A numerical analysis of arborescent communities in the rain forest of the Luquillo mountains, Puerto Rico

Cluster analysis and canonical ordination were used as complementary techniques to identify major associations in a lower montane rain forest in Puerto Rico. These techniques were applied to forestry inventories from both secondary and primary communities. Eight major forest types were identified from the analyses and were confirmed by field checks. Distribution of these types was strongly correlated with past land-use and topographic position. Comprehensive ecological surveys are rare in moist tropical forests; however, forestry inventories are common and the results of this study suggest that valuable ecological information can be obtained from these data sets as well.