| This study develops a hierarchical ecosystem classification for Trinidad, the most species-rich island in the Caribbean. The proposed classification system consists of three tiers: the ecoregion, life zone and landscape. Units of these tiers are defined and mapped using environmental data in a geographic information system. The study proposes that the island is in a climatically-driven ecological tension zone, with the island's forest ecosystems in a state of dynamic equilibrium determined primarily by inter-annual variation in precipitation.; A gradient analysis of forest tree and bird distributions, based on 43 forest plots, revealed that tree and bird species on the island were distributed along elevational and precipitation gradient. These results were consistent with the patterns we expected at the ecoregional tier of the ecosystem classification system.; This study explored public attitudes towards Trinidad's biodiversity through a 630-person public survey. Significant differences in attitudes and knowledge of biological diversity among various demographic groups were detected. Income, level of formal education, sex and ethnicity were found to be predictive of an individual's support for specific conservation activities as well as their knowledge of and concern for nature. |
