Aripo Savannas Strict Nature Reserve - Environmental Management ...

The most common species in the Open Savannas are grasses, and sedges. Other notable plants of
the open savanna include the carnivorous Sundew Plant (Drosera capillaris) and many terrestrial
orchid species such as Pogonia tenuis or Epistephium parviflorum.
Marsh Forest
Marsh Forest is the community that covers the most of the land area of the ASSR. As the name
implies this is a forest that grows on land that becomes waterlogged or marshy during the wet
season. It is a relatively low forest, with a closed canopy populated by species that can tolerate a
period of the year waterlogged. The hardpan layer found under the Open Savannas is also found
under the Marsh Forest (although thinner and at greater depth) and is responsible for the flooding
of the Marsh Forest as water cannot drain away through the impervious hardpan layer. There are
a few species that are restricted to the Marsh Forest in Trinidad (for example the Lady Slipper
Orchid Selenipedium palmifolium (Lindl.) Rchb.f.). However, the assemblage of the species is
unique. There is not much overlap in the dominant species composition between the Open
Savanna and the Marsh Forest. There are approximately 118 species of plants found in the Marsh
Forest. The Marsh Forest in Trinidad has been severely depleted in recent years with large areas
being cleared for quarrying and agriculture. At the moment the ASSR contains one of the largest
and most secure fragments of this community left in the country although even in the ASSR there
has been severe degradation of much of the Marsh Forest by fires that have encroached from
outside the Reserve.
Palm Marshes and Palm Islands
These are the communities found on the fringes of the Open Savannas and in isolated clumps or
islands in the middle of the savanna. They are dominated by the picturesque Moriche Palm
(Mauritia flexuosa L.) that form evenly spaced stands with a thick understory of shrubs (e.g.
Clidemia neglecta D.Don or Miconia ciliata (Rich.) DC.) or tall sedges and grasses (Seleria
bracteata Cav. or Panicum parvifolium Lam). Because of their visibility across the savanna, these
communities are also well known by visitors to the savannas.
Intermittent Open Water and Trackside
These are two habitats that are common in the ASSR but due to their non-natural origins or
ephemeral nature are often neglected. The result of human activities, which have disturbed the
area and resulted in these modified habitats, they each have a distinct suite of species adapted to
their peculiar environmental conditions.
4.4 Endemic, Threatened and Rare Species, and native species found only in the Aripo
Savannas
Endemic Species
As mentioned earlier, the ASSR is thought to be home to two, but maybe as many as 15 species
endemic 32 to Trinidad 33 . In other word these species are found nowhere else, except in Trinidad.
However, there is the need for further research to confirm the status of any of the species thought
to be endemic to Trinidad & Tobago. The two tentatively confirmed endemic species are both
restricted to the Open Savannas. The endemics are:
32 List of Plants Exclusive to the Aripo Savanna Baksh–Comeau, Y. & Quesnel, V.
33 Beard, J.S. 1942. The Natural Vegetation of Trinidad. Oxford.
EMA: The Administrative Record for the Designation of Aripo Savannas as an Environmentally Sensitive Area