The Jamaican dry forests is a

tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

ecoregion located in southern

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Geography

The ecoregion covers three discontinuous areas of Jamaica. The largest area extends along the south coast of the island, from

Morant Point Morant Point in Saint Thomas Parish is the easternmost point of mainland Jamaica and the site of Morant Point Lighthouse. History It is called ''Cape Morante'' on several early maps including one dated 1572. It has had the name ''Morant Point'' ...

, Jamaica's easternmost point, to Black River Bay in the west. Kingston, Jamaica's capital and largest city, is in the ecoregion. Smaller areas of dry forest occur around

Negril Negril is a small (pop. 6,900) but widely dispersed beach resort and town located in Westmoreland and Hanover parishes at the far western tip of Jamaica, southwest from Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Westmoreland is the wes ...

at the western end of the island, and east of

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

along the island's northern shore. The most extensive dry forests are in the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

hills of the

Hellshire Hills Hellshire Hills is a region of dry limestone hills in St Catherine Parish, Jamaica, which forms part of the Portland Bight Protected Area. The region supports one of the largest remaining areas of dry limestone forest in the Caribbean, and support ...

Saint Catherine Parish Saint Catherine (capital Spanish Town) is a parish in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parishes because of its many resources. It includes the f ...

and

Portland Ridge Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

in Clarendon Parish in southern Jamaica. These areas are dry because they lie in the

orographic Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the Blue Mountains. The Hellshire Hills have been described as one of the last substantial areas of primary, undisturbed dry forest in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Much of the remaining Jamaican dry forest lies within the

Portland Bight Protected Area The Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) was created by the Jamaican government in 1999 to protect a large marine and terrestrial area on the island of Jamaica located southwest of Kingston. Nearby cays such as Little Goat Island are included. It ...

which includes the Portland Ridge and the Hellshire Hills, which are the best-studied areas of Jamaican dry forest.

Flora

The Jamaican dry forests are dominated by plants in the

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

, the

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, e ...

and the

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

. In this regard they are similar to

Puerto Rican dry forests The Puerto Rican dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of . These forests grow in areas receiving less than of rain annually. Many of the ...

, but differ sharply from dry forests on the mainland of

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

which are dominated by the

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

and the

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: ...

. Over 271 plant species have been reported from the Hellshire Hills, including 53 species

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 elsew ...

to Jamaica. McLaren and coauthors (2005) found forests in the Hellshire Hills to be dominated by ''

Drypetes ''Drypetes'' is a plant genus of the family Putranjivaceae, in the order Malpighiales. It was previously in the family Euphorbiaceae, tribe Drypeteae, and was the sole pantropical zoochorous genus of the family. The genus comprises about 200 ...

lateriflora'', ''

Metopium brownei ''Metopium brownei'' (also known as chechem, chechen, or black poisonwood) is a species of plant in the family Anacardiaceae. Distribution and habitat It is found in Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Cuba, Jamaica, northern Guatemal ...

'', ''

Bauhinia ''Bauhinia'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Jo ...

divaricata'' and ''

Krugiodendron ferreum ''Krugiodendron ferreum'', commonly known as the black ironwood or leadwood, is a species of tree in the family Rhamnaceae. It is found in southern Florida, throughout the Caribbean and from southern Mexico to Honduras. Originally described by M ...

''.McLaren, K.P., M.A. McDonald, J.B. Hall and J.R. Healey. 2005. Predicting species response to disturbance from size class distributions of adults and saplings in a Jamaican tropical dry forest. Plant Ecology 181:69–84

Fauna

The endangered

Jamaican iguana The Jamaican iguana (''Cyclura collei''), also known commonly as Colley's iguana, is a large species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. The species is endemic to Jamaica. It is critically endangered, even considered extinct between 1948 and 1990 ...

(''Cyclura collei'') is restricted to dry forests in the Hellshire Hills. The endemic tree frog '' Eleutherodactylus cavernicola'', two endemic thunder snakes, ''

Tropidophis stullae ''Tropidophis'', common name wood snakes or West Indian wood snakes,Hampton Wildman Parker, Parker HW, Grandison AGC (1977). ''Snakes — a Natural History''. Second Edition. London and Ithaca: British Museum (Natural History) and Cornell Univers ...

'' and '' Tropidophis jamaicensis'', and the endemic blue-tailed galliwasp (''

Celestus duquesneyi ''Celestus duquesneyi'', commonly known as Duquesney's galliwasp or the blue-tailed galliwasp, www.reptile-database.org. is a species of lizard in the family Diploglossidae. The species is endemic to Jamaica. Etymology The specific name, ''duque ...

'') are restricted to the Portland Ridge. Other endemic species present in the area include the Jamaican boa ('' Chilabothrus subflavus''), the common snake ('' Typhlops jamaicensis''), the Jamaican red groundsnake ('' Hypsirhynchus callilaemus''), the Jamaican coney (''Geocapromys brownii'') and 11 endemic subspecies of birds. The last Jamaican populations of the skink ''

Mabuya mabouya The Greater Martinique skink (''Mabuya mabouya'') is a species of skink found on Martinique. It has shiny, bronze-colored skin, with a pair of light stripes that run along its upper flanks. It was previously thought to be widespread throughou ...

'' are believed to be in the Hellshire Hills.

References

{{reflist Neotropical dry broadleaf forests Ecoregions of the Caribbean Ecoregions of Jamaica