Biogeograpy - Neotropic

the Neotropic or Neotropical realm is one of the eight terrestrial realms. This realm includes South and Central America, and in North America the southern Mexican lowlands, the Caribbean islands, and southern Florida, because these regions share a large number of plant and animal groups.

The realm also includes temperate southern South America. In contrast, the Neotropical Floristic Kingdom excludes southernmost South America, which instead is placed in the Antarctic kingdom.

The Neotropic is delimited by similarities in fauna or flora. Its fauna and flora are distinct from the Nearctic (which includes most of North America) because of the long separation of the two continents. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama joined the two continents two to three million years ago, precipitating the Great American Interchange, an important biogeographical event.

Source: Wikipedia.org

Neotropic Terrestrial Eco-regions

The Neotropic includes more tropical rainforest (tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests) than any other realm, extending from southern Mexico through Central America and northern South America to southern Brazil, including the vast Amazon Rainforest. These rainforest ecoregions are one of the most important reserves of biodiversity on Earth. These rainforests are also home to a diverse array of indigenous peoples, who to varying degrees persist in their autonomous and traditional cultures and subsistence within this environment.

Source: Wikipedia.org

Note: When collecting these regions, the regions that don't exist in the Caribbean Islands, the Bahamas, Florida, or Coastal South America were removed.

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

These occur mainly in lowland areas influenced by northeasterly or northwesterly trade winds, and on windward mountain slopes.

Tropical rainforest ecosystems include significant areas of biodiversity, often coupled with species native only to one area within the region. Rainforests are home to half of all the living animal and plant species on the planet and roughly two-thirds of all flowering plants can be found in rainforests.

Lowland equatorial evergreen rain forests, commonly known as tropical rainforests, are forests which receive high rainfall (tropical rainforest climate with more than 200 cm, or 80 inches, annually). These forests occur in a belt around the equator, with the largest areas in the Amazon basin of South America, the Congo basin of central Africa, and parts of the Malay Archipelago.

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests are sometimes subdivided into Tropical Wet Forests (greater than 400 cm/yr rainfall), Humid Forests (200 cm/yr to 400 cm/yr), Moist Forests (100 cm/yr to 200 cm/yr), and dry (50 cm/yr) forests. All but the wet forests may have a wet season where most of the rain fall occurs and a shorter or longer dry season that sees little or no rain.

The tropical rain forests of many of the islands are home to a wide and diverse population of birds. They are often very difficult to spot due to the dense foliage of the jungle canopy's and the low light levels. Places like Asa Wright Nature Center provide excellent guides and access to the birds habitat. Species range from the Hawks and Eagles

Specific Regional Rainforests include: Guyana, Guayanan Highlands moist forests, Guianan moist forests, Paramaribo swamp forests, Orinoco Delta swamp forests, Tepuis, and Guayanan Highlands moist forests; Leewards, Leeward Islands moist forests; Windwards, Windward Islands moist forests; Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago moist forests.

Typical Bird Species:

Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests

Threatened by timber extraction and man-made fires that change their age structure and density. An example is the Bahamian pineyards.

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Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands are grassland terrestrial biomes located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes

Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants. Savannas are grasslands with scattered trees. Shrub-lands are dominated by woody or herbaceous shrubs.

Rainfall in tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is between 50 and 130 centimeters (20 to 50 inches) a year, and can be highly seasonal, with the entire year's rainfall sometimes occurring within a couple of weeks.

Typical regional savannas include: Trinidad and Tobago, Aripo Savannas; Guyana, Guianan Savanna.

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Flooded grasslands and savannas

Flooded grasslands and savannas is a terrestrial biome of the WWF biogeographical system . Its component ecoregions are generally located at subtropical and tropical latitudes, which are flooded seasonally or year-round. A common term is swamp.

Flooded grasslands and savanna habitats, plant communities, ecosystems, ecozones, and ecoregions are characterized by: very wet to saturated soil moisture content in nutrient-rich soils in temperate to tropical climates

An example is the Florida Everglades.

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Deserts and xeric shrublands

Occurs in areas of rain shadows created by mountains, and also in the more arid climate of the southern Caribbean.

Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome characterized by receiving only a small amount of moisture, usually defined as less than 250 mm of annual precipitation. They form the second-largest terrestrial biome (after Taiga), covering 19% of Earth's land surface area.

Xeric Shrublands include: Leeward Islands xeric scrub and Windward Islands xeric scrub.

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Mangrove

A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves occur worldwide in the tropics and subtropics, mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The total mangrove forest area of the world in 2000 was 137,800 square kilometres (53,200 sq mi), spanning 118 countries and territories.

Mangroves are salt tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to life in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope with salt water immersion and wave action. They are adapted to the low oxygen (anoxic) conditions of waterlogged mud.

The mangrove biome, or mangal, is a distinct saline woodland or shrubland habitat characterized by depositional coastal environments, where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high-energy wave action. The saline conditions tolerated by various mangrove species range from >brackish water, through pure seawater (3 to 4%), to water concentrated by evaporation to over twice the salinity of ocean seawater (up to 9%).

Mangrove forests include: Bahamian mangroves, Florida mangroves, Greater Antilles mangroves, Guianan mangroves, Lesser Antilles mangroves and Trinidad mangroves.

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Coastal, Offshore, and Pelangic Zones

These habitats are respectively, within sight of land, beyond sight of land but over continental shelf, and open ocean beyond the continental shelf.

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