Flora and vegetation of Belize

The Flora and vegetation of Belize are highly diverse by regional standards, given the country's small geographical extent. Situated on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America the flora and vegetation have been intimately intertwined with Belize's history. The nation itself grew out of British timber extraction activities from the 17th century onwards, at first for logwood ("Haematoxylum campechianum") and later for mahogany, fondly called "red gold" because of its high cost and was much sought after by European aristocracy( "Swietenia macrophylla"). Central America generally is thought to have gained much of it characteristic flora during the "Great American interchange" during which time South American elements migrated north after the geological closure of the isthmus of Panama [Gentry, A.H. 1982. Neotropical floristic diversity: phytogeographical connections between Central and South America, Pleistocene climatic fluctuations, or an accident of the Andean orogeny? Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 69, 557-593] . However, few Amazonian elements penetrate as far north as Belize and in species composition the forests of Belize are most similar to the forests of the Peten (Guatemala) and the Yucatan (Mexico). [Brewer, S. et al. 2003 J. Biogeography 30: 1669- 1688]

Vegetation zones

The vegetation of Belize was first systematically surveyed in the 1930s. [Standley, P.C. and Record, S.J. 1936. The forests and flora of British Honduras. Fieldiana, Bot. 12: 1-432] Recent mapping projects have employed the following principal terrestrial and coastal categories of native vegetation [ [http://biodiversity.bz/mapping/ BERDS > Mapping ] ] :

* lowland broad-leaved forest. This is a diverse forest type in Belize, now greatly reduced in extent by clearance for agricultural land. It includes such tropical tree species as "Simarouba glauca", "Calophyllum brasiliense", "Terminalia amazonia" and "Pterocarpus officinalis".
* lowland savanna. This is an important vegetation type in northern Belize, in which scattered trees occur in "short grass" (actually mainly sedges). Savanna is maintained as open vegetaion by a combination of wet-season flooding, dry-season drought and fire. Typical trees include: "Acoelorraphe wrightii", "Quercus oleoides" and madre de cacao "Gliricidia sepium".
* lowland pine forest or pine savanna (open forest mainly composed of "Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis" with shrubs such as the rough-leaved "sandpaper tree" (Curatella americana).
* submontane pine forest (with "Pinus ayacahuite", "Pinus oocarpa" and "Pinus rudis" together with some broadleaved species)
* submontane broadleaved forest. Characteristic vegetation of the Maya Mountain massif above 500m. Typical species include "Podocarpus guatemalensis", "Swietenia macrophylla", "Terminalia amazonia", "Virola brachycarpa", and the palm "Astrocaryum mexicanum".
* mangrove and littoral forest. Ecologically important vegetation type of the coastal cayes. Several species of mangrove are involved including: red mangrove ("Rhizophora mangle"), black mangrove ("Avicennia germinans") and white mangrove ("Laguncularia racemosa"). In addition the buttonwood ("Conocarpus erectus") although not a true mangrove is often associated with mangroves in littoral forest.
* seagrass beds. Sandy bays often have extensive mats of seagrass. There are several different types in Belize: turtle grass ("Thalassia testudinum" in the Hydrocharitaceae), manatee seagrass ("Syringodium filiforme" in the Cymodoceaceae), duckweed seagrasses ("Halodule" spp in the Cymodoceaceae).
* riparian shrubland. This is a mixed vegetation type, of shrubs and small trees with grasses and sedges, found along watercourses. Typical species include "Schizolobium parahybum" and "Ceiba pentandra". Loss of this habitat was one of the particular environmental concerns of building the Chalillo Dam on the Macal river.

Plant conservation and forest reserves

Although deforestation continues to be a serious threat in Belize, much of the native forest remains making possible a rapidly developing ecotourism sector. National Parks System Act of 1981 declared numerous protected areas, and the Belizean Government has been working with a prominent non-governmental organization (NGO), the Belize Audubon Society (BAS) to promote nature conservation within the country. Founded in 1969, the BAS assists the Forest Department of the Government of Belize to manage several important forest areas including:
* Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary - established in 1990 as a result of the studies of the biology of the jaguar by Alan Rabinovitz. Although initially established for jaguar conservation it is very important for plant conservation.
* Guanacaste National park - approximately fifty acres of tropical forest reserve in the Cayo District of Belize. The signature tree of the reserve is the Guanacaste ("Enterolobium cyclocarpum") of which several giant specimens may be found.
* Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve - a forest reserve of convert|6750|acre|km2|0, in the Maya Mountains with rugged (karst) relief and relatively undisturbed subtropical moist forest.

In addition to the above there are numerous other important forest reserves such as:
* Chiquibul Forest Reserve (CFR)

There are numerous conservation challenges in Belize. One is the extensive recent illegal cutting of the understorey palms, xate ("Chamaedorea" spp). This has a severe effect on the health and reproduction of these characteristic understorey components [ [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/xate/outputs/outputs.html Xaté palms (Chamaedorea spp) in Belize - Natural History Museum ] ] .

Trees

As well as logwood ("Haematoxylon campechianum") and mahogany ("Swietenia macrophylla") two other important Belizean timber trees of note are the Santa Maria ("Calophyllum antillanum") and cedar ("Cedrela mexicana"). Other economically important trees include cotton tree or kapok (Ceiba pentandra), and cacao (Theobroma cacao). Both were sacred to the Maya people. Chicle (Manilkara chicle) is the original chewing gum (made from its gummy sap).

Orchids

Belize has a rich array (some 300 species) of native orchids including "Encyclia cochleata var. cochleata", the so called "black orchid" [Williams, L.O. (1956). An enumeration of the Orchidaceae of Central America, British Honduras, and Panama. Ceiba 5: 1-256] . This is the national flower of Belize [ [http://biological-diversity.info/native_orchids.htm Biodiversity in Belize - Orchids ] ] .

Palms

Belizean vegetation is characterized by numerous species of palms including the palmettos of the savanna, silver palmetto ("Schippia concolor"), palmetto ("Acoelorrhaphe wrightii") and the common coconut palm ("Cocos nucifera") found in coastal areas. Other important palms include the cohune palms, cohune ("Orbigyna cohune") and warree cohune ("Astrocaryum mexicanum"), as well as the give and take palm ("Chrysophila argentea"), xate palms ("Chamaedorea elegans" and "Chamaedorea oblongata"), pokenoboy ("Bactris major"), basket tie-tie ("Desmoncus schippii") and royal palm ("Roystonea oleracea").

ee also

*List of endemic species of Belize. Incomplete list of plant endemics

External links

* [http://www.nybg.org/bsci/belize/ "Ethnobotany and floristics of Belize"]
* [http://biodiversity.bz/ "Biodiversity & Environmental Resource Data System of Belize (BERDS)"]

Footnotes and references

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Further reading

*cite book|last=Hodel|first=D|year=1992|title=Chamaedorea palms|publisher=Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas|id = |pages=