Caicos Turks and Silver Bank

Map of the Month: Caicos, Turks, and Silver Bank
Map boundaries: 20 to 30 degrees North; 63 to 72 degrees West
Countries: Dominican Republic and United Kingdom (Overseas Territory)

Overview
The Caicos Bank, which is lined by numerous islands, the Turks Islands, and the three submerged banks located to the southeast (Mourchoir, Silver, and Navidad) are the southeasternmost extension of the Bahama Island chain. Like the rest of the Bahamas, each larger island has a mixture of three vegetation types: pine forests, tropical hardwoods, and mangroves. Smaller islands are viewed as valuable waterfowl refuges, and the large, shallow “banks” are viewed as important coral reef areas. Tourist development has focused on beaches, but there is a flamingo pond on North Caicos, a series of limestone caves and cliffs on Middle Caicos, and expansive salt flats on Turks and Salt Cay. The Dominican Republic has declared Silver and Navidad banks as a sanctuary for marine mammals.

Terrestrial Ecoregions
Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
NT 203, Bahamian dry forests. Broadleaf hardwoods such as Swietenia and Bursera grow over an understory of scrub bush and cacti. The West Indian rock iguana is the notable animal species. This vegetation covers about 90 percent of the Turks and Caicos.

Tropical and Subtropical Coniferous Forests
NT 301, Bahamian pine forests. Distributed throughout the Turks and Caicos.

Mangrove
NT 1403, Bahamian mangroves. Scrubby patches of mangroves are mixed with salt marshes. Mangroves are often found in association with seagrasses. The scattered mangrove distribution is attributed to high salinity.

Marine Ecoregions of the World
Tropical Atlantic Realm, Tropical Northwestern Atlantic Province
63. Bahamian

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World
Central America Region
212. Bahama Archipelago. No major rivers are found due to porous limestone

Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance
North, Middle and East Caicos. This wetland complex is found along the shallow coast and between ridges of marine sediments on the larger islands.

Important Bird Areas
Caicos Bank, noted for breeding areas of bridled tern, brown noddy, and roseate tern
East Caicos, noted for dryland, pond, cave, marsh, and wetland habitats with an important coral reef area. Birds are West Indian whistling duck and Kirtland’s warbler.
Middle Caicos, noted for fish ponds, limestone cliffs, offshore cays, sea caves, and inland caves
North Caicos, contains a gallery forest area with blue-headed quail dove and pearly-eyed thrasher
Grand Turk, Salinas or salt ponds containing piping plover dominate the island, named after the Turks cap cactus; colonial architecture is found in Cockburn Town.
Salt Cay, salt ponds
Turks Bank, contains seabird cays with 20,000 waterbirds.

Other points of interest:
Mourchoir Bank, an offshore plateau with parts as shallow as 6 feet, part of Turks and Caicos Islands
Silver Bank, an offshore plateau and sanctuary for sea mammals such as the humpback whale; a wrecked freighter sticks above the surface; part of the Dominican Republic
Navidad Bank, shallow bank that reaches within 13 m of the surface; a sanctuary for marine mammals; part of Dominican Republic

References
Abell, Robin and 27 others. 2008. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation. Bioscience 58:403-414.
BirdLife International. 2008. BirdLife’s Online World Bird Database. Accessed 03/19/2009 at http://www.birdlife.org/
Coates, Robert and others. 2008. The Rough Guide to the Caribbean. New York, Rough Guides.
Olson, et al. 2001. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth. BioScience 51:933-938.
Spalding, Mark D. and 14 others. 2007. Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas. Bioscience 57:573-583.
UNESCO World Heritage List. Accessed 2008 at whc.unesco.org/en/list/983