Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve

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Mona and Monito Islands
Reserva Natural Islas de Mona y Monito
Harrisia portoricensis.jpg
Higo chumbo (Harrisia portoricensis) in Mona Island.
USA Puerto Rico location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Puerto Rico
Nearest city Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Coordinates 18°5′12″N67°53′22″W / 18.08667°N 67.88944°W / 18.08667; -67.88944
Area40,045 cuerdas (38,893 acres)
Established1986
Governing body Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA)
Designated1975

Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve (Spanish: Reserva Natural Islas Mona y Monito) consists of two islands, Mona and Monito, in the Mona Passage off western Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve encompasses both land and marine area, and with an area of 38,893 acres [1] it is the largest protected natural area in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (El Yunque National Forest, with 28,434 acres, [2] is the largest in the main island of Puerto Rico). Much like the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the Mona and Monito Islands reserve represents a living laboratory for archaeological, biological, geological, oceanographical and wildlife management research. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Overview

Mona and Monito as seen from the International Space Station ISS025-E-15832 - View of Puerto Rico.jpg
Mona and Monito as seen from the International Space Station

Mona is the third largest island in the archipelago of Puerto Rico and the largest in the Mona Passage. It has an area of 22 square miles (57 km2) and is located 41 miles (66 km) from the main island of Puerto Rico, and 38 miles (61 km) east of the Dominican Republic. Monito, less than a mile across (147 km2), is smaller and located 3.20 miles (5.15 km) northwest off Mona. Although both islands are uninhabited (only researchers and DRNA personnel live on Mona), both form part of barrio Isla de Mona e Islote Monito of the municipality of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Due to the island's historical and natural significance there has been interest in seeking world heritage status for Mona as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the Puerto Rican government. [6] The name Mona originates from Amona, the original Taíno name for the island. [3]

History

Mona Island Lighthouse in 1913 Mona Island (cropped).JPG
Mona Island Lighthouse in 1913

The island of Mona was inhabited by the Taíno people in the Pre-Columbian era [3] and it contains several archaeological and petroglyph sites, most of them in the limestone caves of the island. [7] The caves also contain graffiti from the Spanish colonial and piracy times. [8] Mona, along with Puerto Rico, Vieques and Culebra, were ceded to United States from Spain in 1898 under the Treaty of Paris. [9] On December 22, 1919, the island was declared an "Insular Forest of Puerto Rico", under the auspices of the U.S. Forest Law No. 22. The Mona Island Lighthouse, dating from 1900, was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as Faro de la Isla de la Mona in 1981, and the whole island was added to the NRHP in 1993. [10] Guano mining was the primary industry of Mona for most of its history. The ruins and remnants of the guano mining infrastructure can still be seen today. [11]

Mona and Monito Islands were first designated a U.S. National Natural Landmark in 1975 due to the islands' unusual limestone sea caves and natural history. The site of the National Natural Landmark site includes 14,037 acres out of the 38,893 total acres in the nature reserve. [12] The island of Mona and its surrounding waters were designated a critical habitat in 1977 and 1982 for the yellow-shouldered blackbird ( Agelaius xanthomus ), the Mona Island boa ( Chilabothrus monensis ) and the Mona ground iguana ( Cyclura stejnegeri ). It was designated a nature reserve in 1986, and BirdLife International and the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society recognized it as an Important Bird Area in 2004. [13]

Ecology

Higo chumbo fruit in Mona. Higo Chumbo fruit (5840524148).jpg
Higo chumbo fruit in Mona.

Mona and Monito are home to a number of unique animal and plant species found nowhere else in the world. [14] This reserve represents one of the last remaining large tracts of Puerto Rican dry forest along with the Guánica State Forest and the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve. [15] This type of biome is considered critically endangered. [16]

Flora

Mona is home to the largest population of the rare and Critically Endangered [17] Puerto Rico applecactus or higo chumbo ( Harrisia portoricensis ). This species of cactus is only found on the islands of the Mona Passage (59,000 individuals in Mona, 148 in Monito and 9 in Desecheo), [17] although it has been recently introduced to the island of Caja de Muertos off southern Puerto Rico by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources as part of a conservation project due to that island's geographical and ecological similarities with Mona and Monito. [18] This cactus is locally known as higo chumbo, meaning "weighed-down prickly pear", due to the leaning cactus arms caused by the weight of their fruit. [19]

Fauna

Mona ground iguana Mona ground Iguana Iguana de Mona en la playa (5839983809).jpg
Mona ground iguana

The Mona ground iguana ( Cyclura stejnegeri ) [20] is the largest native land animal, not only in Mona but in the whole archipelago of Puerto Rico, 1.22 metres (4 feet 0 inches) in length. It is critically endangered with an estimated population of 1,500 and only found in the island of Mona. Its numbers have greatly decreased due to the presence of invasive species such as cats which predate on the young, and boar which threaten their nesting sites. Although it inhabits the whole island it only nests in a small region in the southwestern coast as it is the only suitable nesting area with loose sand and direct sunlight. They are primarily herbivorous with a diet consisting of leaves, flowers, berries, and fruits from different plant species. [21] [22]

Mona represents the largest nesting site for hawksbill sea turtles ( Eretmochelys imbricata ) in the Caribbean. [3] Other endemic fauna in the reserve includes yellow-shouldered blackbirds (Agelaius xanthomus), Mona least geckos ( Sphaerodactylus monensis ), the Mona ameiva ( Ameiva alboguttata ), the Mona anole ( Anolis monensis ), the Mona worm snake ( Antillotyphlops monensis ), the Mona boa ( Chilabothrus monensis ), and the Mona coqui ( Eleutherodactylus monensis ). [14]

Monito is home to the Monito gecko ( Sphaerodactylus micropithecus ) an endemic lizard which was placed in the endangered species list on October 15, 1982, by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. [23]

Extinct species

Mona used to be home to the Puerto Rican amazon ( Amazona vittata ), now only found in small communities in the main island of Puerto Rico, [24] and the Puerto Rican parakeet ( Psittacara maugei ), [25] an extinct species of parrot that was found in the island until its extinction during the first half of the 20th century. [26]

Extinct Puerto Rican parakeet from Mona. Naturalis Biodiversity Center - RMNH.AVES.110079 - Aratinga chloroptera maugei (Souance, 1856) - Puerto Rico Parakeet - specimen - lateral view.jpeg
Extinct Puerto Rican parakeet from Mona.

Recreation

Visits are allowed in Mona through previously obtained permits, which allows visitors to camp, hike, fish and hunt invasive species such as boar. [3] The most common form of transportation is by private yacht, though commercial excursions are available from Cabo Rojo for small groups.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Puerto Rico</span>

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is an archipelagic island U.S. territory comprised of the eponymous main island of Puerto Rico and 142 smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. It is located between the Greater and Lesser Antilles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of Hispaniola, west of Saint Thomas, north of Venezuela, and south of the Puerto Rico Trench. Measuring 177 km in length and 65 km in width with a land area of 8,868 sq km, the main island is the 3rd largest in the U.S., 4th in the Caribbean, 29th in the Americas, and 81st in the world, making it the 174th largest country or dependency by surface area. With 3.2 million residents, it is the 2nd largest in the U.S., 4th in the Caribbean, 4th in the Americas, and 31st in the world, making it the 136th largest country or dependency by population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isla de Mona</span> Island of Puerto Rico

Mona Island is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, the strait between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, with the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. It measures about 7 miles by 4 miles, and lies 41 mi (66 km) west of Puerto Rico, of which it is administratively a part. It is one of two islands that make up the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio in the municipality of Mayagüez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Rican dry forests</span> Dry forests in southern Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of 1,300 km2 (500 sq mi). These forests grow in areas receiving less than 1,000 mm (39 in) of rain annually. Many of the trees are deciduous, losing their leaves during the dry season which normally lasts from December to April.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caja de Muertos Island</span> Island on southern coast of Puerto Rico

Caja de Muertos is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve, because of its native turtle traffic and ecological value of its dry forests and reefs. Hikers and beachgoers are often seen in the island, which can be reached by ferry from the La Guancha Boardwalk sector of Ponce Playa. Together with Cardona, Ratones, Morrillito, Isla del Frio, Gatas, and Isla de Jueyes, Caja de Muertos is one of seven islands ascribed to the municipality of Ponce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desecheo Island</span> Uninhabited island of Puerto Rico

Desecheo is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 13 mi (21 km) from the municipality of Rincón on the west coast of the main island of Puerto Rico and 31 mi (50 km) northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 0.589 sq mi. Politically, the island is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge, but part of the Sabanetas barrio of Mayagüez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monito Island</span> Uninhabited island of Puerto Rico

Monito Island is an uninhabited island about 3.1 miles (5.0 km) northwest of the much larger Mona Island. Monito is the masculine diminutive form of Mona in Spanish, which also translates to little monkey in Spanish. It is one of three islands in the Mona Passage, and part of the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio, a subdivision of the municipality of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monito gecko</span> Species of reptile

The Monito gecko is a species of gecko endemic to the island of Monito, in the archipelago of Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-shouldered blackbird</span> Species of bird

The yellow-shouldered blackbird, known in Puerto Rican Spanish as mariquita de Puerto Rico or capitán, is a species of blackbird endemic to Puerto Rico. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow patch on the wing. Adult males and females are of similar appearance. The species is predominantly insectivorous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish Virgin Islands</span> A portion of the Virgin Islands comprising Culebra and Vieques of Puerto Rico

The Spanish Virgin Islands, formerly called the Passage Islands, commonly known as the Puerto Rican Virgin Islands, consist of the islands of Vieques and Culebra, located between the main island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the northeastern Caribbean. Located between the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the islands are administratively part of the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and geographically part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fauna of Puerto Rico</span>

The fauna of Puerto Rico is similar to other island archipelago faunas, with high endemism, and low, skewed taxonomic diversity. Bats are the only extant native terrestrial mammals in Puerto Rico. All other terrestrial mammals in the area were introduced by humans, and include species such as cats, goats, sheep, the small Indian mongoose, and escaped monkeys. Marine mammals include dolphins, manatees, and whales. Of the 349 bird species, about 120 breed in the archipelago, and 47.5% are accidental or rare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guánica State Forest</span> State forest in Puerto Rico

The Guánica State Forest, popularly known as the Guánica Dry Forest is a subtropical dry forest located in southwest Puerto Rico. The area was designated as a forest reserve in 1919 and a United Nations Biosphere Reserve in 1981. It is considered the best preserved subtropical dry forest and the best example of dry forest in the Caribbean.

<i>Harrisia portoricensis</i> Species of plant

Harrisia portoricensis is a species of cactus in the genus Harrisia. Its common names include higo chumbo and Puerto Rico applecactus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porta del Sol</span> Tourism region in western Puerto Rico

Porta del Sol, or simply West Region, is a tourism region in western Puerto Rico. Porta del Sol was the first tourism region to be established by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. It consists of 17 municipalities in the western area: Quebradillas, Isabela, San Sebastián, Moca, Aguadilla, Aguada, Rincón, Añasco, Mayagüez, Las Marías, Maricao, Hormigueros, San Germán, Sabana Grande, Guánica, Lajas and Cabo Rojo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Ecological Corridor</span> Protected Nature Reserve in Puerto Rico

The Northeast Ecological Corridor Nature Reserve (NECNR) refers to an area designated as a protected Nature Reserve located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, between the municipalities of Luquillo and Fajardo. Specifically, the lands that comprise the NEC are located between Luquillo's town square to the west and Seven Seas Beach to the east, being delineated by PR Route # 3 to its south and the Atlantic Ocean to its north. It was decreed as a protected area by former Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal S. Acevedo-Vilá in April 2008, a decision reversed by Governor Luis G. Fortuño-Burset in October 2009, although he later passed a law in June 2012 re-designated as nature reserve two-thirds of its lands, after intense lobbying and public pressure. Later, in 2013, Governor Alejandro García-Padilla signed a law declaring all lands within the NEC a nature reserve. The area comprises 2,969.64 acres, which include such diverse habitats as forest, wetlands, beaches, coral communities, and a sporadically bioluminescent lagoon. The Corridor is also home to 866 species of flora and fauna, of which 54 are considered critical elements, meaning rare, threatened, endangered and endemic species classified by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), some even designated as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). These include, among others, federally endangered species such as the plain pigeon, the snowy plover, the Puerto Rican boa, the hawksbill sea turtle and the West Indian manatee. The beaches along the NEC, which are 8.74 kilometers long are important nesting grounds for the leatherback sea turtle, which starts its nesting season around April each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve</span> Nature reserve in southern Puerto Rico

Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in southern Puerto Rico consisting of the islands of Caja de Muertos, Cayo Morrillito, Cayo Berbería, and their surrounding reefs and waters in the Caribbean Sea. This nature reserve was founded on January 2, 1980, by the Puerto Rico Planning Board as recommended by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources with the purpose of preserving the subtropical dry forest ecosystems found within these islands, some important sea turtle nesting sites, and the marine habitats found on their surrounding reefs and waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank H. Wadsworth</span> American forester and conservationist (1915–2022)

Frank Howard Wadsworth was an American forester, conservationist and researcher. He made important scientific contributions to forestry, through his work in Puerto Rico where he lived from 1942 until his death.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Parguera Nature Reserve</span> Protected area in Puerto Rico

La Parguera Nature Reserve is a protected area located in the southwestern Puerto Rico, primarily in the municipality of Lajas but also covering cays and islets under the municipal jurisdictions of Guánica and Cabo Rojo. The nature reserve is itself a unit of the Boquerón State Forest and it protects the Bahía Montalva mangrove forest in addition to mangrove bays, salt marshes and lagoons located along the coast of the Parguera barrio of Lajas, including its numerous cays and coral reefs. The reserve is mostly famous for its bioluminescent bay, locally called Bahía Fosforecente,, one of the three of its kind in Puerto Rico and one of the seven year-round places where bioluminescent can be seen in the Caribbean.

References

  1. ↑ "Reserva Natural Islas de Mona y Monito". DRNA. July 9, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  2. ↑ United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. "El Yunque National Forest".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Isla de Mona – Aquí Está Puerto Rico" (in Spanish). Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Isla de Mona to become the Galapagos of the Caribbean". Ciencia Puerto Rico. November 10, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  5. ↑ Estado Libre Associado de Puerto Rico, Officina del Gobernador, Junta de Calidad Ambiental (1973). Las Islas de Mona y Monito: una evaluación de sus recursos naturales e históricos (in English and Spanish). San Juan: IUCN.
  6. ↑ CyberNews. "Quiere que Isla de Mona sea un patrimonio". www.wapa.tv (in Spanish). Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  7. ↑ Daley, Jason. "Archaeologists Date Pre-Hispanic Puerto Rican Rock Art for the First Time". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  8. ↑ Santos, Mariela (May 17, 2017). "The Ultimate Guide to Isla de Mona, the Galapagos of the Caribbean". Culture Trip. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  9. ↑ United States. War Department. Porto Rico census office (1900). Informe sobre el censo de Puerto Rico, 1899. University of Texas. Wáshington : Imprenta del gobierno.
  10. ↑ "NPGallery Asset Detail". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  11. ↑ Frank, Edward F. "History of the Guano Mining History, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico" (PDF). Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. 60 (2): 121–125.
  12. ↑ "National Natural Landmarks – National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  13. ↑ Uribe, Claudio. "Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico". Island Conservation. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  14. 1 2 "La Mona que pocos conocen". Ciencia Puerto Rico (in Spanish). September 4, 2013. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  15. ↑ United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service Caribbean Area. "La Importancia de los Bosques en Puerto Rico".
  16. ↑ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b.
  17. 1 2 USFWS. Higo Chumbo Five-year Review. January 2010.
  18. ↑ "La Reserva Natural Isla Caja de Muertos". DRNA. June 12, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Higo chumbo". Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  20. ↑ Powell, Robert (1999), "Herpetology of Navassa Island, West Indies" (PDF), Caribbean Journal of Science, 35 (1–2): 1–13, archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011, retrieved September 9, 2007
  21. ↑ United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. "Mona Ground Iguana" (PDF).
  22. ↑ "Restoring Habitat for The Iguanas of Mona Island". Island Conservation. August 1, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Monito gecko". Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Taxonomy: Puerto Rican Parrot". Conservation Management Institute. Archived from the original on October 8, 1999. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  25. ↑ BirdLife International (2020). "Psittacara chloropterus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T22685695A179413764. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22685695A179413764.en . Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  26. ↑ Charles Arthur Woods, Florence Etienne Sergile (2001). Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives. CRC Press. p. 182. ISBN   0-8493-2001-1.
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