Central American Atlantic moist forests
Central American Atlantic moist forests are a vibrant and biodiverse biome situated along the Caribbean lowlands from Guatemala to Panama. This tropical region is characterized by heavy rainfall, receiving between 100 to 200 inches of precipitation annually, and is home to a dense canopy of tall trees that provide a rich habitat for various species. The forests predominantly exist at elevations below 1,640 feet (500 meters) and feature a unique blend of North and South American flora and fauna. Notable features include diverse plant life, such as various palm species and towering trees from genera like Swietenia and Cedrela, as well as unique riparian habitats with species like Pachira aquatica.
While the region houses a variety of birds, including the great green macaw and the Honduran emerald, it also serves as a crucial refuge for large mammals like jaguars, pumas, and tapirs. However, these forests face significant threats from human activities, including logging, agricultural expansion, and pollution, which lead to habitat fragmentation. Conservation efforts are underway in certain protected areas across the region, such as Pico Bonito and Tortuguero, to safeguard this crucial ecosystem. Additionally, climate change poses growing challenges, leading to increased storm frequency and altering species distribution, which further jeopardizes the ecological integrity of these moist forests.
Central American Atlantic moist forests
- Category: Forest Biomes
- Geographic Location: Central America
- Summary: This large Central American biome is characterized by permanent heavy rainfall and tall trees with dense canopy, a tropical jungle of important species richness.
The Central American Atlantic Moist Forests biome encompasses all the Caribbean lowland forests of Central America from Guatemala to Panama. The region is characterized by the heavy rainfall and dense canopy that creates an extensive structural habitat for a wide range of species. Set at elevations mainly below 1,640 feet (500 meters), this ecoregion represents a unique combination of North and South American biotas, featured within expanses of jungle, swamp area, and unique estuary systems and coastal lagoons.
The Central America region's unique geographical position and contours generate high humidity and precipitation conditions for the Caribbean slopes. The tropical and subtropical portions of the biome vary in precipitation, falling within a range of 100 to 200 inches (250 to 500 centimeters) of rain annually across the region.
Plant Life
Vegetation distribution shows a slight difference between the northern and southern portions of the biome, mainly related to changes in palm abundance and dominance in the understory but sharing most of the main plant groups and species. Some of the most common palms here are those in genera Welfia, Socratea, Iriatea, and Raphia. Among other tree types, genera such as Pentaclethra, Carapa, Dipteryx, Apeiba, Bursera, Carapa, Cedrela, Cordia, Ficus, Terminalia, Swietenia, and Lecythis dominate the canopy.
Pachira aquatica is a common riverside tree and often serves as the perch for one of the many species of kingfisher that live along riparian corridors. There are swamped and flooded areas with characteristic palm vegetation formations that give way to mangroves and floating vegetation at the coastline.
Animal Types
The volume of endemic species is not as high as in some neighboring biomes, but unique combinations here characterize Central America as the bridge between two continental ecoregions. There is remarkable variety in birds here, however, with species such as Honduran emerald (Amazilia luciae), yellow-billed cotinga (Carpodectes antoniae), snowy cotinga (Carpodectes nitidus), streak-crowned antvireo (Dysithamnus striaticeps), grey-headed piprites (Piprites griseiceps) and the great green macaw (Ara ambiguus).
For Central America, this biome represents a vital refuge for several large mammal species, as much of the Pacific slopes are highly disturbed and historically altered by human activities. Most of the heavier forest cover of Central American countries today is located in the Caribbean lowlands; these represent some of the most viable habitats. Species such as puma (Puma concolor), jaguar (Panthera onca), tapir (Tapirus bairdii), brocket deer (Mazama spp.), Central American spider monkey and brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi and A. fusciceps), the endemic Roatan agouti (Dasyprocta ruatanica), and the highly persecuted peccaries (Tayassu peccary, Pecari tajacu) find in this biome their most readily available habitats in all of Central America.
Among the amphibians and reptiles, characteristic species include the threatened O'Donnell's salamander (Bolitoglossa odonnelli), Moravia de Chirripo salamander (Bolitoglossa alvaradoi), and worm salamander (Oedipina spp.); rare frogs such as the blue-sided tree frog (Agalychnis annae), tree frogs (Duellmanohyla spp., Pristimantis spp.), rainfrogs (Craugaster spp.), marsupial frog (Gastrotheca cornuta), and Hernandez tree frog (Pristimantis hernandezii); the Honduran dwarf spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura palearis); and Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii).
Human Interaction
The Central American Atlantic Moist Forests biome is threatened by increasing human intervention. Historically, banana plantation development degraded large portions of the lowland floodplains, and much of the remaining forests are retainedin areas with some physical relief that evaded plantation agriculture. Logging, from selective to clearance, is still a threat, with many tree species at risk in the region. Hunting, pollution, and expansion of the agricultural boundaries seriously threaten to inflict habitat fragmentation on the biome.
Some critical protected areas are present in several countries, and as a response to these threats, they have become better organized. Representative areas include Pico Bonito, Rio Platano, and Bosawas in Honduras; Wawashan, Cero Silva, and Indio Maíz in Nicaragua; Tortuguero, La Selva, Maquenque, and Barra del Colorado in Costa Rica; and Chagres in Panama.
Global warming has led to higher temperatures and somewhat lower precipitation levels in this region, along with storm surges and sea-level rise. In fact, satellite data from the early twenty-first century shows a fifteen percent increase in extreme weather events affecting the region and documenting the first recorded instances of traditionally South American species migrating northward into these forests, suggesting climate change is already reshaping the biome's biodiversity. Hurricane activity is expected to increase in frequency and intensity. The outfall from these trends will be greater erosion, disruption of lower-altitude and riverbank habitat, altered timing of seed germination and bird migration, increased threat to trees from insects and invasive mammalian species, and related changes that will exert pressure on the sustainability of this biome's species diversity and range.
Bibliography
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