Hawaiian tropical dry forests explained

Hawaiian tropical dry forests
Country:United States
State:Hawaii
Border1:Hawaiian tropical low shrublands
Border2:Hawaiian tropical rainforests
Border3:Hawaiian tropical high shrublands[1]
Area:6600
Coordinates:21°N -157°W
Biogeographic Realm:Oceanian
Biome:Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Climate:Hot semi-arid (BSh) and tropical savanna (Aw)
Conservation:Critical/Endangered
Global200:Yes[2]

Hawaiian tropical dry forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of 6600km2 on the leeward side of the main islands and the summits of Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe. These forests are either seasonal or sclerophyllous. Annual rainfall is less than 127cm (50inches) and may be as low as 25cm (10inches). The rainy season there lasts from November to March.[3]

Dominant tree species include koa (Acacia koa), koaiʻa (A. koaia), ʻakoko (Euphorbia spp.), ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), lonomea (Sapindus oahuensis), māmane (Sophora chrysophylla), loulu (Pritchardia spp.), lama (Diospyros sandwicensis), olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis), wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis), and ʻiliahi (Santalum spp.). Endemic plant species include hau heleʻula (Kokia cookei), uhiuhi (Caesalpinia kavaiensis), and Gouania spp. The palila (Loxioides bailleui), a Hawaiian honeycreeper, is restricted to this habitat type.

Prehistoric dry forests

The forests' plant composition changed following the arrival of Polynesians, even excluding the deliberate introduction of non-native species.[3] Fossilized pollen has shown that loulu forests with an understory of Ka palupalu o Kanaloa (Kanaloa kahoolawensis) and ʻaʻaliʻi (Dodonaea viscosa) existed on the islands' leeward lowlands[4] from at least before 1210 B.C. until 1565 A.D. Populations of loulu and ʻaʻaliʻi remain in diminished form, while only two Ka palupalu o Kanaloa specimens have ever been seen in the wild.[5]

Maui

The Auwahi Dryland Forest Restoration Project recreated a substantial forest with exclusively native species from invasive Kukui grasses on the slopes of Haleakala on the island of Maui.[6]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hawaii Tropical Dry Forests . Bioimages . Vanderbilt University . 2011-11-19.
  2. The Global 200: Priority Ecoregions for Global Conservation . David M. . Olson . Eric Dinerstein . Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden . 89 . 2 . 2002 . 199–224 . 10.2307/3298564. 3298564 .
  3. Web site: The Hawaiian Islands . Tropical Dry Forests of the Pacific . University of California, Los Angeles . 2009-02-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091224185058/http://www.geog.ucla.edu/tdfpacific/hawaii.html . 2009-12-24 .
  4. James . Helen F. . Prince . Johnathan P. . May 2008 . Integration of palaeontological, historical, and geographical data on the extinction of koa-finches . Diversity & Distributions . 14 . 3 . 441–451 . 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00442.x . 40057425.
  5. Web site: Rare Delights in Hawaiʻi . Bruce A. . Bohm . Floridata . 2009-02-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081220124254/http://www.floridata.com/tracks/bruce/raredelightsofHawaii.cfm . 2008-12-20 .
  6. News: Maui Koa. PARSONS. ROB. 2007-04-12. Maui Time. 2018-02-13. en-US.