Applied Vegetation Science && (2015) Ecological disturbance regimes caused by agricultural land uses and their effects on tropical forest regeneration Isela Zerme~ no-Hern andez, Mois es M endez-Toribio, Christina Siebe, Julieta Ben  ıtez-Malvido & Miguel Mart  ınez-Ramos Keywords Forest recovery; Mexico; Old-fields; Selva Lacandona; Succession; Tropical rain forest Nomenclature Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 26 Jan 2015 (http://www.tropicos.org) Received 16 June 2014 Accepted 16 December 2014 Co-ordinating Editor: Norbert H€ olzel Zerme~ no-Hern andez, I. (corresponding author, izermeno@cieco.unam.mx, ) 1 M endez-Toribio, M. (mendeztm@comunidad.unam.mx) 1 Siebe, C. (siebe@unam.mx) 2 Ben  ıtez-Malvido, J. (jbenitez@cieco.unam.mx) 1 & Mart  ınez-Ramos, M. (mmartinez@cieco.unam.mx) 1 1 Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Aut onoma de M exico, Antigua Carretera a P atzcuaro No. 8701, Ex-Hacienda de San Jos e de la Huerta, C.P. 58190 Morelia, Michoac an, Mexico; 2 Instituto de Geolog  ıa, Universidad Nacional Aut onoma de M exico, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510 Ciudad de M exico, DF, M exico Abstract Aims: Across tropical regions, large forest areas have been converted to different agricultural land uses. These uses impose ecological disturbances affecting forest regeneration potential after field abandonment. Finding ways to identify those agricultural land uses limiting forest regeneration is a critical issue for conserving biodiversity in human-modified landscapes. Here, we developed a fast and inex- pensive index, useful for quantifying ecological disturbance regimes associated with agricultural land uses, and tested its power to predict forest regeneration potential. Location: Municipality of Marqu es de Comillas, southeast Mexico. Methods: Interviews were conducted with local farmers to quantify distur- bance components (size, duration and severity) associated with agricultural land uses. The scaled values of these disturbance components were added in a simple ecological disturbance index (EDI). In each one of nine recently abandoned fields representing a wide range of EDI values, two 10-m 2 plots, one close to and one far from nearby forest remnants, were established. On each plot, all woody plants of 10–100 m in height were counted, identified and measured in four 1- m 2 subplots, at the time of field abandonment and 2 yr later. In addition, at each plot, 18 site condition (microclimate and soil) attributes were quantified at the time of abandonment. Plant density, biomass, species richness and species diver- sity were used as regeneration variables, and EDI and site condition attributes as independent ones. Results: Two years after abandonment, most regeneration variables declined exponentially with EDI. Biomass was not explained by EDI but changed posi- tively with light availability. EDI was strongly correlated to vapour pressure defi- cit, which also predicted regeneration potential (except biomass). Conclusions: EDI is a cheap and easy tool for quantifying the ecological distur- bance produced by a wide range of agricultural land uses. The index predicted several regeneration variables as well as or better than direct measurements of the site condition at the time of abandonment. EDI can be used to identify biodi- versity-friendly agricultural land uses in human-modified landscapes. Introduction Over past decades tropical forests have suffered extensive and rapid deforestation because of their conversion to agri- cultural systems (FAO 2009). A variety of agricultural land uses are practised in the tropics, ranging from traditional small-scale shifting cultivation to large-scale conventional agriculture, such as sugar cane and eucalypt plantations, cattle pastures and soybean fields. Agricultural land uses can be considered ecological disturbance regimes (sensu Pickett & White 1985) with the potential to affect the speed and extent of forest regeneration in abandoned fields (Guariguata & Ostertag 2001; Myster 2004; Chazdon et al. 2009). Hence, the biodiversity conservation in 1 Applied Vegetation Science Doi: 10.1111/avsc.12161 © 2015 International Association for Vegetation Science