Bahamian pineyards


The Bahamian pineyards are a tropical and subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Geography

The Bahamian pineyards cover an area of. Pineyards are found on four of the northern islands in the Bahamas: Andros, Abaco, Grand Bahama, where they cover half of the island, and New Providence, as well as the Caicos Islands.

Flora

Pineyards are dominated by Bahamian pine, while pinepink, bushy beard grass, southern bracken fern, Florida clover ash, Bahamian trumpet tree, West Indian snowberry, devil's gut, poisonwood, coontie and thatch palm grow in the understory. Without regular wildfires, pineyards will be supplanted by broadleafed coppice. Young Bahamian pines require extensive amounts of sunlight to grow, and are resistant to fire once they become adults.

Fauna

Fauna found in the pine forests includes rock iguanas, boas, the West Indian woodpecker, the Bahama woodstar, the Bahama yellowthroat,, the Bahama nuthatch, and the buffy flower bat. Kirtland's warblers migrate every year from jack pine forests in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to spend the winter in the Bahamian pineyards.