Immediate Impact of Hurricance Hugo on a Puerto Rican Rain Forest

Tropical forests are subject to natural disturbances ranging from falling trees to landslides, forest fires, and hurricanes (Jordan 1986). Hurricane Hugo struck northeastern Puerto Rico on 18 September 1989 (Fig. 1) with maximum sustained winds of over 166 km/h and caused considerable damage to the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF). Hurricanes of this magnitude (category 4) pass over LEF at an estimated recurrence interval of 60 yr (Scatena 1989). Hugo was the first hurricane to pass directly over LEF since 1932. The path, wind velocities, and seasonality of this storm were typical of previous hurricanes, but rainfall associated with the storm was unusually low, 100-339 mm (USDC 1990) vs. 500-750 mm for all previous hurricanes since 1876 (Salivia 1972). Previous research at LEF (Brown et al. 1983) and sampling begun 1 yr prior to Hurricane Hugo have provided us with an exceptional opportunity to measure damage to previously marked trees, to evaluate whether damage to trees can be predicted by wood density, tree diameter, or the presence of buttresses, and to compare light levels before and after the hurricane. Our data on the immediate and short-term (2 mo) effects of Hurricane Hugo should assist later studies to place patterns of damage in the context of recovery.