico, regeneration and growth of survivors had increased the aboveground biomass to 86 percent of the pre-hurricane value. Over the 5 yr, the net aboveground productivity averaged 21.6 Mg·ha-1·yr-1 and was faster than most plantations and secondary forests in the area. Woodfall and associated nutrient fluxes never attained pre-storm values but by the fifth yr, mean daily total litterfall, and N, P, K, Ca, and Mg fluxes in litterfall were 83, 74, 62, 98, 75, and 81 percent of their pre-disturbance values, respectively. Aboveground nutrient pools of these nutrients ranged from 102 to 161 percent of their pre-disturbance values and were larger after 5 yr because of higher nutrient concentrations in the regeneration compared to the older wood that it replaced. The following sequence of ecosystem reorganization during this first 5 yr period is suggested. An initial period of foliage production and crown development occurred as hurricane survivors re-leafed and herbaceous vegetation and woody regeneration became established. During this period, 75 to 92 percent of the nutrient uptake was retained in the aboveground vegetation and there was a relatively low rate of aboveground carbon accumulation per mole of nutrient cycled. This initial period of canopy development was followed by a peak in aboveground productivity that occurred as early successional species entered the sapling and pole stages. This period was followed by the establishment of the litterfall nutrient cycle and an increase in the net productivity per mole of nutrient cycled. During this 5 yr period, the Bisley forest had some of the lowest withinstand nutrient-use-efficiencies and some of the highest levels of aboveground productivity ever observed in the LEF. The study demonstrates that high levels of productivity and rapid rates of aboveground reorganization can be achieved with rapid within-system cycling and inefficient within-stand nutrient use.