Trinidad and Tobago moist forest
Trinidad and Tobago moist forest
The Trinidad and Tobago moist forest spans roughly 90 percent of the two-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the most southerly of the Caribbean's West Indian islands, lying just northeast of the Venezuelan coast and sitting on the South American continental shelf. Closed broadleaf evergreen rainforest dominates, alongside littoral woodland, deciduous seasonal woodland, and swamp forest, with characteristic canopy trees including kapok (Ceiba pentandra), crabwood (Carapa guianensis), hog plum (Spondias mombin), and Mora, and an understory rich in lianas and epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, and ferns. The climate is tropical monsoon, with even temperatures year round (every month above 18 degrees Celsius) and a pronounced dry season. Because Trinidad was joined to the mainland as recently as about 1,500 years ago, its flora and fauna closely resemble those of continental South America, and plant diversity is very high, exceeding 2,500 species with up to 110 found nowhere else. The forest's flagship is the critically endangered, endemic Trinidad piping-guan, which depends on dense primary forest now threatened by timber exploitation, agricultural clearing, and slash-and-burn fires.
RESOLVE 510
Neotropic
1,830 sq mi
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Landscape type
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Plant region
Neotropic
Region footprint
1,830 sq mi
Habitat pressure
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
Source & care
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Use this as the broad planting pattern for the region: Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor. For garden decisions, pair that context with the plant list below, then narrow by your site's light, water, soil, and mature-size constraints.
Range & origins
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 10.4°N, 61.3°W.
Region through time
Modern footprint
RESOLVE 2017 maps 1,830 sq mi
This boundary is a modern ecological footprint for Trinidad and Tobago moist forest, not a permanent line on the planet. It is useful for today's plant and wildlife context because it follows recurring vegetation, climate, landform, and disturbance patterns.
Why here
tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests conditions
The region sits in the Neotropic realm and is classed as tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests. Elevation, moisture, fire, soils, coasts, and human land use can all make the real landscape more varied than a single map color suggests.
Change pressure
Nature Could Reach Half Protected
Plotwright shows this as the current RESOLVE footprint. Over decades to centuries, warming, disturbance, invasive species, land use, and restoration can move the living edge of a region even when the reference map stays fixed.
Similar planting regions
Browse other regions with a similar hot, dry-summer rhythm. Their plant lists can suggest species and combinations worth comparing.
RESOLVE 439 - Neotropic
Alto Paraná Atlantic forests
The Alto Paraná Atlantic forests form the interior wing of South America's Atlantic Forest, sweeping inland from southern Brazil across eastern Paraguay and into Argentina's Misiones province, covering seven Brazilian states from Minas Gerais and São Paulo down to Rio Grande do Sul. The dominant habitat is Atlantic semi-deciduous forest, where emergent trees can reach about 35 meters and the canopy is built largely from the families Lauraceae, Apocynaceae, and Leguminosae, with many trees shedding leaves through the winter dry season. The climate is subtropical, receiving roughly 1,200 to 1,600 millimeters of rain per year, and the dry season from April through September brings frequent frosts. The region is a biodiversity stronghold, home to the endemic black lion tamarin, but it has been one of the most heavily cleared forests in the Neotropics, reduced by more than 90 percent of its original extent. For gardeners in mild subtropical climates, this is the native home of laurel- and legume-family trees adapted to a pronounced wet summer and dry, frost-prone winter.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 12a-13b
+3.4°F by 2070
187,100 sq mi
NNH tier 4
RESOLVE 440 - Neotropic
Araucaria moist forests
The Araucaria moist forests stretch across the highlands of southern Brazil, spanning the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, and reaching into Misiones Province in northeastern Argentina. Their signature is the Brazilian araucaria (Araucaria angustifolia), a monkey puzzle conifer that rises in a tall emergent layer above a broadleaf canopy of laurel (Ocotea), myrtle, and legume trees such as Mimosa scabrella. Lying above roughly 500 metres on mountains and plateaus, the ecoregion has an oceanic, subtropical to temperate climate with no dry season, frequent winter frosts, and high annual rainfall. It shelters threatened and endemic wildlife including the brown howler monkey and the red-spectacled (red-spectacled amazon) parrot, yet much of the original forest has been cleared and only a small fraction is protected. For gardeners in suitably cool, frost-touched climates, the emblematic Araucaria angustifolia is itself a striking ornamental conifer native to this region.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 11b-13a
+3.5°F by 2070
83,435 sq mi
NNH tier 3
RESOLVE 441 - Neotropic
Atlantic Coast restingas
The Atlantic Coast restingas form a chain of coastal sand forests strung in well-defined enclaves along Brazil's Atlantic coast, running from the country's northeast to its southeast and from the tropics into the subtropics. These restingas grow on low-elevation plains of sandy, acidic, and nutrient-poor soils, supporting a five-to-fifteen-meter Atlantic forest of medium-sized trees and shrubs rich in the myrtle, legume, and spurge families, with vegetation ranging from low scrub to taller stands. Because the ecoregion stretches across a long latitudinal gradient, its climate shifts from tropical in the north to subtropical in the south. It shelters notable wildlife including the flagship red-tailed Amazon and the endemic Santa Cruz dwarf frog, yet the habitat has been reduced by more than 90 percent, with urban expansion the chief threat; surviving fragments are safeguarded in protected areas such as Jurubatiba Sandbank National Park.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 12a-13b
+3.2°F by 2070
3,082 sq mi
NNH tier 3
RESOLVE 442 - Neotropic
Bahia coastal forests
The Bahia coastal forests stretch along a roughly 150-kilometer-wide belt of eastern Brazil's Atlantic coast, spanning the states of Bahia and Espírito Santo from near the Itapicuru River south to the Itapemirim. They form part of the larger Atlantic Forest, with Atlantic evergreen moist and semi-deciduous broadleaf forests as the predominant vegetation, including several species of Inga, bambusoid grasses, and the Paissava palm growing on nutrient-poor yellow-red soils. The climate is hot and humid, with rainfall of about 1,200 to 1,800 millimeters spread fairly evenly through the year, though the southern reaches see a drier stretch from May through September. The ecoregion is extraordinarily rich in endemic plants, birds, primates, and butterflies and shelters threatened wildlife such as the maned three-toed sloth and the golden-headed lion tamarin, yet it has been reduced by roughly 95 percent of its original cover, making it one of the most endangered habitats in Brazil.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 12a-13b
+2.7°F by 2070
42,374 sq mi
NNH tier 3
RESOLVE 443 - Neotropic
Bahia interior forests
The Bahia interior forests stretch across eastern Brazil, spanning the states of Sergipe, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro as the inland wing of the Atlantic Forest, set between the coastal forests and Brazil's drier interior. Their dominant cover is seasonal moist to semi-deciduous forest, with characteristic trees including Cavanillesia, mahogany, and many legumes, alongside lower-canopy vine forests known locally as mata de cipo. The climate is tropical and semi-humid, with average annual rainfall between roughly 1,000 and 1,750 mm, mean annual temperatures of about 18 to 22 degrees Celsius, and a marked dry season of three to five months. The region shelters notable endemics such as the Coimbra-Filho's titi monkey and the northern muriqui, and the Mata do Passarinho Reserve here harbors the Stresemann's bristlefront, described as the rarest bird on the planet. It is among the most fragmented ecoregions of the Atlantic Forest, with few remnants larger than 10 square kilometers and only a small fraction under formal protection. Gardeners may recognize the prized Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), a threatened timber tree native to these forests.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 12a-13b
+3.0°F by 2070
88,855 sq mi
NNH tier 3
RESOLVE 444 - Neotropic
Bolivian Yungas
The Bolivian Yungas blanket the eastern Andean slopes of west-central Bolivia, reaching into a small portion of extreme southeastern Peru, where they form a transition zone between the Southwest Amazon moist forests below and the high Andean puna above. Spanning elevations from roughly 400 to over 3,500 metres, the ecoregion is a mosaic of montane cloud forest and other evergreen forest, with Chusquea bamboo characteristic of areas disturbed by landslides. Epiphytes are abundant, including bromeliads, orchids, and tree-ferns (Cyathea) draped across the canopy. Fog and rain carried in on the northern trade winds keep humidity and precipitation high, sustaining these cloud forests. This Neotropical moist broadleaf forest holds notably high endemism, sheltering range-restricted vertebrates alongside the spectacled bear, jaguar, and lowland tapir, and nearly half of it now lies within protected areas such as Madidi and Carrasco national parks.
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Zones 9b-13b
+4.1°F by 2070
34,960 sq mi
NNH tier 1
Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or regional planting notes that use this Plotwright page. To cite the underlying ecoregion framework or a specific editorial profile, use the source cards below.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Trinidad and Tobago moist forest (Trinidad and Tobago moist forest). Retrieved 2026, June 14, from https://plotwright.garden/regions/resolve-510
Sources for this region
This page cites Plotwright first for the compiled view, then lists the upstream framework, climate, and editorial source pages so readers can cite the original material directly.
RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)
Primary ecoregion framework
Backs 4 fields
RESOLVE id
Biome + realm
Area
NNH tier