The Bahamian pineyards are a tropical and subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion in

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

and the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

Geography

The Bahamian pineyards cover an area of . Pineyards are found on four of the northern islands in the Bahamas:

Andros Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many ...

, Abaco,

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, with the town of West End located east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island i ...

, where they cover half of the island, and New Providence, as well as the Caicos Islands.

Origin and history

Despite having a rich modern flora and fauna and being critically important to native and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

species of the Bahamas, preserved pollen records collected from

sinkholes A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

indicate that the pineyards, or at least the ones of the northern Bahamas (Abaco, Grand Bahama, New Providence, and Andros) have a largely anthropogenic origin. Prior to the arrival of the

Lucayan people The Lucayan people ( ) were the original residents of the Bahamas before the European conquest of the Americas. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first indigenous Ame ...

, the northern Bahamas were originally covered in

Bahamian dry forests The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, covering an area of . They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including Andros, Abaco, and Grand Ba ...

composed primarily of poisonwood (''Metopium toxiferum''),

gumbo-limbo ''Bursera simaruba'', commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, West Indian birch, naked Indian, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to the Neotropics, from South Florida to Mexico and the Caribbean ...

(''Bursera simaruba''), and Fabaceae, Arecaceae, ''

Eugenia ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

'', & ''

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

'' species, with a unique reptile-dominated faunal community: the top herbivore of this habitat was the extinct Albury's tortoise (''

Chelonoidis ''Chelonoidis'' is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies. The multiple subspecies of t ...

alburyorum'') and the top predator was the

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

Cuban crocodile The Cuban crocodile (''Crocodylus rhombifer'') is a small-medium species of crocodile endemic to Cuba. Typical length is and typical weight . Large males can reach as much as in length and weigh more than . Despite its smaller size, it is a hig ...

(''Crocodylus rhombifer''). The presence of conifers like ''Pinus'' and ''Juniperus'' was likely minimal and localized around this time. Following the arrival of the Lucayans around

830 __NOTOC__ Year 830 ( DCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * King Wiglaf of Mercia regains control from Wessex, and returns to the throne.S ...

CE, the large reptiles were wiped out within 1-2 centuries, and the original hardwood forests were cleared between

875 __NOTOC__ Year 875 ( DCCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 12 – Emperor Louis II dies in Brescia, after having named his c ...

to 1090 CE by increasing harvesting for firewood and a newly-introduced

fire regime A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...

for the purposes of

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

cultivation, leading to the islands having a more open habitat increasingly dominated by weedy, secondary-successional species such as southern bayberry (''Myrica cerifera''), West Indian nettle tree (''Trema lamarckianum'') and ''

Vachellia ''Vachellia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, commonly known as thorn trees or acacias. It belongs to the subfamily Mimosoideae. Its species were considered members of genus '' Acacia'' until 2009. ''Vachellia'' ...

'' species. Pollen records indicate that the pine population significantly increased after

970 Year 970 ( CMLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 970th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' designations, the 970th year of the 1st millennium, the 70th yea ...

CE, with the modern pyrogenic pine forests being established by 1200 CE. An expansion of Barbados juniper (''Juniperus barbadensis'') also happened at the expense of the pines between 1400 and 1500. Between 1510 to 1765, after most of the Lucayans had been enslaved by the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

and taken to Hispaniola, a series of

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

led to the inundation of most of the low-lying pineyards with these being taken over by

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

, causing the pineyards to be restricted to upland areas. However, there was a new expansion of pineyards after the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

when

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

took over the islands and reintroduced a fire regime for agricultural opportunities. However, over next three centuries, human activities post-colonization again lead to a decline in the extent of the pineyards.

Flora

Pineyards are dominated by Bahamian pine ( ''Pinus caribaea'' var. ''bahamensis''), while pinepink ('' Bletia purpurea''), bushy beard grass (''

Andropogon glomeratus ''Andropogon glomeratus'' is a species of grass known by the common names bushy bluestem and bushy beardgrass. This bunchgrass is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It has also naturalized in other areas. The genus name ''Andropogon ...

''), southern bracken fern (''

Pteridium aquilinum ''Pteridium aquilinum'' (bracken, brake or common bracken), also known as eagle fern, is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres. Originally native to Eurasia and North America, the extreme lightness o ...

''), Florida clover ash ('' Tetrazygia bicolor''), Bahamian trumpet tree ('' Tabebuia bahamensis''), West Indian snowberry (''

Chiococca alba ''Chiococca alba'' is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) native to Florida and the extreme southern tip of Texas in the United States, Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Galápagos, and tropical Sou ...

''), devil's gut (''

Cassytha filiformis ''Cassytha filiformis'' or love-vine is an orangish, wiry, parasitic vine in the laurel family (Lauraceae), found in warm tropical regions worldwide in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. It is an obligate parasite, meaning it ...

''), poisonwood (''

Metopium toxiferum ''Metopium toxiferum'', the poisonwood, Florida poisontree, or hog gum, is a species of flowering tree in the cashew or sumac family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to the American Neotropics. It produces the irritant urushiol much like its clo ...

''), coontie (''

Zamia integrifolia ''Zamia integrifolia'', also known as coontie palm is a small, tough, woody cycad native to the southeastern United States (in Florida and Georgia), the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Description ''Zamia integrifolia'' produces reddish ...

'') and thatch palm ('' Coccothrinax argentata'') grow in the

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

. Without regular

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s, pineyards will be supplanted by broadleafed

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

. Young Bahamian pines require extensive amounts of sunlight to grow, and are resistant to fire once they become adults.

Fauna

Fauna found in the pine forests includes rock iguanas (''

Cyclura ''Cyclura'' is a genus of lizards in the family Iguanidae. Member species of this genus are commonly known as "cycluras" or more commonly as rock iguanas and only occur on islands in the West Indies. Rock iguanas have a high degree of endemism, ...

'' spp.), boas ('' Epicrates'' spp.), the West Indian woodpecker (''Melanerpes superciliaris''), the

Bahama woodstar The Bahama woodstar or Bahama hummingbird (''Nesophlox evelynae'') is a species of hummingbird endemic to the Lucayan archipelago, including the Bahamian and Turks and Caicos islands. It is named the "hummer" by locals due to a distinct humming ...

(''Calliphlox evelynae''), the

Bahama yellowthroat The Bahama yellowthroat (''Geothlypis rostrata'') is a New World warbler. It is a resident breeder endemic to the Bahamas. Taxonomy It is closely related to common yellowthroat, Altamira yellowthroat and Belding's yellowthroat, and is also con ...

, (''Geothlypis rostrata''), the possibly-extinct Bahama nuthatch (''Sitta insularis''), the Bahama oriole (''Icterus northropi''), the Bahama swallow (''Tachycineta cyaneoviridis''), and the buffy flower bat (''Erophylla sezekorni'').

Kirtland's warbler Kirtland's warbler (''Setophaga kirtlandii''), also known in Michigan by the common name jack pine bird, or the jack pine warbler, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae), named after Jared Potter Kirtland, an Ohio doct ...

s (''Dendroica kirtlandii'') migrate every year from

jack pine Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana'') is an eastern North American pine. Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and ...

forests in the

Lower Peninsula of Michigan The Lower Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Lower Michigan – is the larger, southern and less elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; the other being the Upper Peninsula, which is separated by the S ...

to spend the winter in the Bahamian pineyards. Many of these species are endemic to this habitat and depend on the pines, and are threatened by activities such as deforestation and storm damage that have led to declines in the extent of the forest.

Threats

Increased logging of junipers after colonization and the pines themselves after the 20th century has again lead to a decline in the extent of the pineyards, which has been compounded by invasive species such as the beach sheoak (''Casuarina equisetifolia'') and the increasing frequency of hurricanes due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

; Hurricanes

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the F ...

, Jeanne, and especially Dorian have all dealt massive, lasting damage to the pineyards. At least one (sub)species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

, the Bahama nuthatch (''Sitta (pusilla) insularis'') may have been driven to extinction in 2019 as a result of Hurricanes Matthew and Dorian; a distinct population of the Bahama oriole from Abaco was also extirpated in the 1990s following Hurricane Andrew. Evidence indicates that tropical hardwood forests such as the ones that formerly covered the Bahamas are naturally much more resilient to hurricane damage than pine-dominated ones; due to this, the special vulnerability of the pineyards ecosystem to climatic extremes may be due to its anthropogenic origin.

References