Editing Geography of Bermuda (section)

==Native terrestrial ecology==
[[File:1904 view of eastern Hamilton Harbour and Paget Parish from Fort Hamilton, Prospect Camp, Bermuda.jpg|thumb|left|1904 view across Hamilton Harbour from Fort Hamilton of [[Juniperus bermudiana|cedar]]-cloaked hills in Paget Parish]]
[[Image:Callan Glen Coast - Bermuda.jpg|thumb|The coast of Callan Glen, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda.]]
[[Image:NAmerica w bermuda.png|thumb|[[North America]] with Bermuda circled]]
[[Image:BDA Aerial.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Bermuda looking west, St. David's and St. George's in foreground]]
[[ecology of Bermuda|Bermuda's ecology]] has been altered radically since the 16th century by humans and the plants and animals they introduced. Some species had actually become extinct long before this, including the [[short-tailed albatross]], a species which occurs today only in the northern [[Pacific Ocean]].

===Flora===
[[Forest cover]] is around 20% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,000 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, which was unchanged from 1990.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a6e225da-4a31-4e06-818d-ca3aeadfd635/content |title=Terms and Definitions FRA 2025 Forest Resources Assessment, Working Paper 194 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |year=2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, Bermuda |url=https://fra-data.fao.org/assessments/fra/2020/BMU/home/overview |website=Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}}</ref> Of 165 plant species found in Bermuda today, 14 are [[Endemism|endemic]], and 25 are endangered. When discovered, about 1505, the island's habitat was dominated by the remnant, [[Old growth forest|old-growth]] forest of Bermuda Juniper (''[[Juniperus bermudiana]]''). Underwater archaeology of the caldera basin to the north shows that the area was once densely forested with junipers when it was above sea level. The juniper is an endemic species, though related to species found in North America. Its wood is an unusually deep red, indicative of the high iron content of the island's soil (which is similarly very red). Prior to human settlement, there were several million juniper trees in Bermuda. By the 1830s, large areas of Bermuda had been denuded by the shipbuilding industry. As that industry died out in the 19th century, however, the junipers rapidly recovered their numbers. By 1900, when the human population neared 20,000, the islands were again covered densely with juniper, although many of these were juvenile trees. The respite proved temporary, however. In the 1940s, it was realised that two species of [[scale insect]], ''[[Lepidosaphes newsteadi]]'' and ''[[Carulaspis minima]]'', had accidentally been introduced, and were rapidly killing off the junipers, which had no immunity to their toxicological effect. Attempts were made to control the infestation naturally, which involved the large-scale introduction of [[Coccinellidae|ladybird beetles]] (''Coccinellidae''), but these were to no avail. Over the next decade, roughly 8 million juniper trees were lost to the scales. Motor cars were legalised in Bermuda in 1948, as a result of changes wrought by [[World War II]], and the resultant sprawl of the rapidly growing population (which had reached 60,000 by the 1980s) outward from the pre-war population centres happened simultaneously with the destruction of the forests. Unlike in the 19th century, many plant species that had been introduced, some, like the ''[[Casuarina]]'', specifically to replace the [[windbreak]] lost with the juniper, spread virulently. The juniper grows slowly by comparison to many of the [[introduced species]], and has been unable to thrive in the presence of ''Casuarina'' and [[Brazilian pepper]] trees. Efforts to restore it centre around intensively managed land areas, such as gardens and golf courses. Other large plant species, which were never as numerous as the juniper, had also fared poorly in the presence of invasive species, but have become popular with gardeners and their numbers also have increased in managed areas. These include two native species, the Bermuda olivewood (''[[Elaeodendron laneanum]]''), and the Bermuda palmetto (''[[Sabal bermudana]]''), the only native or endemic palm. In some coastal areas and inland marshes, Bermuda is the most northerly point at which [[mangrove]] trees are found. Smaller plants include many [[fern]]s. Notable among these is the rare Bermuda cave fern (''[[Ctenitis]] [[Ctenitis sloanei|sloanei]]''). An even rarer fern,'' [[Diplazium laffanianum]]'', no longer survives in the wild. Another native plant is the [[Iris (plant)|iris]] ''Bermudiana'' (''[[Sisyrinchium bermudiana]]''). This was thought to be endemic, but also appears in two locations in [[Ireland]]. Many of the smaller endemic and native plants of Bermuda are rare and endangered, but others have survived and prospered. The common [[Cynodon|Bermuda grass]] is not actually Bermudian, but a Mediterranean import.

===Fauna===
There were few species of land animal in Bermuda before the arrival of humans. The only vertebrate species was the [[Bermuda rock skink|Bermuda skink]], or ''rock lizard'' (''Eumeces longirostris''). These were quite numerous, but have become rare due to predation by introduced species, and, especially, the introduction of glass bottles, in which they easily become trapped. Unlike the introduced [[anole]]s, their feet are unable to adhere to glass. Their range had been largely reduced to small islands of [[Castle Harbour, Bermuda|Castle Harbour]], but they have re-colonised the mainland, and their numbers are increasing. The only other large land animals found on the island were crustaceans, notably two species of land crab, including the rare giant land crab (''Cardisoma quantami''). Insects included the endemic, ground-burrowing solitary bee, which has not been observed for several decades and is believed extinct. The native [[cicada]] also became extinct with the loss of the juniper forest. Other native insects survive, including the migratory [[monarch butterfly]] (''Danaus plexippus''), which has become threatened due to the loss of [[Asclepias|milkweed]], which has been eradicated as a weed. The most numerous animals were, and are, birds. Several native species are related to North American species, including the [[eastern bluebird]] (''Sialia sialis''), and the [[white-eyed vireo]] (''Vireo griseus bermudianus''). Both of these were common, but have suffered from loss of habitat, from competition for nest sites with introduced [[house sparrow]]s (''Passer domesticus''), and nest-predation by [[European starling]]s (''Sturnus vulgaris'') and [[great kiskadee]]s (''Pitangus sulphuratus'') - this last species was deliberately introduced as late as 1957, with the intent that it would control the previously introduced anoles. Other native birds, including the [[grey catbird]], have suffered from the same causes. The most famous Bermudian bird is the endemic [[Bermuda petrel]] (''Pterodroma cahow''), or ''cahow''. This is a pelagic seabird which had dug burrows for its nests. Humans are believed to have killed millions of them after settlement began in 1609, and feral pigs, introduced presumably by Spaniards decades before, also attacked their nests. Before the 17th century was over, the cahow was believed to be extinct. After sightings of the bird at sea, a young Bermudian, [[David B. Wingate]], theorised cahows might still be nesting on rocky islets of Castle Harbour. He visited these islets with ornithologists [[Robert Cushman Murphy]] and Louis S. Mowbray in 1951 and discovered a handful of nesting pairs. Under Wingate's supervision, a conservation programme has steadily increased the cahow's numbers. Species that arrived by natural dispersion and become native after human settlement include the [[Western barn owl|barn owl]] (''Tyto alba''), and the [[mourning dove]] (''Zenaida macroura'').