Survival and height growth of tree seedlings and rooted cuttings intro
duced into artificially shaded and unshaded plots in a degraded dry fo
rest were measured at intervals for nine months. Ten tree species were
selected to represent a range of ecological characteristics of the dr
y-forest plant community on St. John, U.S. Virgin islands. Of three pr
opagule types - seeds, seedlings, and rooted cuttings - introduced to
field plots, seedlings survived best (52%) over the initial nine-month
period. Cuttings of six species rooted successfully in a shadehouse,
but only two of these species survived the nine-month field experiment
. Seed germination was low, under 11% for eight of ten species tested,
and foul species did not germinate. Subsequent mortality of seedling
recruits was moderately high. Plumeria alba was the only species for w
hich seedling height growth was not significantly greater than cutting
height growth. Shading treatment (25% of full sun) significantly incr
eased seedling survivorship (p = 0.03) but suppressed growth slightly
for some species. Shading enhanced survival of seedlings produced from
broadcast seeds, but not seed germination. Mortality occurred during
dry periods, apparently from drought stress. Results suggest (2) that
seedling introductions are the preferred propagule type (over seeding
or rooted cuttings) for ecological restoration of degraded tropical dr
y forests, and (2) that some level of shading is required to increase
the survivorship of many dry-forest species or to avert complete morta
lity of some species. This study suggests that early secondary dry for
est may be best restored by underplanting within the existing vegetati
on. Sufficient shading suitable for growth of native dry-forest trees
may be attained using a nurse crop of fast-growing leguminous trees.