XVI International Botanical Congess

A comparison of plant communities within burned and unburned areas was conducted within a tropical humid and tropical dry forest in Bolivia. Impacts of burning depended on forest type. In the humid forest, canopy tree species richness was lower in the burned forest, whereas burning did not affect tree richness in the dry forest. Sapling- and pole-size tree diversity was similar among the study areas, but tree densities were greater in burned areas in both forest types. Vine diversity and vine density were increased by burning in the humid forest. Lianas and herbs were the dominant life forms in the understory of burned areas in the humid forest, compared to lianas and shrubs which dominated the dry forest. The humid forest was damaged more by fire than the dry forest and had greater liana infestation.