The Puerto Rican moist forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest

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....

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 on the archipelago of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. They cover an area of 7544 km² (2,912.8 sq mi).

Lowland forests

Lowland forests are found throughout the island's coastal lowlands except for the dry southwest. Characteristic tree species include Hymenaea courbaril, Palma de Coroso (Acrocomia media

Acrocomia media

Acrocomia media is a species of palm which is native to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.-Description:Acrocomia media is a pinnately leaved palm with a solitary, stout stem. It usually reaches a height of , sometimes growing up to tall, with a stem diameter of .-Taxonomy:American botanist...

), Nectandra coriacea, and Zanthoxylum martinicense. Trees reach a height of 24 m (78.7 ft) in the northern portions, but are shorter elsewhere.
Several species are adapted to dry periods by being deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 or semi-deciduous

Semi-deciduous

Semi-deciduous is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose part of their foliage, also Semi-deciduous plants can mean, that plants can lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and...

.

Montane forests

Montane forests cover the Sierra de Luquillo and the higher peaks of the Cordillera Central. Trees at middle elevations reach a height of 34 m (111.5 ft) and a diameter of 2.5 m (8.2 ft). Common trees of the Sierra de Luquillo include Cyathea arborea, Prestoea acuminata, Cecropia peltata

Cecropia peltata

Cecropia peltata is a plant in the Cecropia genus. Common names include pumpwood and trumpet tree. It is listed as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species....

, and Ocotea

Ocotea

Ocotea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. The genus includes over 200 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, the West Indies, also with a few species in Africa and Madagascar, and...

species. Weinmannia pinnata, Brunellia comocladiifolia, and Podocarpus coriaceus

Podocarpus coriaceus

Podocarpus coriaceus is a species of conifer in the Podocarpaceae family.It is found in the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.-References:...

are found in the cloud forest

Cloud forest

A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...

s of the highest peaks.

Fauna

Puerto Rican moist forests are home to a variety of endemic animal species such as the critically endangered

Critically Endangered

Critically Endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species. Critically Endangered means that a species' numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations....

 Puerto Rican Amazon (Amazona vittata) and coquí

Coquí

The Common Coquí or Coquí is a frog native to Puerto Rico belonging to the Eleutherodactylus genus of the Leptodactylidae family. The species is named for the loud sound the males make at night. This sound serves two purposes...

s (Eleutherodactylus spp.). Limestone forests are rich in land snail diversity, with many species restricted to small areas.

See also

• El Yunque National Forest
  El Yunque National Forest
  El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Luquillo National Forest, and the Caribbean National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States...
  
  
• Neotropic ecozone
• Puerto Rican dry forests
  Puerto Rican dry forests
  The Puerto Rican dry forests are a subtropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of . These forests grow in areas receiving less than of rain annually...
  
  
• List of ecoregions in the United States (WWF)