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West Caribbean Karstic Forest Group | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: West Caribbean Karstic Forest Group
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This group includes the steep slopes and plateaus of towerlike karstic hills up to 300-600 m elevation, with bare karstic rock or more-or-less eroded skeletal soils, or limestone cliffs, and the narrow valleys and gorges in between. Puerto Rican karst forests, regardless of rainfall conditions, share common characteristics, including physiognomy and leaf characteristics. Karst forests are characterized by trees of small diameter, high tree density, and leaf scleromorphy. Stands have a tendency to show signs of being exposed to frequent drought conditions. Even in the moist and wet karst belt, forests have a high proportion of deciduous tree species and show a high degree of scleromorphism. This is probably due to the rapid rate of runoff and infiltration of rainwater, low water storage in shallow soils, and high sunlight. At the base of mogotes the forest can be mesic with a closed canopy of evergreen species 25-30 m tall. On slopes and tops the vegetation is a deciduous forest/woodland with trees of 16-18 m and sclerophyllous leaves. In Cuban mogotes, the slope forest has a 10- to 16-m high open canopy of deciduous trees with barrel-like trunks and abundant columnar cacti, but can grade to a shrubland dominated by terrestrial bromeliads and diverse sclerophyllous shrubs and trees. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40187-{FB8D040D-C1BB-4349-81FF-9D4273A20AC4}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 15-Jul-2016 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.860820 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: G477
  Scientific: West Caribbean Karstic Forest Group