The Lesser Antillean dry forests

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

(WWF ID: NT0220) covers the dry forests of the coastal lowlands of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

, where the eastern

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

meets the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. These forests generally form a band around the interior wet forests of higher elevations, and because they are often flat, they are under the most pressure for human settlement and agriculture.

Location and description

The primary islands in this ecoregion with drye forests are Guadeloupe, Dominica,

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

, Saint Lucia,

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea w ...

, and Grenada. The islands are part of a volcanic arc; their interiors generally have mountainous highlands that catch more rainfall, and thus support moist forests of the Windward Islands moist forests ecoregion. The largest area of dry forests on the islands is on Saint Lucia, where the dry forests ring the coast to about 3 km into the interior, where higher elevations grade into moist forest. The same pattern holds on the island of Grenada. On the islands of Saint Vincent and Martinique, the dry forests occur in the thin transition band between the coastal dry shrubland and the upland moist forest.

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is ''

Tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

'' (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(Af)). This climate is characterized as hot, humid, and having at least 60 mm of precipitation every month. Precipitation is slightly higher than that of the coasts, which range from 1,000 mm/year on Dominica to 1,600 mm/year on St. Vincent.

Flora and fauna

The dry forest ecoregion is 35% closed canopy, 20% open forest, 15% built-up urban area, 10% in agricultural use and the remainder in shrubs or open water. Characteristic tree species of the dry forest include those of genus '' Didymopanax '' and '' Charianthus''. Mosses and ferns are common. The soils are often disturbed by past agricultural use.

References

{{reflist Neotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of France Ecoregions of the Caribbean