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G463 Caribbean Serpentine Dry Scrub Group
Type Concept Sentence: This dry scrub has many endemic plant species and genera, and occurs on serpentine soils in Cuba and southwestern Puerto Rico.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Caribbean Serpentine Dry Scrub Group
Colloquial Name: Caribbean Serpentine Dry Scrub
Hierarchy Level: Group
Type Concept: This group occurs in gently rolling flatlands or hills up to 450 m elevation. Despite the great variation in substrate, climate, and species composition, the physiognomy of the serpentine scrub is very constant throughout its distribution. It occurs on ferrallitic soils, which are derived from serpentine in isolated locations in the case of Cuba''s Cajalbana hills and Holguin area. In Cuba, 5% of the soils are serpentine, and these sites support a third of Cuba''s endemic flora. It also occurs in Puerto Rico, especially in the southwest of the island. Examples are dominated by stands of dense, thorny 2- to 4-m high shrubland with emergent palms and evergreen microphyllous trees. The proportion of microphylls and spiny elements is very high, with the exception of cacti which are not common in this type of vegetation. Many plants hyperaccumulate nickel. Stands of serpentine scrubs that alternate with small grassy clearings also occur, except for the more humid, higher elevation communities which are dominated by microphylls and do not present grassy clearings. These often develop into dwarf-grass savannas after grazing or human interference.
Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: No Data Available
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Vegetation is open and dominated by small leaved (microphyllous) and thorny plants. Plants have reduced growth forms, microphylly, stenophylly, sclerophylly, spiny leaves and thorny stems (Iturralde 2001). Due to the plant physiology imposed by the limiting factors of soils derived from serpentines, these communities represent a drier degree than a community living in the same climatic conditions but on non-serpentine rock. Adaptations include xeromorphism or pseudo-xeromorphism, reduced productivity, reduced structure, and advantage of sclerophyllous evergreen shrubs over deciduous trees/shrubs.
Floristics: The following list of species is diagnostic for this group: Acrosynanthus minor, Annona bullata, Antirhea abbreviata, Antirhea orbicularis, Byrsonima bucheri, Coccoloba spp., Coccothrinax fragrans, Coccothrinax spp., Copernicia spp., Exostema purpureum, Hemithrinax rivularis var. rivularis, Hemithrinax rivularis var. savannarum (= Hemithrinax savannarum), Ipomoea cordatotriloba (= Ipomoea carolina), Jacaranda cowellii, Jacquinia shaferi, Myrtus cabanesensis, Neobracea valenzuelana, Paepalanthus brittonii, Passiflora cubensis, Phyllanthus comosus, Phyllanthus orbicularis, Pilosocereus royenii, Rondeletia camarioca, Sideroxylon cubense (= Dipholis cubensis), Spirotecoma apiculata, Tabebuia lepidota, Tabebuia linearis, Thouinia striata var. portoricensis, Zanthoxylum dumosum, and many other very restricted endemics. Grasses include Aristida neglecta, Aristida refracta, Aristida vilfifolia, Imperata brasiliensis, Schizachyrium multinervosum (= Andropogon multinervosus), and Schizachyrium sanguineum var. hirtiflorum (= Andropogon hirtiflorus). Trees (with some palms) include Acrocomia crispa (= Gastrococos crispa), Byrsonima crassifolia, Coccothrinax spp., and Copernicia spp. In examples in Puerto Rico, common shrubs on serpentine include Bursera simaruba (which may be dominant), Comocladia dodonaea, Croton lucidus, Pictetia aculeata, Pilosocereus royenii, Plumeria alba, and Thouinia striata var. portoricensis (Cedeño-Maldonado and Breckon 1996, Huggins et al. 2007). There are many plants endemic to serpentine.
Dynamics: On serpentine soils derived from ultramafic rock in Cuba, there are 131 nickel-hyperaccumulating plant species, and 24 endemic genera of plants (Borhidi 2001).
Environmental Description: Climate: Annual precipitation ranges from 1000-1900 mm, with one or two dry seasons annually. Soil/substrate/hydrology: Occurs on serpentine soils on isolated sites occurring on the coastal zone and up to lower montane places. In Cuba, 5% of the soils are serpentine, and these sites support a third of Cuba''s endemic flora (Iturralde 2001). In southwestern Puerto Rico, especially the Susua area (Gould et al. 2008) it occurs on serpentine soils of the Nipe and Rosario series (Miller and Lugo 2009).
Geographic Range: This group occurs on areas of serpentine on the islands of Cuba, and Puerto Rico (especially in the southwest).
Nations: CU,PR
States/Provinces: No Data Available
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.860800
Confidence Level: Low - Poorly Documented
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class | C02 | 2 |
| Subclass | 2.A Tropical Grassland, Savanna & Shrubland Subclass | S01 | 2.A |
| Formation | 2.A.1 Tropical Lowland Grassland, Savanna & Shrubland Formation | F019 | 2.A.1 |
| Division | 2.A.1.Ea Caribbean-Mesoamerican Lowland Grassland, Savanna & Shrubland Division | D094 | 2.A.1.Ea |
| Macrogroup | 2.A.1.Ea.1 Catclaw Blackbead - Prickly-pear species - Agave species Scrub Macrogroup | M671 | 2.A.1.Ea.1 |
| Group | 2.A.1.Ea.1.c Caribbean Serpentine Dry Scrub Group | G463 | 2.A.1.Ea.1.c |
Concept Lineage: G480 & G481 concepts are covered by G463 (CJ 5-14-13); G464 archived - essentially the same as G463 (DFL 3-26-13)
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: ? Arid lowland serpentine shrubwoods (Borhidi 1991)
? Lowland/submontane serpentine shrubland Formation (Areces-Mallea et al. 1999)
? Montane serpentine shrubland Formation (Areces-Mallea et al. 1999)
? Puerto Rico land cover type 18, Dry and moist serpentine woodland and shrubland (Gould et al. 2008)
? Thorn woodland (Beard 1955)
? Lowland/submontane serpentine shrubland Formation (Areces-Mallea et al. 1999)
? Montane serpentine shrubland Formation (Areces-Mallea et al. 1999)
? Puerto Rico land cover type 18, Dry and moist serpentine woodland and shrubland (Gould et al. 2008)
? Thorn woodland (Beard 1955)
- Areces-Mallea, A. E., A. S. Weakley, X. Li, R. G. Sayre, J. D. Parrish, C. V. Tipton, and T. Boucher. 1999. A guide to Caribbean vegetation types: Preliminary classification system and descriptions. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 166 pp.
- Beard, J. S. 1955. The classification of tropical American vegetation types. Ecology 36:89-100.
- Borhidi, A. 1991. Phytogeography and vegetation ecology of Cuba. Akademiai Kiado. Budapest, Hungary. 858 pp. plus color plates and map by A. Borhidi and O. Muniz (1970) inside of back cover.
- Borhidi, A. 2001. Phylogenetic trends in Ni-accumulating plants. South African Journal of Science 97:544-547.
- Cedeño-Maldonado, J. A., and G. J. Breckon. 1996. Serpentine endemism in the flora of Puerto Rico. Caribbean Journal of Science 32(4):348-356.
- Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, S. Gawler, M. Hall, C. Josse, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, L. Sneddon, K. Schulz, J. Teague, M. Russo, K. Snow, and P. Comer, editors. 2010-2019a. Divisions, Macrogroups and Groups for the Revised U.S. National Vegetation Classification. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. plus appendices. [in preparation]
- Figueroa Colon, J. 1996. Geoclimatic regions of Puerto Rico (map). USGS Water Resources Division. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- Gould, W. A., C. Alarcón, B. Fevold, M. E. Jiménez, S. Martinuzzi, G. Potts, M. Quiñones, M. Solórzano, and E. Ventosa. 2008. The Puerto Rico Gap Analysis Project. Volume 1: Land cover, vertebrate species distributions, and land stewardship. General Technical Report IITF-GTR-39. USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Río Piedras, PR. 165 pp.
- Huggins, A. E., S. Keel, P. Kramer, F. Núñez, S. Schill, R. Jeo, A. Chatwin, K. Thurlow, M. McPherson, M. Libby, R. Tingey, M. Palmer, and R. Seybert. 2007. Biodiversity conservation assessment of the insular Caribbean using the Caribbean Decision Support System, Technical Report, The Nature Conservancy.
- Iturralde, R. B. 2001. The influence of ultramafic soils on plants in Cuba. South African Journal of Science 97:510-512.
- Josse, C., G. Navarro, P. Comer, R. Evans, D. Faber-Langendoen, M. Fellows, G. Kittel, S. Menard, M. Pyne, M. Reid, K. Schulz, K. Snow, and J. Teague. 2003. Ecological systems of Latin America and the Caribbean: A working classification of terrestrial systems. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
- Miller, G. L., and A. E. Lugo. 2009. Guide to the ecological systems of Puerto Rico. General Technical Report IITF-GTR-35. USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, San Juan, PR. 437 pp.