The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

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 no ...

, covering an area of . They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including

Andros Andros (, ) is the northernmost island of the Greece, 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 fruitful and ...

, Abaco, and

Grand Bahama Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

, where they are known as coppices. Dry forests are distributed evenly throughout the Turks and Caicos.

Whiteland coppice

Whiteland coppices are shrubby forests that occur near the ocean. Vegetation occurring in whiteland coppice is able to withstand

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

spray and rocky,

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

. Trees that grow in whiteland coppices include cinnecord (''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

choriophylla''), brasiletto ('' Caesalpinia vesicaria''), haulback tree ('' Mimosa bahamensis''), autograph tree ('' Clusia rosea''), manchineel tree (''Hippomane mancinella''), West Indian mahogany ('' Swietenia mahagoni''), sea grape (''

Coccoloba uvifera ''Coccoloba uvifera'' is a species of tree and flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Its common names include seagrape and baygrape. It is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean. It has edible fru ...

''), gumbo-limbo (''

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

''), cabbage palmetto (''

Sabal palmetto ''Sabal palmetto'' (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, SAY-bəl''), also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of Saba ...

''), and poisonwood (''

Metopium toxiferum ''Metopium toxiferum'', the poisonwood, Florida poisontree, coral sumac, 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 muc ...

''). The understory features snake bark ('' Colubrina arborescens'') as well as

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

such as erect prickly pear (''

Opuntia stricta ''Opuntia stricta'' is a species of large cactus that is endemic to the subtropical and tropical coastal areas of the Americas, especially around the Caribbean. Common names include erect prickly pear and nopal estricto (Spanish language, Spanis ...

''), Turk's cap cactus (''

Melocactus ''Melocactus'' (melon cactus), also known as the Turk's head cactus, Turk's cap cactus, or Pope's head cactus, is a genus of cactus with about 30–40 species. They are native to the Caribbean, western Mexico through Central America to northern S ...

intortus''), queen of the night (''

Selenicereus grandiflorus ''Selenicereus grandiflorus'' is a cactus species originating from the Antilles, Mexico and Central America. The species is commonly referred to as queen of the night, night-blooming cereus (though these two terms are also used for other speci ...

''), and robin tree cactus ('' Pilosocereus polygonus'').

Blackland coppice

Blackland coppice covers the interior of many of the islands, usually in elevated regions. For this reason some blackland coppice exists on hills entirely surrounded by

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

of Caribbean pine (''Pinus caribaea'' var. ''bahamensis''). Trees found within them include West Indian mahogany ('' Swietenia mahagoni''), wild tamarind ('' Lysiloma latisiliquum''), red cedar (''

Cedrela odorata ''Cedrela'' is a genus of several species in the mahogany family, Meliaceae. They are evergreen or dry-season deciduous trees with pinnate leaves, native to the tropical and subtropical New World, from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina ...

''), false mastic ('' Sideroxylon foetidissimum''), horseflesh (''

Lysiloma ''Lysiloma'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Fabaceae. The genus is native to the Americas, and species range from Arizona and New Mexico through Mexico and Central America to Costa Rica, and in Florida, Cuba, Hispaniola, ...

sabicu''), pigeon plum ('' Coccoloba diversifolia''), Jamaican dogwood ('' Piscidia piscipula''), gumbo-limbo (''

''), and lancewood ('' Nectandra coriacea''). Shaded by the canopy, plants such as satin leaf (''

Chrysophyllum oliviforme ''Chrysophyllum oliviforme'', commonly known as the satinleaf, is a medium-sized tree native to Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and Belize. It is also known as damson plum, wild star-apple and saffron-tree. It gets the name "satinleaf ...

''), Spanish stopper ('' Eugenia foetida''), Bahama wild coffee ('' Psychotria ligustrifolia''), Bahama strongbark ('' Bourreria succulenta''), night-scented orchid ('' Epidendrum nocturnum''), wormvine orchid (''

Vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

barbellata''), and potbelly airplant ('' Tillandsia paucifolia'') grow in the

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...

Rocky coppice

Rocky coppice occurs on

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

pings between

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s and pineyards. These forests are often flooded at high

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

. They are dominated by spiny black olive ('' Bucida molinetii''), but '' Swietenia mahagoni'' and ''

'' also grow within them.

Fauna

Fauna that reside within Bahamian dry forests includes the Bahaman funnel-eared bat (''Natalus tumidifrons''), rock iguanas ('' Cyclura'' spp.), the

Bahamian hutia The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia (''Geocapromys ingrahami'') is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in the Bahamas. About the size of a rabbit, it lives in burrows in forests or shrubland, emerging at night to feed on leaves, fruit, ...

(''Geocapromys ingrahami''), and the Cuban amazon (''Amazona leucocephala bahamensis'').

References

{{reflist Neotropical dry broadleaf forests Ecoregions of the Bahamas Ecoregions of the Caribbean * * Geography of the Turks and Caicos Islands

Whiteland coppice

Blackland coppice

Rocky coppice

Fauna

See also

References