The Vegetation of the Coastal Region of Suriname. Results of the Scientific Expedition to Suriname 1948—49 Botanical Series No
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The vegetation of the Coastal Region of Suriname. Results of the scientific expedition to Suriname 1948—49 botanical series No. 1 by J.C. Lindeman (Utrecht) CONTENTS GENERAL PART CHAPTER I. Introduction. 1 ....... Literature 2 Methods 5 ......... Terminology 7 ......... Vernacular 9 names ........ Value of vernacular names 12 The soil. 14 .......... The climate 18 CHAPTER II. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS 21 General remarks 21 Difficulties with herbaceous vegetation; illumination effects. 22 results 25 Interpretation ........ and 25 Mangrove swamps ....... Savannas 26 ......... Forests 27 SPECIAL PART CHAPTER III. DESCRIPTION OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE INVESTIGATED AREAS 28 I. Wia- Transect from Moengo tapoe to the ‘Wiawiabank’ or wia flat 28 The saline coastal belt 29 . articulatus and Machaerium Typha-Cyperus swamp lunatum scrub 31 ........ Third to sixth with Cereus wood ridge , . 31 . Leersia hexandra and 32 swamps Erythrina glauca groves . Second series of ridges and 33 Cyperus giganteus swamps . The old ridges beyond km 9.5 34 II The 35 swaying swamps ....... The oldest and the savannas 37 ridges ..... II. Coronie 38 of the road 38 Brackish North . area . and fresh-water South of the road 39 Ridge complex swamp Third and fourth line 40 Totness 40 III. Nickerie 41 belt and brackish North of the Nickerie Mangrove swamps River 41 Fresh-water area South of the Nickerie River 44 ... IV. Tibiti 45 CHAPTER IV. MANGROVE AND STRAND 46 . ... I. belts the lower the rivers 46 Mangrove along part of . along rivers outside Suriname 48 Mangrove . and other 49 Epiphytes accompanying species ... II. Coastal 50 mangrove ........ Regressing coast 50 Accrescent 50 coast . Accompanying species ....... 53 Mixed forest 54 mangrove ....... Strand 54 mangrove ........ III. Hibiscus tiliaceus scrub 55 ....... Strand scrub in the Caribbean 56 ...... units 57 Sociological ........ IV. Herbaceous strand communities 58 . CHAPTER V. THE HERBACEOUS SWAMPS 59 ... I. Eleocharis mutata 60 community ...... T II. Brackish ypha angusti folia-Cyperus articulatus swamps 61 Distribution outside Suriname 63 ...... HI. Leersia hexandra 64 swamps ....... IV. 64 Cyperus giganteus-Typha-Scleria swamps ... Distribution outside Suriname 66 ...... V. Rhynchospora corymbosa type 69 Distribution outside Suriname 69 ...... VI. 70 Lagenocarpus guianensis-other Cyperaceae type . Distribution outside Suriname . 71 . CHAPTER VI. SWAMP FOREST 72 I. Mixed wood 72 swamp ....... II. Erythrina glauca wood .74 swamp ... HI. Machaerium lunatum scrub ...... 75 Palm .76 swamp ...... III CHAPTER VII. MARSH FOREST 76 Habitat 76 Floristic 78 composition ....... I. 79 Triplaris surinamensis-Bonafousia tetrastachya type . //. 79 Symphonia globulifera type ...... that both 80 Features are common to . types . - 111. Hura forest 80 crepitans ....... Dominance of 81 palms . IV. association 82 Mauritia-Chrysobalanus ..... CHAPTER SEASONAL FOREST VIII. EVERGREEN . 83 I. Cereus wood 86 ridge ........ II. Intermediate ridge forest 87 ...... Parinari III. ridge forest ....... 87 IV. Typical seasonal forest 88 evergreen . V. Forest the shell near Coronie 88 of ridges .... CHAPTER IX. SAVANNA FOREST AND SAVANNA . 89 I. Savanna 89 forest ........ II. Wallaba forest 90 ........ CHAPTER X. SUCCESSION 91 Successions on clay soil 92 ........ Halosere starting on growing mud flat along the coast . 92 Sere in brackish water. .■ 94 starting . in fresh water 94 Hydroseres ...... Succession on 95 sand, psammosere ...... CHAPTER AUTECOLOGICAL REMARKS XL ... 96 Annotated list of 99 species ...... Selected list of vernacular names . .117 . Additions tables I and II to . .120 . Additions the records of table I to . swamp . 120 Additions to the forest records of table II . 123 . BIBLIOGRAPHY 130 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES Panorama of the Great Frontispiece. Swaying swamp I. Climate of Paramaribo and Coronie Fig. 19 Fig. III. Recent abrasion of the coast near Nickerie 51 . IV. distribution of the trees in some forests 84 Fig. Height-class . Table IV. Salt tolerance of the and more important swamp moisture-loving . 98 species . Table V. Biological of the 99 spectra swamp types .... 32 photographs by the author IV Separate in the back flap: Sketch of and soil from of the Fig. II. vegetation profile parts transect Wiawia and of the second line Coronie. flat-Moengo tapoe near Table I. Swamp records. Table II. Forest records. Table III. Analyses of soil samples. Map I. The coastal region and vegetation sketch of the transect Moengo tapoe-Wiawia flat. II. sketch of the Nickerie the Tibiti and Map Vegetation region, savanna the Coronie area. of The scale Great of divine Swaying sun swamp beats conception or seen the with from wind infinite the revels North, —that variation in the storms of design distance and rain and some sweep detail; islands. over” there a “Here it dreary is (JENMAN) a waste, garden on in which magnitude the GENERAL PART CHAPTER I Introduction. The data on which this study is based, were gathered during a scientific which lasted expedition from September 1948 to May 1949. The author had accepted an invitation to join Prof. J. LANJOUW who this entrusted with the botanical of the on expedition was part investigat- ions. They worked in close contact with the other staff members, the Dr D. C. and P. H. and the zoologists GEIJSKES CREUTZBERG, geo-mor- phologists Prof. J. P. BAKKER and Dr A. BEOUWER. Especially the with the latter be of for cooperation group proved to prime importance the study of the vegetation. For more general Information with regard the aims and of this the reader referred to scope expedition is to the preliminary report (26). the During expedition various landscapes were visited and several The contribution describes the main vegetation types investigated. present the coastal of vegetation types occurring in region Suriname and discusses their development and their relations to each other and to the soil. The of the herbaceous will vegetation swamps be discussed in more detail and as far as with that of similar outside Suriname. compared possible swamps The coastal it region as is understood here comprises the whole area formed the sea in recent times. by geologically According to our present knowledge it is roughly delimited by a line, running from Albina in the East over Moengo, Republiek ± 35 km South of Paramaribo, along the River Oreala the Wayombo to a point near on Corantine River. As our all the map I shows, it comprises not only alluvia that YZERMNA designates but also of his continental as fluviomarine a considerable part ones As far the in the of the coastal (BAKKER 25). as ridges younger part region this could be checked with the which are concerned, map unpublished map Dr ZONNEVELD of the C.B.L. had drawn of these ridges and which he kindly placed at my disposal. The whole which covers some consists of alluvial area, 18,000 square km, clays and sands. The majority of the clay soils is permanently inundated and is covered The sand which by extensive swamp vegetations. is locally mixed with the but or replaced by shells, was deposited by sea, locally 2 disturbed by the action of the wind and raised in the form of ridges, in Suriname called "ritsen”. These either in ridges appear singly or groups, and reach a considerable the coast may length. Along present locally strandbars, ridges in statu nascendi, are found with a bare beach in the tidal zone and above the high-tide mark covered by strand vegetation. The from the covered forest. The ridges that are farther removed sea are by number of in the where the oldest ridges is highest eastern part ones rise to a height of 10 m above sea level. Westwards their number decreases while the depth of the coastal flats increases (map I). In the district Nickerie the ridges are reduced to small isolated patches that in the of the disappear immensity swamps. all the of shells The eastern ridges are completely sandy, deposits restricted the where in the being to western part, they occur e.g. sur- of Paramaribo and further westwards Coronie. Near loundings up to Groningen and along the road between the mouth of the Coppename River and Coronie we find examples of shell beds, which are several meters thick and consist exclusively of layers of shells and shell fragments. A of the however, consists of sand with but large part ridges, a slight admixture of shells. The time in the coastal amounted three months we spent region to 29th divided over three trips to different parts of the area. On September 1948 belt of about we entered the coastal in the eastern part Suriname km north of 6 Moengo tapoe. 35 It required two months to complete the distance of not quite km, this from the the second half of December which separated place ocean. In we reached a place halfway between Coronie and the mouth of the Cop- River and had ten to the distance pename days investigate vegetation some North and South of the Coronie road. After the of the had been the author program expedition completed, had the opportunity to visit the northwestern tip of the coastal region in the district Nickerie. Literature. Additional information obtained from was papers by Lanjouw (35) and data derived from the labels of the and Geijskes (30, 31) some were older collections that are preserved in the Utrecht herbarium. The literature contains but little information with to the in the regard swamp vegetation neighbouring countries, as most travellers, not only in South America but else in the to have confined their attention to everywhere tropics, appear the higher parts of the interior and to have avoided the swampy places. However with the increased interest for studies in recent ecological years there in this aversion of the which in seems to come a change swamps, my opinion was entirely unjustified. The in itself swamp vegetation presents not only many interesting problems, but a sound knowledge of the coastal area is indispensable when 3 the of one wishes to understand the geomorphology and development of the whole.