The Cuban moist forests are a tropical broadleaf ecoregion confined to the island of Cuba and Isla de la Juventud, surviving as scattered patches along the country's mountain ranges and highlands. The forest is layered by elevation into lowland forest below 400 meters, submontane forest from 400 to 800 meters, and montane forest reaching 1,900 meters, with the richest lowland rainforests raising canopies near 40 meters over trees such as aguacatillo, crabwood, and acana. The climate is continuously humid, receiving more than 2,000 mm of rain a year with no true dry season. Endemism is exceptionally high here: the Cuban trogon is the ecoregion's flagship bird, and the venomous, evolutionarily ancient Cuban solenodon is among the endemic mammals it shelters, though much original habitat has been cleared, in part by cacao and coffee cultivation. For gardeners, the higher-elevation forests are home to ornamentally notable native genera including Magnolia (Magnolia cubensis) and the conifer Podocarpus.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 20.4°N, 75.0°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.2°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
8,261 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
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.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: