The landscape ecology of tropical secondary forest in montane Costa Rica

Multinomial logistic models of land use/land cover in montane Costa Rica an d landscape pattern analysis showed that relative to agriculture, secondary forest occurred closer to old-growth forest, further from roads, in forest reserves, and at higher elevations. Collinearity between explanatory varia bles yielded simple multivariate models; proportion of surrounding old grow th predicted secondary forest most accurately. An old-growth matrix [mean p atch size (MPS) 24.5 ha], located mainly within protected areas, dominated elevations greater than 2500 m. A matrix of agriculture (MPS 23.5 ha), with smaller patches (approximately 9 ha) of secondary forest and old growth, d ominated elevations from 1500 to 2500 m. Combining secondary forest with ol d growth decreased forest parch number and increased MPS from 7.3 to 37.1 h a. I concluded that: (a) secondary forest pattern is nonrandom, so ancillar y data will aid its mapping with satellite imagery. The variables elevation , agriculture distance, road distance, and population density distinguished secondary forest from old growth with 74% accuracy; (b) socioeconomic and biological forces probably interact to create these secondary forest patter ns; and (c) the strong association between secondary forest and old growth supports the concept that tropical forest recovery depends on the landscape structure of remnant forest.