Zapata Swamp

Category: Marine and Oceanic Biomes.

Geographic Location: North America.

Summary: The coastal Zapata Swamp is the largest wetland in Cuba.

Zapata Swamp is widely considered to be the best-preserved wetland throughout the entire Caribbean. Located on the southwestern coast of Cuba about 124 miles (200 kilometers) away from the capital city Havana and adjacent to the infamous Bay of Pigs, the Zapata Swamp Biosphere Reserve is Cuba’s largest protected area. To date, more than 900 species of plants, 175 species of birds, 31 species of reptiles, and more than 1,000 unique invertebrates have been cataloged within the swamp. Among these are several species that are endemic (found only here), including at least five endemic plants, three endemic birds—the Zapata wren, the Zapata rail, and the Zapata swallow—an endemic rodent, the Zapata hutia, and an endemic fish, the Cuban gar.

The Zapata Swamp, locally called Ciénaga de Zapata, is also home to the West Indian manatee and the Cuban crocodile, both of which are highly endangered. More than 75 percent of the 2,300-square-mile (6,000-square-kilometer) reserve is marsh and brackish lagoon, making the Zapata Swamp the largest wetland in Cuba.

Except in the mountains, the climate of Cuba is semitropical or temperate. The average minimum temperature is 70 degrees F (21 degrees C); the average maximum is 81 degrees F (27 degrees C). The mean temperature at Havana, which is just north of the swamp, is about 77 degrees F (25 degrees C). The trade winds and sea breezes make coastal areas more habitable than temperature alone would indicate. Cuba has a rainy season from May to October; it averages about 49 inches (125 centimeters) of precipitation per year.

Biodiversity

Within the Zapata Swamp Biosphere Reserve are white-sand beaches, mangrove swamps, fresh- and saltwater marshes, semi-dry deciduous forests, and even some evergreen forests. This multitude of habitat types enables a wide variety of organisms to use the different areas of the swamp, and leads to higher biodiversity. Of particular importance are the marshes, which are used as nursery areas by juvenile fish, which in turn become food for overwintering migratory birds.

One of the great wonders of the Zapata Swamp is the multitude of birds that call the swamp home, either year round or as a stopover. More than 170 bird species have been identified here. The island of Cuba hosts 25 endemic bird species, 22 of which can be found nesting within the swamp reserve’s boundaries. Zapata Swamp is also an important stopover point for migratory birds; at least 65 species of migratory birds use the swamp during migrations from North to South America.

The swamp is a popular birdwatching destination because of the great diversity of bird species offered. A birdwatcher can potentially see everything from the common black hawk, peregrine falcon, and the greater flamingo to the world’s smallest bird, the bee hummingbird, all in one visit to the reserve. Without the presence of the intact marshes and wetlands that the Zapata Swamp offers, migrating birds would miss a vital resting point during their migrations, and native birds would lack important nesting grounds.

Human Impact

The first efforts to protect the Zapata Swamp happened in 1936, when the area was declared a National Refuge for Fishing and Hunting. However, the declaration was never enforced, and modest development in the area continued unabated. In 1961, Ciénaga de Zapata National Park was established, but again, this designation was seen as largely symbolic. Luckily, and despite the swamp’s proximity to the capital city, deforestation and development (plagues that destroyed other Cuban wetlands) never took hold in Zapata.

In 1971, international attention to the swamp increased when the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, added the Zapata Swamp to its list of Wetlands of International Importance. Wetlands selected for this list are recognized as having international significance in terms of their ecology, botany, zoology, or hydrology. At the time of the designation, however, Cuba was not part of the Ramsar Convention, so the Zapata Swamp was not included as a Ramsar site; it would be formally added to the convention in 2001.

In 2000, the Zapata Swamp was designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve, in recognition of efforts to reconcile conservation and development by emphasizing the involvement of the local community. Zapata Swamp National Park remains one of the most important tourist destinations in Cuba, attracting birdwatchers from around the world. However, development pressure in the forms of additional tourist infrastructure and the broadening of local communities continue to threaten the swamp. Protection of swamp habitat is vital, not only for the myriad of organisms that call Zapata Swamp home, but also for the local people who depend on the swamp for their livelihoods.

Global warming is bringing new stresses to the Zapata Swamp habitat, in the forms of harsher heat waves that accelerate evaporation and alter sprouting, hatching, and mating cycles, and bunched rainfall cycles leading to severe flooding. Cuba has already recorded a decrease in annual rainfall in the range of 15 percent since the 1960s. In the twenty-first century, rising sea level threatens the swamp with the impact of greater storm damage and erosion, as well as inundation of root systems and disruption of the intertidal habitats here.

Bibliography

Batze, Darol P. and Andrew H. Baldwin, eds. Wetland Habitats of North America: Ecology and Conservation Concerns. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.

"Ciénaga de Zapata National Park." UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2022, whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1801/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.

Echenique, Lazaro Miguel. “Zapata Swamp: Cuba’s Largest, Wildest Wetland.” International Journal of the Wilderness 4, no. 2 (1998).

Wildlife Conservation Society. “Zapata Swamp, Cuba.” http://www.wcs.org/saving-wild-places/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/zapata-swamp-cuba.aspx.