Bioclimatic map of the Dominican Republic

Abstract

The location of the Dominican Republic between parallels 17° and 19° north means it has a tropical macroclimate. The Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti belong to the island of Hispaniola, which has three bioclimates: tropical pluvial, tropical pluviseasonal and tropical xeric. Io values are always higher than 1. The minimum Oi value is 1.1 (semiarid) in A. Sisal, at an altitude of 40 m, and the maximum Io value is 19.7 (hyperhumid) in Loma Casabito (cordillera Central) at 1,430 m. It/Itc values range between 187 in V. Nuevo (cordillera Central) and 799 in Jimaní (province of Independencia). If we apply the criterion of Rivas-Martínez (2007), the recorded It/Itc values merely confirm that the thermotype ranges between infratropical and mesotropical on the island of Hispaniola. The absence of weather stations above 1,500 m makes it impossible to estimate the It/Itc value. The weather station in V. Nuevo only shows data for 9 years and, consequently, the recorded It/Itc value of 187 (supratropical) is not significant. However, altitudes higher than 1,500 m are frequent, Pico Duarte, 3,175 m, being the highest peak. Winter temperatures drop below 0 °C in these mountain areas. This fact, together with the absence of moisture-laden trade winds above 2,000 m and the presence of forests of Pinus occidentalis have led us (Cano et al. (2011) to propose a tropical pluviseasonal bioclimate with a supratropical thermotype for Hispaniola.