ABSTRACT
A perspective on the subject has been proposed by Harper et al. (2005), suggesting that forests that are subject to frequent natural disturbances may exhibit lower magnitude or distance of edge inuence. Here, edge creation may have relatively little impact on forest composition and structure. Such resilience may be characteristic of the TDF ecosystem, which is characterized by ecological processes adapted to seasonal uctuations of water availability. Also, the TDF ecosystem has been historically subjected to pressures from human disturbance and is considered to be capable of recovering more quickly after disturbance (Murphy and Lugo 1986a; Segura et al. 2003). Quesada et al. (2009) point out that, in fact, evidence suggests that TDFs are more susceptible to human disturbance because growth rate and regeneration in this ecosystem are slow, reproduction is highly seasonal, and most plants are mainly outcrossed and dependent on animal pollination. Quesada et al. (2009) also point out the importance of light dynamics (gap dynamics) in the regeneration of TDFs after disturbance and suggest more efforts to understand the fundamental ecological processes of this ecosystem.
