Phenological status of plants in the very tropical dry forests of Curaçao

Tropical dry plant formations comprise diverse forests found in areas that
experience pronounced seasonal changes in precipitation. Across broad
regions, variation in the amount and distribution of precipitation
determine the availability of water, and thus differences in species
composition and phenology. Within any given region hydrology and
topographic position, and geologic substrate may underlie additional
differences in forest attributes.  Of these three factors,
geologic substrate is the least understood but it has been suggested that
its influence on tropical dry forests, and more broadly speaking tropical
forests, results from a combination of mechanisms regulating the use of
water and nutrients. Phenological studies at population, community, and
system levels acknowledge the significance of plan phenology for
different ecological processes. Thus, characterizing phenological patterns
at multiple levels of biological organization as a function of
geologic substrate is important to assess the diversity of behaviors, and
ultimately vulnerability of tropical dry forests to climate change. A
study conducted in Curaçao between September of 1992 to February of 1995
at three sites underlaing by different geologies provided a unique
opportunity to investigate the extent to which plant phenology diverges in
regions underlain by different geologies.