Data from: Regional variation in Caribbean dry forest tree species composition

How does tree species composition vary in relation to geographical and
environmental gradients in a globally rare tropical/subtropical broadleaf
dry forest community in the Caribbean? We analyzed data from 153 Forest
Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands (USVI), along with 42 plots that we sampled in the Bahamian
Archipelago (on Abaco and Eleuthera Islands). FIA data were collected
using published protocols. In the Bahamian Archipelago, we recorded
terrain and landscape variables, and identified to species and measured
the diameter of all stems ≥5 cm at 1.3 m height in 10 m radius plots. All
data were analyzed using clustering, ordination, and indicator species
analysis at regional and local scales. Regionally, the largest cluster
group included over half of all plots and comprised plots from all three
island groups. Indicator species were native Bursera simaruba
(Burseraceae) and Metopium toxiferum (Anacardiaceae). Species composition
was similar to dry forests throughout the region based on published
studies. Other groups we identified at the regional scale consisted of
many Puerto Rico and USVI plots that were dominated by non-native species,
documenting the widespread nature of novel ecosystems. At the local scale
the Bahamian data clustered into two main groups corresponding largely to
the two islands sampled, a pattern consistent with the latitudinal aridity
gradient. Bahamian dry forests share previously undocumented compositional
similarity with native-dominated dry forests found throughout the
Caribbean, but they lack extensive post-disturbance novel dry forests
dominated by non-native trees found in the Greater Antilles.