page_title: Pico Duarte
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Pico Duarte / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: Pinus occidentalis, Pico Duarte, Desde La Pelona, Dominican Republic.
context_page_description: Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Dominican Republic, and in all the Caribbean. It is 85 kilometres northeast of the region's lowest point, Lake Enriquillo, in the Cordillera Central range, the largest in the country. The Cordillera Central extends from the plains between San Cristóbal and Baní to the northwestern peninsula of Haiti, where it is known as Massif du Nord. The highest elevations of the Cordillera Central are found in the Pico Duarte and Valle Nuevo massifs.
context_section_description: The area has a climate that very few would associate as typical of a Caribbean island, with cool temperatures all year round, going several degrees below freezing during winter nights.
  The mountain and the surrounding landscape are covered in pino de cuaba (Pinus occidentalis) forests. The pines frequently host the epiphytes guajaca (Tillandsia spp.) and the parasitic Dendropemon pycnophyllus. Some areas, like the Valle de Lilís, are treeless meadows of tussock-like pajones (Danthonia domingensis). The understory is composed of shrub such as Lyonia heptamera, Myrica picardae, Myrsine coriacea, Ilex tuerkheimii, Garrya fadyenii and Baccharis myrsinites. All of these species are adapted to the acidic soil of the area.
  Birds seen in the area include the endemic Hispaniolan palm crow (Corvus palmarum palmarum), Antillean siskin (Carduelis dominicensis), rufous-throated solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis), Hispaniolan crossbill (Loxia megaplaga) (abundance directly related to the Hispaniolan pine cone crop), and Hispaniolan trogon (Priotelus roseigaster); at lower elevations the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis), scaly-naped pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa) and golden swallow (Tachycineta euchrysea) can be seen. There are two extant mammals endemic to Hispaniola whose remaining range includes the broadleaf forests of lower elevations: the primarily nocturnal Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) and the Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium). Both are endangered and rarely seen. Wild boars, descendants of animals introduced to the island during the colonial period, have been reported.
  A wildfire in 2003 altered the landscape of a large section of the eastern side of the mountain. As of 2008, the hillside of charred trees is now a new-growth forest. While thousands of charred trees are still standing, a large variety of indigenous grasses and small plants are now growing.
caption: Hispaniolan Pine.
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