The ecology of the Bahamian (Abaco) pine forest
Part 2 of a series by John Hedden

The ecology of the Bahamian (Abaco) pine forest
Part 2 of a series by John Hedden

For PART 1 - Click HERE
For PART 3 - Click HERE

In the last article we talked a little about the science of ecology, how imperfect it is considering our human limitations as observers (and participants) of the world around us. We found out that an ecosystem consists of all forms of interacting life as well as the physical environment on which that life relies. The interaction between the living and the living (and the non-living) has long reaching effects on the succession and the evolution or growing (dynamic balance) of that system.

We saw an example of this in the ecological succession from the pioneering red mangrove through to the beginnings of the coppice vegetation. This, you remember, also involved the change from an open salt waterscape to that of the early stages of fresh water inundated dry land (the early coppice).

If you actually took the time to travel out to the mangrove areas of the marls and observed these natural engineers making dry land, the return journey to your car or truck would also have been equally as impressive. The most striking sight is the low flat landscape of the rockland with its beautiful display of life. Here we see the soft woody and herbaceous type plants ranging from ferns and rushes, grasses, to the impressive palmettos such as the pond top and the silver top. Here also and perhaps a little closer to your car you will find some flowering members of the gentian family: the marsh gentian and the marsh pinks.

Carefully hidden amongst these are the minute flowered southern yellow-eyed grass which are members of the lily family. Standing taller and distinctive are the regal oriental-looking ming or spiny black olive which also happens to be a member of the white mangrove family. These lovely small dark trees (shrubs) only survive in areas where the water table is very close to the soil surface and in periods of drought will leave their skeletons where once abundant fresh water was to be had.

This is the landscape inhabited by wading and water birds, the wild hog and the crabs, a geological landscape formed of loosely cemented grains of calcium carbonate (oolites) and burrowed rockland plates. Spread out over this area are ponds populated by the leather ferns, the beak rushes and saw grasses. Here, down low, are the marsh pennyworts giving way to grasses and the like.

As we move closer to our vehicle, we find that the land has become ever so delicately elevated so that our trek back has really been no effort at all. Here now we move into the beginnings of the forest. Here we see many silver top palmettos, the early stages of hardwood species such as the wild guava, some of the stoppers including the Bahama stopper, Bahamian flax, members of the holly family, fleabane, lice root and the occasional pine tree. However, even more conspicuous by its absence is the land crab (of which the Bahamas boasts two different species), simply because it comes out to feed only at night (nocturnal).

No true Bahamian would be out here at night unless armed with a good strong crocus sack and a hefty flashlight. In days gone by before the modern flashlight, torches were made by splitting a length of pine limb and setting light to the oozing resins. Some in fact preferred the white or black torch hardwood flames, hence the names of the trees. The favoured cooking delicacy is the black crab, and this may be because it is a true vegetarian, obtaining its flavour mainly from the leaves of some of the hardy woody plants of the area including the buttonwood.

The white crab is more the omnivore, even feeding on carrion (dead animals) as does the buzzard or vulture. But here we are straying off again into a subject far removed from the purpose of this article. Even though the land crabs appear to have colonised the land, they are still really marine members of the crustacean family, very closely related to the crawfish, the blue crabs, the ghost crabs and suzy lightfoot. They must remain forever close to a source of preferably salt or brackish water because they breathe through gills which must be kept continually moist. They dig burrows down to the water table so that they may have their own private pool in which to bathe and keep forever damp.

The sea is an essential part of their life cycle, this being why after mating and fertilising of the egg mass, the female must make her way quickly to the ocean and the sea. Here she deposits the hatching egg mass in the waves and waters, the crab larvae floating away on the oceans to become part of the floating surface (pelagic) life. Later on in their life cycle they will return to terrestrial (land) life as tiny replicas of the adult, once again to repeat the life and breeding processes. It seems ironical that the commercial harvesting of the crabs is done at the one critical time in their life cycle when they are marching to the salt waters to breed and continue their species.

The crabs don't just live here, they actually participate in the ecology of this early coppice land system. They help recycle nutrients and return them to the soil for future plant use; they help break down the harsh physical soils by their burrowing; and they assist in soil aeration through the tunnels they can dig.

Crabs also have another secret life, hidden from us as they float around as larvae on the oceans and seas, undoubtedly making a contribution there as well. So we can see that an ecological system may interlock with other often seemingly remote systems and through a species we would not image leading such a double life. In this case the lowly land crab.

This then is a part of the first of the familiar coppice based seres, where the marine and land based environments still interact. Continue to think about global warming. Will sea levels rise?