GUáNICA STATE FOREST

The 'Guánica State Forest' () is a subtropical dry forest located in southwest Puerto Rico. The area was designated as a forest reserve in 1919 and a United Nations Biosphere Reserve in 1981.^[1] It is considered the best preserved, most virgin subtropical forest and the best example of dry forest in the Caribbean.^[2]

Contents

Geography

Flora and fauna

Footnotes

Geography

Located in the dry orographic rain shadow of the Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico's driest area, temperatures in the forest are, on average, around 80 °F in shaded areas and 100 °F in exposed areas. The average temperature is 25.3 °C (77.5 °F) and the average annual rainfall is 791 mm (31.1 in).^[3]

Flora and fauna

Approximately half of Puerto Rico's birds and nine of 16 the endemic bird species occur in the Guánica State Forest.
The vegetation in the forest is divided into three main groups: upland deciduous forest (which occupies 23.5 km²), semi-evergreen forest (7.2 km²), and scrub forest (5.8 km²).Lugo, A. E., J. A. Gonzalez-Liboy, B. Cintrón, and K. Dugger. (1978) Structure, productivity and transpiration of a subtropical dry forest in Puerto Rico. ''Biotropica'' 10:278-291. Similar to other insular dry forests species diversity is low; between 30 and 50 tree species are found per ha.^[4] More than 700 plant species, of which 48 are endangered and 16 are endemic to the forest, occur within the forest.

Footnotes

1. 2006 Federal Register, 71 FR 48883
2. Ewel, J.L. & J.L. Whitmore. 1973. The ecological life zones of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. USDA For. Serv. Res. Pap. ITF-18.
3. Silander, S., H. Gil de Rubio, M. Miranda, and M. Vazquez. 1986. Los Bosques de Puerto Rico, Volume II. Compendio Enciclopédico de los Recursos Naturales de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
4. Murphy, P. G., and A. E. Lugo. (1986) Structure and biomass of a subtropical dry forest in Puerto Rico. ''Biotropica'' 18:89-96.