Trinidad and Tobago dry forests are tropical dry forests

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 located primarily in western and southern parts of the island of Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

, in southern parts of the island of Tobago

Tobago

Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...

 and on smaller offshore islands

Islands of Trinidad and Tobago

This is a list of islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic republic in the southern Caribbean.-Bocas Islands:The Bocas Islands lie between Trinidad and Venezuela, in the Bocas del Dragón...

 including Chacachacare

Chacachacare

Chacachacare is an abandoned island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago located at 10° 41' north latitude and 61° 45' west longitude. The island is 3.642 km² in area. It is one of the "Bocas Islands", which lie in the Bocas del Dragón between Trinidad and Venezuela...

, Monos

Monos

Monos is an island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of the "Bocas Islands", which lie in the Bocas del Dragón between Trinidad and Venezuela. It is so named as the island was once home to noisy Red Howler Monkeys .-References:...

, Huevos

Huevos

Huevos is an island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The island is 1.01 km² in area. It is one of the "Bocas Islands", which lie in the Bocas del Dragón between Trinidad and Venezuela.-Places:...

, Gaspar Grande

Gaspar Grande

Gaspar Grande or Gasparee is an island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago named for Gaspar de Percín. The island is 1.29 km² in area and lies west of Port of Spain...

, Little Tobago

Little Tobago

250px|thumb|right|Looking across to [[Saint Giles Island|St. Giles Island]] from Little TobagoLittle Tobago is a small island off the northeastern coast of Tobago, and part of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago...

 and Saint Giles Island

Saint Giles Island

The St Giles Island is a small island off the northeast tip of Tobago. It is the northernmost point in Trinidad and Tobago.-See also:* Islands of Trinidad and Tobago...

.

Tropical dry forests in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 include both deciduous and semi-evergreen forests. A recent work by Howard Nelson

Howard Nelson

Howard Nelson, Ph.D. is a Trinidadian ecologist and wildlife biologist. He is currently the CEO and Conservation Manager at the Asa Wright Nature Centre located in the Arima Valley in Trinidad's Northern Range....

 suggests that areas which were formerly classified as evergreen forest also fit the criteria for dry forests. The major areas of dry forest in Trinidad include the Chaguaramas peninsula in the northwest, areas along the south coast of the island, from Cedros

Cedros, Trinidad and Tobago

The coastal area known as Cedros lies on a peninsula at the South-Western end of the island of Trinidad. Located at the tip of the peninsula, Cedros lies mere miles off the coast of Venezuela...

 to Morne Diablo, and areas along the east coast including parts of the Guayaguayare

Guayaguayare

Guayaguayare is the southeasternmost village in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies at the southern end of the county of Mayaro. Guayaguayare is primarily a fishing village, but it also plays a major role in the petroleum industry...

, Mayaro

Mayaro Bay

Mayaro Bay is the largest bay of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the island of Trinidad in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The beach which lines this bay, Mayaro Beach, is a popular destination for holidays, long weekends, and is one of the traditional places to spend the Easter...

 and Manzanilla coastline. In addition, areas along the west coast including San Fernando Hill

San Fernando Hill

San Fernando Hill is a 192-m hill which lies at the centre of the city of San Fernando in Trinidad and Tobago. The hill, an outcrop of Argillite is the highest point in the Naparima Plains...

 and much of the former Sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 Belt also would have originally supported dry forest. In Tobago much of the southwest of the island originally supported dry forests.

The dominant paradigm in phytosociology

Phytosociology

Phytosociology is the branch of science which deals with plant communities, their composition and development, and the relationships between the species within them. A phytosociological system is a system for classifying these communities...

 in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

 has been the work of John Stanley Beard

John Stanley Beard

John Stanley Beard was a British-born forester and ecologist who resided in Australia. While working with the Forestry Division in Trinidad and Tobago during the 1940s, Beard developed a system of forest classification for Tropical America and described the forests of Trinidad, Tobago, and the...

 carried out in the 1940s. His description of forest associations was physiognomically

Physiognomy

Physiognomy is the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face...

 based. Many of his forest associations overlap modern ideas of dry

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

 and moist

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....

 forests. Most work which seeks to classify dry forest in this country, e.g., WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

Terrestrial Ecoregions classification, underestimate the extent of dry forest in Trinidad and Tobago by restricting it to the driest category of forests that Beard came up with for Trinidad.