[Bears Armed]

Pets & livestock
Re the mice & rats, dogs & cats: that’s good to know.
Re the smaller pets: Okay, noted. Even the rabbits, if they got loose and weren’t eaten by anything, probably wouldn’t be able to take over ecological niches currently filled by native species.

Re the common livestock: I hope that they aren’t trying to bring this directly from “old” New England, because of the difference in conditions… Taking the time to acclimatise stock from there at some place with an intermediate climate, or even obtaining stock that was actually bred & raised in a tropical area back on the colonists’ world of origin (in Brazil, or north of that in South America, for example), would seem highly advisable.
Cattle from ‘tropical’ breeds probably “pay” for their ability to tolerate the heat with lower milk yields and tougher meat than you would expect from European & North American breeds.
Pigs: get dark-skinned breeds if you’re going to let them out-of-doors, because the paler-skinned ones can get seriously sunburned. Also, you might need to keep them a bit less plump than is now usual in temperate climes, in order to prevent overheating.
Chickens, no problem, they’ll do fine.
Turkeys, again, I suspect that modern domesticated breeds might be prone to over-heating in the local climates… Might your people consider Guinea-fowl as a possible alternative?
Horses, get stock from a suitable source and that’s fine… although, of course, this is another species that could potentially establish a large population in the wild if given the chance.
Sheep & Goats: Okay, but note that tropical breeds tend to have only ‘hair’ (which needs to be collected by relatively frequent combing) rather than heavier ‘wool’ (which can be removed as entire fleeces once a year). I think that, even in RL Australia, the sheep from which wool is obtained are raised further from the equator than this. Also, again, worry about the possible ecological consequences if goats manage to establish a feral population.

Crops
Bananas (and ‘plantains’, if you want them, too), pineapples, mangoes: should grow fine.
Citrus fruits: I’d need to do more research, but probably at least some.
Jacarandas: should be fine; and quick research indicates that they have multiple pollinating species in various parts of RL so their attracting one here as well should probably be easy enough.
Plumeria (Frangipani): should grow fine, but I’m not sure about insect pollination (quick research says ‘sphinx moths’, but I haven’t yet found out how species-limited this is…) so you might need to rely on other methods.

I’ve already mentioned the coconut palms in some coastal areas, and that there’s probably at least one area in the highlands where it would be worth trying Coffee. Also, whether or not any of the native species of Fig produce fruit worth your while, you could probably bring in one that’s already grown for this purpose somewhere in RL Earth’s tropics.
Some other crop-yielding trees that your people could consider introducing, depending on how much of the native forest they’re willing to replace, are avocado, cocoa, cashew-nut, kola nut, breadfruit, pepper, sago palm, oil palm, rubber, and the one that gives the traditional raw material for chewing-gum…
Some non-woody crops that your people could definitely consider: sweet potato, peppers (both ‘bell’ and ‘hot’), cassava/manioc, peanut/groundnut, certain types of gourds, and probably certain varieties of maize (as it is grown in RL Brazil). With enough labour and irrigation, possibly also rice, sugar-cane, cotton…
That’s just a quick list, from my memories of reading about the tropics, and you can probably find even more if you do some research yourself.

There are almost certainly some more native plants from which your people could obtain edible fruit or other useful products, too, but finding out which of the many species present are really suitable for this might take them a while (especially as it isn’t a point that I had previously considered myself…).

Another “biological” matter that the settlers might have to consider, of course, is the possible presence of native diseases or parasites which could spread to their crops, their livestock, or even themselves… Again, this isn’t a point that I had previously considered. However, I will guarantee the absence, unless you decide that you actually want to RP about their presence, of Malaria, Sleeping Sickness, Yellow Fever, and Ebola…
Your settlers are making sure that all of the pets & livestock they bring here aren’t carrying any diseases (that could spread to the native wildlife), right?


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Other matters

Is it okay with you if I specify that one section of the western plains, some way inland from the coast, floods temporarily during the rainy season to become a fairly wide marsh? This would offer us some more interesting ecological possibilities…

Is it okay with you if I make minor changes to the Gazelles already confirmed as present, add yet another species of them, and add another species of Antelope as well? If it is then should I use the (SUGGESTED) label for the new species, although not to highlight the other changes, or for the latter as well?

Also, although so far I have been using the labels “Mongoose” & “Civet” so far for various members of the continent’s endemic Carnivoran family the ‘Notovernatoridae’, those animals are obviously not “true” Mongooses & Civets. This being the case, I suggest (and think that some zoologists within the region IC would probably suggest, too) that we add alternative labels which could be used by characters who want to be more accurate (& less colloquial?). The ‘mongoose’ types are mostly diurnal and mostly terrestrial (although the ‘Sanglins’ are an exception in both respects..), whereas the ‘civet’ types are mostly nocturnal and more inclined to be arboreal: So, basically “Groundstalkers” (although with the Sanglins & their closest relatives being ‘Treestalkers’ instead) and “Nightprowlers” (although with the already-described ‘Austral Ground Civet’ being a “Groundprowler” instead), perhaps? Alternative suggestions?

This comment has been moved down the thread to make room for more 'Ecosystems' notes.