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Caribbean Landscapes and Their Biodiversity

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Caribbean Landscapes and Their Biodiversity CARIBBEAN LANDSCAPES AND THEIR BIODIVERSITY Ariel E. Lugo, Eileen H. Helmer and Eugenio Santiago Valentín SUMMARY Both the biodiversity and the landscapes of the Caribbean forests, and built up land. Recent land cover changes from ag- have been greatly modified as a consequence of human activity. ricultural to urban cover have allowed for the proliferation of In this essay we provide an overview of the natural landscapes novel forests, where introduced plant species have naturalized and biodiversity of the Caribbean and discuss how human ac- and play important ecological roles that appear compatible with tivity has affected both. Our Caribbean geographic focus is on native and endemic flora. the insular Caribbean and the biodiversity focus is on the flora, PAISAJES CARIBEÑOS Y SU DIODIVERSIDAD Ariel E. Lugo, Eileen H. Helmer y Eugenio Santiago Valentín RESUMEN Tanto la biodiversidad como los paisajes del Caribe han diversidad es la flora, bosques y tierras construidas. Cambios sido extensamente modificados como consecuencia de la activi- recientes en la cobertura de las tierras, de cobertura agrícola a dad humana. En este ensayo se presenta una visión global de urbana, han permitido la proliferación de nuevos bosques, don- los paisajes naturales y la biodiversidad del Caribe y se dis- de las especies de plantas introducidas se han naturalizado y cute cómo la actividad humana ha modificado a ambos. Nues- juegan importantes papeles ecológicos que parecen compatibles tro enfoque caribeño es en el Caribe insular y el foco sobre la con la flora nativa y endémica. Introduction masses, is defined in a vari- watersheds draining into the Greater Antilles, the Lesser ety of ways. Geographically, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf Antilles, and the Bahamas. The Caribbean, a region the area known as the Great- of Mexico. The Caribbean The Lesser Antilles date with over one thousand is- er Caribbean includes all the Islands belong to three dif- back to about 45my, while lands and continental land- islands plus those continental ferent archipelagoes: the portions of the Greater Antil- KEYWORDS / Biodiversity Hotspots / Endemism / Introduced Species / Land Cover Change / Novel Ecosystems / Species Naturalization / Received: 11/21/2011. Modified: 09/07/2012. Accepted: 09/11/2012. Ariel E. Lugo. Ph.D. in Plant USDA Forest Service. Ad- Eileen H. Helmer. Ph.D. in For- Eugenio Santiago Valentín. Ecology, University of North dress: Calle Ceiba 1201, Jardín est Ecology, Oregon State Uni- Ph.D. in Plant Taxonomy, Uni- Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Botánico Sur. Río Piedras versity, USA. Research Ecolo- versity of Washington, USA. Director, International Institute 00926-1119, Puerto Rico. e- gist, International Institute of Professor, University of Puerto of Tropical Forestry (IITF), mail: [email protected] Tropical Ecology, Puerto Rico. Rico at Río Piedras. SEP 2012, VOL. 37 Nº 9 0378-1844/12/09/705-06 $ 3.00/0 705 PAISAGENS DO CARIBE E SUA BIODIVERSIDADE Ariel E. Lugo, Eileen H. Helmer e Eugenio Santiago Valentín RESUMO Tanto a biodiversidade como as paisagens do Caribe têm sido bosques e terras construídas. Mudanças recentes da cobertu- extensamente modificadas como consequência da atividade hu- ra das terras, de cobertura agrícola a urbana, têm permitido mana. Neste ensaio se apresenta uma visão global das paisa- a proliferação de novos bosques, onde as espécies de plantas gens naturais e a biodiversidade do Caribe e se discute como a introduzidas têm se naturalizado e desempenham importantes atividade humana tem modificado ambos. Nosso enfoque caribe- papéis ecológicos que parecem compatíveis com a flora nativa nho é no Caribe insular e o foco sobre a diversidade é a flora, e endêmica. les (e.g., Cuba) contain frag- region: the Central American plant genera endemic to Ca- species in the endemic gen- ments that date back as far and the Antillean sub-re- ribbean Islands, sensu stricto. era. Fifty one percent of the as 1000my and the Bahamian gions. The Antillean sub-re- These genera belong to 47 endemic genera are unispe- Islands date back about gion (our focus) is subdivided families. Francisco Ortega et cific (Francisco Ortega et al., 200my (Acevedo Rodríguez into three island groups: the al. (2007) reported 8000 en- 2007). The geographic area and Strong, 2008). As a Bahamas, the Greater Antil- demic vascular plant species that these authors analyzed group, the Caribbean Islands les, and the Lesser Antilles. in the Caribbean and 727 excludes south Florida but it are also known as the West Only 28% of the na- includes the Nether- Indies or Antilles. The Less- tive seed plant flora TABLE I lands Antilles and the er Antilles, separated from in the Caribbean is ESTIMATES OF THE NUMBER OF Venezuelan Antilles the Greater Antilles by the shared with other INTRODUCED TAXA TO THE CARIBBEAN north of Venezuela. Anegada Passage, extend geographic regions of ISLANDS Among the islands, from Sombrero Island on the the world, as the re- Cuba has the largest Taxon Native Introduced north to Grenada on the maining 72% is en- number of species South. None of the Caribbean demic to the West Families of seed plants 205 26 and highest number Islands is in contact with Indies (Acevedo Ro- Genera of seed plants 1447 500 and proportion of en- surrounding continental land- dríguez and Strong, Species of seed plants 10948 1899 demic plants. Aceve- masses. Our emphasis will be 2008). The vascular Floating or submerged plants 4 do Rodríguez and on the terrestrial biodiversity plant flora for the Ca- Cattails 1 Strong (2008) found of Caribbean Islands with the ribbean Islands in- Climber/vines 17 that 105 of the 181 en- Ferns 5 objective of highlighting the cluding introduced demic plant genera oc- Grasses 28 effects of land cover change and cultivated plants Herbs 35 cur on a single island, on the flora. is estimated at 12847 Sedges 1 this and the fact that species in about 231 Shrubs 16 80% are unispecific, The Caribbean Biodiversity families (Acevedo Ro- Trees 220 make the genera vul- Hotspot dríguez and Strong, Crustaceans 2 nerable to land cover 2008), of which 7868 Earthworms 1 change. In the Lesser The Caribbean Islands species, or about Insect 90 Antilles, a third of the (Myers et al., 2000) and ad- 2.3% of the world’s Jellyfishes 1 endemic seed plant jacent marine waters (Rob- total, are endemic to Mites 8 taxa are single-island erts et al., 2000) are global the region. Mollusks 17 taxa, a third occur on biodiversity hotspots. A Of the 231 seed Solifuguds 1 two to three islands, hotspot is a region with ex- plant families in the Tunicates 1 and the rest are dis- ceptional concentration of West Indies, 205 are Amphibians 8 tributed on four or endemic species and experi- indigenous. None of Birds 20 more islands (Acevedo encing exceptional habitat these families is en- Fish 37 Rodríguez and Strong, loss. The Caribbean Islands demic to the Carib- Mammals 20 2008). Torres Santana contain at least 2% of the bean, most are shared Reptiles 15 et al. (2010) estimated world’s endemic plant and with other regions of Fungi 2 that there were 156 vertebrate species on only the Neotropics, and Diseases 2 single-island endemic 0.4% of the Earth’s land sur- 17 are endemic to the The first three rows are from Acevedo Rodríguez and pteridophyte species face (Myers et al., 2000). Neotropics. These 17 Strong (2008) and the rest are from Kairo et al. (2003). in the Caribbean. Kai- families represent Empty cells mean the information is not available in the ro et al. (2003) report- Botanical biodiversity about 49% of the en- publications cited. However, information for some of the ed that 40% of Carib- seed plant taxa is available in the following website: demic seed plant fam- http://botany.si.edu/antilles/WestIndies/query.cfm bean butterflies are The West Indian flora is a ilies in the Neo- And also in www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/ known only from a subset of the Neotropical flo- tropics. Francisco Botany/ single island, which ra (Acevedo Rodríguez and Ortega et al. (2007) The numbers from Kairo et al. add up to 552 species further highlights the (327 plants, 121 invertebrates, 100 vertebrates, and 4 Strong, 2008). Borhidi (1991) and Acevedo Rodrí- fungi and diseases). Kairo et al. also combined the spe- vulnerability of en- identified two phytogeograph- guez and Strong cies according to habitat: 479 terrestrial, 55 freshwater, demic taxa in these ical units in the Caribbean (2008) listed 181 seed and 18 marine. islands. 706 SEP 2012, VOL. 37 Nº 9 TABLE II TABLE III NUMBER OF INTRODUCED PERCENT URBAN, FOREST, AND VEGETATION COVER OF VARIOUS PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES CARIBBEAN ISLANDS IN 2000 TO VARIOUS ISLANDS OF Island area THE CARIBBEAN Island Urban Forest Vegetation (ha) Source Anegada 2.8 64.8 67.0 3990 Kennaway et al., 2008 Island Number of Species Barbados† 20.9 17.1 42.8 43431 Helmer et al., 2008 Dominican Republic 186 British Virgin Islands† 7.0 75.2 80.6 15412 Kennaway et al., 2008 Puerto Rico 182 Dominican Republic*† 1.5 49 99.2 4797317 Hernández and Pérez., 2005 Bahamas 159 Grenada† 8.8 51.1 58.0 31341 Helmer et al., 2008 Jamaica 102 Jost Van Dyke 3.2 82.7 89.1 1036 Kennaway et al., 2008 Bermuda 73 Nevis 7.2 49.2 88.9 9311 Helmer et al., 2008 Haiti 63 NPCG ** 1.4 70.2 80.4 1077 Kennaway et al., 2008 Trinidad & Tobago 61 Puerto Rico† 15.4 44.8 82.4 886951 Kennaway and Helmer., 2007 Barbados 60 St. Croix 14.4 56.7 80.7 21795 Kennaway et al., 2008 Cuba 60 St. Eustatius 7.0 45.1 83.2 2029 Helmer et al., 2008 Antigua-Barbuda 45 St.
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