Hawai'i tropical dry forests

Hawai'i tropical dry forests

Hawai'i tropical dry forests
The Hawaiʻi tropical dry forests cover the leeward, rain-shadowed sides of the main Hawaiian Islands, along with the summits of Niʻihau and Kahoʻolawe, where the central ranges and large volcanoes strip moisture from the trade winds before it reaches the lowlands and foothills. These dry broadleaf forests are built around drought-adapted native trees including koa and koaiʻa (Acacia), ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), māmane (Sophora chrysophylla), lama (Diospyros sandwicensis), wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis), loulu fan palms (Pritchardia), and the sandalwoods or ʻiliahi (Santalum). The climate is markedly seasonal, with a long dry season and rainfall that is low for the tropics, ranging from roughly 25 to 125 centimeters a year. Despite their modest extent, these forests are botanically rich, holding about 22 percent of Hawaiʻi's native flora with most of those taxa found nowhere else, and they shelter the palila, a Hawaiian honeycreeper restricted to māmane-dominated dry forest. They rank among the most endangered ecoregions on Earth, with only an estimated 5 to 8 percent of natural habitat remaining. For gardeners, several of these natives such as wiliwili and the loulu palms are grown ornamentally in dry, sunny landscapes.
RESOLVE 636
Oceania
2,561 sq mi
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Type de paysage
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Région végétale
Oceania
Empreinte de la région
2,561 sq mi
Pression sur l'habitat
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
Utilisez ceci comme schéma général de plantation pour la région : Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture. Pour vos décisions de jardin, associez ce contexte à la liste de plantes ci-dessous, puis affinez selon les contraintes de lumière, d'eau, de sol et de taille adulte de votre site.

Range & origins

Emplacement de Hawai'i tropical dry forests sur la carte du monde
Repère placé à l’intérieur du polygone RESOLVE 2017 à 19.8°N, 155.7°W.
La région à travers le temps
Empreinte moderne
RESOLVE 2017 cartographie 2,561 sq mi
Cette limite est une empreinte écologique moderne pour Hawai'i tropical dry forests, et non une ligne permanente sur la planète. Elle est utile pour le contexte actuel des plantes et de la faune car elle suit des schémas récurrents de végétation, de climat, de relief et de perturbations.
Pourquoi ici
Conditions de tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests
La région se situe dans le règne Oceania et est classée comme tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests. L'altitude, l'humidité, le feu, les sols, les côtes et l'utilisation humaine des terres peuvent tous rendre le paysage réel plus varié qu'une seule couleur de carte ne le laisse penser.
Pression du changement
Nature Could Recover
Plotwright affiche ceci comme l'empreinte RESOLVE actuelle. Au fil des décennies ou des siècles, le réchauffement, les perturbations, les espèces envahissantes, l'utilisation des terres et la restauration peuvent déplacer la bordure vivante d'une région même lorsque la carte de référence reste fixe.

Régions de plantation similaires

Parcourez d'autres régions au rythme similaire d'étés chauds et secs. Leurs listes de plantes peuvent suggérer des espèces et des combinaisons à comparer.
RESOLVE 635 - Oceania
Fiji tropical dry forests
The Fiji tropical dry forests occupy the leeward, northwestern lowlands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, the two largest islands of Fiji, extending onto smaller islands in the Yasawa and Lau groups. Their canopy is typically dominated by Dacrydium nidulum and Fagraea gracilipes, with Garuga floribunda and Gyrocarpus americanus prevailing in the driest sites, alongside the cycad Cycas seemannii and the endemic sandalwood Santalum yasi. Sitting in the rain shadow of the islands' central mountains, the climate is tropical and strongly seasonal, with most rain falling between December and April and a long dry season that gives the trees a shorter, gnarled, vine-draped character; tropical cyclones occasionally strike from November to April. These are among the most endangered forests in the Pacific, with much of the original cover long ago burned and cleared into sparse grass-fern talasiga savanna, leaving only a small fraction protected. The ecoregion is the flagship habitat of the Fiji crested iguana and supports a flora that is overwhelmingly endemic to the archipelago. For gardeners, the native sandalwood Santalum yasi is a notable regional genus prized for its fragrant heartwood.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 13b
+2.4°F d’ici 2070
2,669 sq mi
Niveau NNH 3
RESOLVE 637 - Oceania
Marianas tropical dry forests
The Marianas tropical dry forests stretch across Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, both United States jurisdictions strung along a roughly 900-kilometer arc in the western Pacific Ocean. The terrain mixes young volcanic islands in the north with older southern islands built of volcanic rock and raised marine limestone, including limestone-capped Guam. Vegetation ranges from coastal stands of ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia), Pisonia grandis, pandanus, and the fern Nephrolepis hirsutula to limestone forests of native breadfruit (Artocarpus mariannensis), the banyan fig Ficus prolixa, and Cordia subcordata, with volcanic-soil broadleaf forests dominated by Aglaia mariannensis and Elaeocarpus joga. The climate is warm and strongly seasonal, with annual rainfall around 2,000 to 2,500 millimeters and a wet season running from July through October, while frequent strong typhoons shape a dense, vine-laden forest structure with few emergent trees. The islands harbor endemic wildlife such as the flagship Mariana fruit dove and the Mariana flying fox, though invasive species, above all the brown tree snake blamed for extinctions of native birds on Guam, remain the foremost conservation threat.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 13b
+2.9°F d’ici 2070
400 sq mi
Niveau NNH 2
RESOLVE 638 - Oceania
Yap tropical dry forests
The Yap tropical dry forests cover the Yap Islands and neighboring atolls in Yap State of the Federated States of Micronesia, a low, gently sloping island group lying roughly 450 km northeast of Palau in the western Caroline Islands. Original vegetation was a mosaic of upland broadleaf forest, upland savanna, freshwater swamps, and mangroves, with canopy genera such as Celtis, Terminalia, Trichospermum, Garcinia, and Pouteria. The climate is tropical with little seasonal temperature variation but strongly seasonal rainfall, marked by a distinct dry season from January through March and heavy rains from roughly May through November, and strong typhoons occur regularly. Despite their small size the islands hold notable endemism, including the Yap monarch and Yap olive white-eye among the birds, the Yap flying-fox, and endemic plants such as Drypetes yapensis and Trichospermum ikutai, yet long human settlement has left the forests heavily degraded and the ecoregion has no legally protected areas. For gardeners, the native understory includes familiar ornamental genera such as Hibiscus and Ixora, alongside the widely planted tropical-almond tree Terminalia catappa.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 13b
+2.7°F d’ici 2070
39 sq mi
Niveau NNH 3
RESOLVE 520 - Neotropic
Apure-Villavicencio dry forests
The Apure-Villavicencio dry forests stretch along the eastern foot of the Andes' eastern cordillera, spanning the Venezuelan states of Portuguesa, Barinas and Apure and the Colombian departments of Arauca, Casanare and Meta. This is a transitional ecoregion, a patchwork of premontane, gallery and deciduous dry forest grading into savanna where the Andean montane forests give way to the lowland Llanos grasslands. Characteristic woody plants include mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), palo verde (Cercidium praecox), kapok (Ceiba pentandra), yellow mombin (Spondias mombin), and palms such as the moriche (Mauritia flexuosa) and macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata). Its climate is equatorial with a pronounced dry winter (Köppen Aw), with temperatures ranging from about 19 to 33 degrees Celsius. The forests have been severely degraded by deforestation, farming and ranching, leaving poorly protected remnants that the World Wildlife Fund rates as Vulnerable, yet they still shelter the giant anteater, Geoffroy's spider monkey, and the flagship Colombian four-eyed frog. Gardeners may recognize several natives here as ornamentals, including the stately kapok tree and the moriche and macaúba palms.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 12a-13b
+3.6°F d’ici 2070
26,469 sq mi
Niveau NNH 3
RESOLVE 521 - Neotropic
Bajío dry forests
The Bajío dry forests cover the southwestern Mexican Plateau in west-central Mexico, spanning the states of Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Michoacán across the Lerma River basin and the lake country around Chapala, Cuitzeo, and Pátzcuaro. Set in valleys between roughly 1,000 and 2,000 meters on shallow, rocky, well-drained volcanic and limestone soils, the region was historically dry deciduous forest whose characteristic trees included copal, pochote, palo amarillo, and mauto, with thorn-scrub communities of mesquite and huamúchil. The climate is tropical subhumid, with annual rainfall around 500 to 930 millimeters and a pronounced dry season that can last up to eight months. This is one of Mexico's most developed and densely populated landscapes, and centuries of agriculture and grazing have reduced the forest to small pockets now dominated by thorn scrub and subtropical matorral, leaving the ecoregion classed as critical or endangered with only about 7.5 percent in protected areas. Gardeners working in comparably dry, seasonal climates may recognize natives of this region in drought-adapted, deciduous trees such as mesquite and copal.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 11a-11b
+2.8°F d’ici 2070
14,472 sq mi
Niveau NNH 4
RESOLVE 522 - Neotropic
Balsas dry forests
The Balsas dry forests occupy the basin of the Balsas River in western and central Mexico, spreading across the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, Morelos, Mexico, Puebla, and Oaxaca. This tropical dry broadleaf ecoregion is a deciduous and thorn forest dominated by Bursera trees, alongside the legume Haematoxylum brasiletto and abundant columnar cacti such as Pachycereus and Cephalocereus. The climate is tropical and subhumid, with seasonal rainfall and a severe dry season that can last up to eight months. The forests are a renowned center of plant endemism and speciation, especially for Bursera, with roughly half of the region's Bursera species found nowhere else, and they shelter the near-endemic Balsas screech-owl, though only about a tenth of the ecoregion lies within protected areas. For drought-tolerant or xeric plantings, the native Bursera (the source of copal incense) and the dyewood Haematoxylum brasiletto are ornamental genera that evolved here.
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Zones 10b-13b
+3.1°F d’ici 2070
24,105 sq mi
Niveau NNH 4

Sources et citations

Citer cette page
Pour les plans de cours, articles ou notes de plantation régionales qui utilisent cette page Plotwright. Pour citer le cadre d'écorégions sous-jacent ou un profil éditorial spécifique, utilisez les fiches de sources ci-dessous.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Hawai'i tropical dry forests (Hawai'i tropical dry forests). Retrieved 2026, June 24, from https://plotwright.com/regions/resolve-636
Sources pour cette région
Cette page cite d'abord Plotwright pour la vue compilée, puis répertorie les pages sources du cadre, du climat et de l'éditorial en amont afin que les lecteurs puissent citer directement le matériel d'origine.
RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)
Cadre principal des écorégions
Étaye 4 champs
Identifiant RESOLVE
Biome + règne
Superficie
Palier NNH
One Earth
One Earth
Étaye 1 champ
Résumé éditorial
Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
Étaye 1 champ
Vérification croisée du résumé