Vegetation of the dry bioclimatic areas in the Dominican Republic

We conduct a study of the dry forest in areas of scant rainfall in the Dominican Republic; these are sites with particularendemic habitats, as the samples reveal a high rate of local and insular endemic species, with 84 (24.85%) endemisms. Thiswork covers dry forests rich in coarse spiny plants and includes a statistical (multivariate analysis), phytosociological andcatenal study of the vegetation.We analyse the floristic composition, ecology, distribution and richness in endemisms of eachassociation. The bioclimatic analysis reveals the different thermotypes and ombrotypes on the island, and locates theproposed plant associations in the infra- and thermotropical thermotypes, and in the arid, semiarid and dry ombrotypes. As aresult of this phytosociological analysis, we propose the new alliance Harrio nashii–Acacion skleroxylae and four plantassociations: Harrisio nashii–Prosopidetum juliflorae, Crotono poitaei–Erythroxyletum rotundifolii, Lonchocarpo pycnophylli–Cylindropuntietum caribaeae and Neoabbottio paniculatae–Guaiacetum officinali; these associations connect catenally with thesubhumid forest and mangrove swamps.