Ecosystems of Puerto Rico

There are several similarities and differences between the major ecosystems in Puerto Rico. Each ecosystem has unique and diverse plant and animal life. In Puerto Rico, you can find either several of an ecosystem or one. For example, there is one tropical dry forest (Guanica Dry Forest), one tropical rainforest (El Yunque), several coral reefs and seagrass and around four mangrove forests.

All of the ecosystems within Puerto Rico are fairly warm considering Puerto Rico’s latitude. The coolest place on the entire island is Cordillera Central, the major mountain range of Puerto Rico. All of the ecosystems are also extremely diverse. There are innumerable species of animals and plants within Puerto Rico. This includes insects, birds, reptiles, fish, flowers and trees.

The soil in Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest and tropical dry forests are the same. This has to do with the fact that they share the same soil process. There is only one tropical rain forest in all of Puerto Rico, this rainforest is named El Yunque. El Yunque is 28,000 acres. There is one tropical dry forest in Puerto Rico, called Guanica Dry Forest. Guanica Dry Forest is 9,000 acres large. There are around four mangrove forests in Puerto Rico.

There are several different types of plants in all of the major tropical ecosystems in Puerto Rico. The different types of plants depend on the specific ecosystem.. There are several mangrove species, including Black Mangroves, Red Mangroves, White Mangroves, Sea Oats, Melaleucas, Reeds, Saltbushes, Ferns and Hibiscus. In the tropical dry forest (Guanica Dry Forest), the plants typically will include palm trees, lotus, ironwood, acacias, pepper, cotton and ceiba trichastandra. El Yunque (Puerto Rico’s rainforest) is quite th...

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...ever, Puerto Rico’s one and only rainforest, El Yunque, collects the most rain water over the period of a year. El Yunque gets over 100 billion gallons of rainwater annually. Then of course you have coral reefs and seagrass beds which are aquatic ecosystems.

The similarities and differences within the major tropical ecosystems in Puerto Rico is amazing. All of the ecosystems are extremely unique in their own way. The diversity in all of the major ecosystems are high and this has to do with the different ecosystem they are. Just simply looking at what each ecosystem, there is quite the difference between a mountain range (Cordillera Central), an aquatic ecosystem (mangrove forest), tropical dry forest (Guanica Dry Forest) and a tropical rainforest (El Yunque). It is all extremely fascinating and important to making Puerto Rico such an individual island.