Site Name: Cockpit Country ( Figure 1).
Location: Cockpit Country extends between approximately 18deg 06' - 18deg 25' N latitude and 77deg 27' - 77deg 55'W longitude, in the parishes of Trelawny, upper St Elizabeth, and eastern St. James. To the east of the main cockpit karst limestone block lies the " Central Inlier," composed of igneous shales, which supports different vegetation. This inlier is surrounded on the north and south sides by extensions of cockpit karst, which support forest similar to the dominant Cockpit Country. Map reference: Jamaica Metric Grid 1:50,000; Sheets 2, 3, 6 & 7.
Area: The extent of the well-developed, closed-depression cockpit landform is approximately 25 km east-west and 15 km north-south. An area of approximately 450 km2, which includes both contiguous forest and degraded buffer zone, is recognized as " Cockpit Country." Of this area, approximately 200 km2 is still moderately undisturbed.
Status: The majority of Cockpit Country is Forest Reserve, managed by the Forestry Department. Forest Reserves are scheduled as Game Sanctuaries under the Wildlife Protection Act (1945). The area is further designated as a Protected Watershed under the Watershed Protection Act. The Cockpit Country Forest Reserve consists of 22,327 hectares (55,170 acres). There are 12 separate Forest Reserves within the regional environs of Cockpit Country, with the single contiguous area encompassing approximately 75% of the total. Crown Lands, managed by the Commissioner of Lands, and private landowners control the remaining areas.
General Description:
Cockpit Country is the name given to the area of west-central Jamaica that is characterized by the prevalence of cockpit (" egg-carton" ) karst limestone as the dominant landform. Cockpit Country is the global type locality for cockpit karst. The area comprises much of the Troy-Claremont Limestone Formation, the oldest layer of the White Limestone Group that was laid down during the mid Eocene age (40-25 million years ago) when Jamaica was completely submerged in the Caribbean Sea. Because of gradual subsidence of the island during this period, the limestone is up to one kilometre thick in some areas. Mechanical and chemical dissolution of the limestone created a dramatic topography of rounded peaks and steep-sided bowl-shaped, closed depressions. These depressions (cockpits) drain vertically by percolation through porous bedrock or through sinkholes connected to a complex, subterranean network of caves and passages. Hilltops and slopes are noted for their talus rock rubble and thin, humus-poor, clay soils.
Cockpit Country sits on top of four hydrologic basins and serves as a recharge area for the Martha Brae, Black River, Great River, and, to a lesser extent, Dry Harbour hydrologic basins. The major rivers whose sources emerge from Cockpit Country are the Martha Brae, Black River, Y.S. River, Great River, and the Rio Bueno. Twenty eight percent of the island's safe yield and 31% of unused water resources originate within the Cockpit Country aquifer.
The forest is described as wet, closed broadleaf in the evergreen seasonal forest formation. The region is estimated to contain 1500 vascular plant species, of which 400 are endemic to Jamaica. There are 106 plant species which, in Jamaica, are only found in Cockpit Country. These include 100 species of angiosperms and one species of fern which are strictly endemic to the Cockpit Country and five other species which are not endemic to Jamaica. The majority of these endemics have been collected only a few times or are known from a single locality. Botanic studies have found that each limestone hill supports different plant assemblages from neighbouring hills - no two of Cockpit Country are exactly alike. Epiphytic bromeliads are dominant under the canopy, with the largest tank bromeliads collecting water and providing the only reliable breeding pools for frogs and other arboreal invertebrates.
Twenty-seven of Jamaica's 28 endemic landbirds are found in Cockpit Country. While none is completely restricted to Cockpit Country, no other area on Jamaica hosts such a complete assemblage. Similarly, 37 of Jamaica's 62 species of amphibians and reptiles are found in the Cockpit Country, the highest diversity recorded for the island. Four species (2 frogs, 1 gecko, and 1 galliwasp) are endemic to Cockpit Country and have only been described within the last 30 years. Of JamaicaÕs 20 endemic butterfly species, two are confined to Cockpit Country (Jamaican Patch Atlantea pantoni and Hartonia aphrissa hartonia). Cockpit Country may also support the last viable population of JamaicaÕs endemic Giant Swallowtail Butterfly (Pterourus homerus), the largest butterfly in the New World and which is endangered and listed on Appendix I of CITES (Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna). Many species found in Cockpit Country show unique physiological and behavioral adaptations that enable survival in an environment characterized by highly alkaline, thin and patchy soils and punctuated drought-like conditions.
The human population of Cockpit Country is sparse and generally confined to places accessible by road. Of the estimated 25,000 inhabitants, most are farmers. The rugged terrain and the absence of surface water have helped limit forest clearance for cultivation in the core interior. Around the periphery, many of the valley forests have been cleared for cultivation. Indeed, it is the pattern of human settlement that has defined the boundaries of Cockpit Country, rather than geological or ecological properties.