Hurricanes, anticipated to become more frequent and intense, significantly influence the structure of tropical communities, especially on islands. Tropical mountainous streams are characterized by low levels of sunlight reaching the channel due to densely closed canopy and food web driven by inputs of allochthonous material. As such, hurricane wind disturbance can potentially change the trophic basis of tropical allochthonous streams by changing light availability, which should promote an increase in producer biomass and/or chlorophyll per unit of area. The primary goal of this study is to first examine the top-down effects of dominant stream-macro consumers (shrimp) on algal standing crop accrual (chlorophyll a, AFDM) & other consumers in post-hurricane increased sunlight conditions. We conducted a shrimp exclusion study 20 months after Hurricane made landfall in PR, in two parallel stream branches at the Yunque forest, to determine the effects on periphyton accrual. Experimental shrimp exclusion in our headwater stream confirmed macroconsumer top-down control on benthic communities. In the absence of shrimp, algae reach similar levels as in a permanently canopy open stream. Algal and periphyton accrual rates were higher in QPA than QPB despite higher top-down consumer pressure in QPA. Dominant omnivorous consumers, like shrimp, can stabilize ecosystem structure by halting other consumers' responses to new environmental conditions.