Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Clark, Michael
• Horn, S P
• Orvis, KH

Titel

High-Elevation Savanna Landscapes in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic, Hispaniola

Ist Teil von

• Mountain research and development, 2002-08, Vol.22 (3), p.288-295

Erscheinungsjahr

2002

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Headwater unincised savanna (sabana) landscapes in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic, have a vegetation cover dominated by the native tussock grass, Danthonia domingensis. Sites occur on gentle-relief upland surfaces approximately between 2000 and 2400 m, mainly in Jose del Carmen Ramirez National Park (JCR) and Juan B. Perez Rancier National Park (JBPR). Surface and subsurface data from 1 site constrain regolith age overlying granitoid saprolite to <12,570 14C years BP. We conclude that the savannas studied are dambos that developed in response to environmental change during and after the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Dambos elsewhere are widely regarded as reliable indicators of major Quaternary environmental change. Dambos have unique hydrological, ecological, scenic, and utilitarian attributes; their importance will increase with greater tourism, as will the concerns for their sustainable use. This first publication on dambos in the Caribbean signals the need for more research into their origin, evolution, and state of equilibrium.