The Hispaniolan moist forests cover roughly 60 percent of Hispaniola, the Caribbean island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, ranging from coastal lowlands up into the mountains, with stands in Haiti's Tiburon Peninsula and Massif du Nord. The vegetation grades from lowland to montane forest, with oak and mahogany in the lowlands, royal palm common on calcareous soils, and wetter zones rich in tree ferns and epiphytes. The climate is tropical and humid, with a rainy season running April through December; mesic areas receive moderate rainfall while the wettest rainforest pockets are drenched year-round. The forests are exceptionally rich in endemics, especially birds such as the Hispaniolan trogon, parrot, and woodpecker, and they shelter the endangered, shrew-like Hispaniolan solenodon, though more than 90 percent of the original habitat has been lost. For gardeners, native horticultural standouts include the West Indian mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) and the stately Puerto Rican royal palm (Roystonea borinquena).
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 18.9°N, 70.0°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.1°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
17,740 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
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
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
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: