Apure–Villavicencio Dry Forests
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The Apure–Villavicencio dry forests (NT0201) is an ecoregion in Venezuela and Colombia to the east of the eastern cordillera of the
Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
. The ecoregion covers the transition zone between montane forests in the Andes and the
llanos The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...
, or lowland grasslands. It has been severely degraded by deforestation, farming and ranching. The remnants are poorly protected.


Geography


Location

The Apure–Villavicencio dry forests ecoregion runs along the eastern edge of the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela from the southwest to the northeast. It has an area of . It forms a broad band between the mountains and grasslands in the north that becomes narrower further south. In Venezuela it covers parts of the states of Portuguesa, Barinas, and
Apure Apure State ( es, Estado Apure, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Its territory formed part of the provinces of Mérida, Maracaibo, and Barinas, in accordance with successive territorial ordinations pronounced by the colonial author ...
, and in Colombia it lies in the departments of Arauca, Casanare, and
Meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...
. Along the southeast and northern margin the dry forests ecoregion gives way to the
Llanos The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...
ecoregion. To the northwest it merges into the
Venezuelan Andes montane forests The Venezuelan Andes montane forests (NT0175) is an ecoregion in the northern arm of the Andes in Venezuela. It contains montane and cloud forests, reaching up to the high-level Cordillera de Merida páramo high moor ecoregion. The forests are home ...
along the
Venezuelan Andes The Venezuelan Andes (Spanish: ''Andes Venezolanos'') also simply known as the Andes (Spanish: ''Los Andes'') in Venezuela, are a mountain system that form the northernmost extension of the Andes. They are fully identified, both by their geologic ...
, and the
Cordillera Oriental montane forests The Cordillera Oriental montane forests (NT0118) is an ecoregion in Venezuela and Colombia along the east slopes of the eastern cordillera of the Andes. The extensive region of submontane and montane forests includes distinctive flora and fauna in ...
along the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. In the extreme south it merges into the
Caquetá moist forests The Caquetá moist forests (NT0107) is an ecoregion of tropical moist broad leaf forest to the east of the Andes in the east of Colombia, with a small section in Brazil, in the Amazon biome. The forests are in the transition between the Guiana an ...
.


Terrain

The Apure–Villavicencio dry forests ecoregion has an elevation of above sea level, sloping up from the plains to the base of the mountains. In the departments of Casanare and Arauca there are alluvial fans that extend to the Llanos, with heavily drained soils that are acid and infertile.


Climate

The
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
is "Aw": equatorial, winter dry. Annual average rainfall is . Temperatures range from . At a sample location at coordinates yearly average mean temperature is just over . Mean monthly temperatures are fairly constant, ranging from in July to in March.


Ecology

The ecoregion is in the
neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...
realm, in the
tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...
biome. The forested lowland area in Venezuela between the Uribante and Arauca rivers at of elevation has been described as a
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
forest refuge with flora of the tropical lowlands.


Flora

The ecoregion is a transitional habitat between the montane forests of the Andes and the grasslands of the lowlands to the east, There are high levels of natural fragmentation of the seasonally dry tropical forests in the ecoregion. It originally contained a patchwork of premontane forest, gallery forest, dry forest and savanna. The plant formations have been much changed by humans. They include tall grassland, native semi-deciduous woodland and, mostly in Venezuela, deciduous thorn forest. Species include ''
Caesalpinia conaria ''Caesalpinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. Historically, membership within the genus has been highly variable, with different publications including anywhere from 70 to 165 species, depending largely on the inclusion o ...
'', ''
Cynophalla hastata ''Cynophalla hastata'' is a plant species in the genus '' Cynophalla''. References External links * hastata {{Brassicales-stub ...
'', ''
Capparis brasiletto ''Capparis'' is a flowering plant genus, comprising around 250 species in the family Capparaceae which is included in the Brassicaceae in the unrevised APG II system. These plants are shrubs or lianas and are collectively known as caper shrubs o ...
'', ''
Cercidium praecox ''Parkinsonia'' , also ''Cercidium'' , is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. The name of the genus honors English apothecary ...
'', ''
Chloroleucon mangense ''Chloroleucon'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. Some authorities consider it part of the genus ''Albizia''. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρóς (''chloros''), meaning "green," and λευκός (''leukos' ...
'', ''
Coccoloba ramosissima ''Coccoloba'' is a genus of about 120–150 species of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, which is native to the Neotropics. There is no overall English name for the genus, although many of the individual species have widely used common ...
'', ''
Jacquinia ''Jacquinia'' is a genus of evergreen shrubs and trees in the family Primulaceae, native to Central America and the Caribbean. The genus was established by Linnaeus in 1760 and named by him in honor of Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus J ...
'' species, ''
Mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 590 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word (''mimos''), an "actor" or "mime", and the feminine suffix -''osa'', "resembl ...
'' species, '' Piptadenia flava'', '' Poponax flexuosa'', '' Poponax tortuosa'' and ''
Prosopis juliflora ''Prosopis juliflora'' ( es, bayahonda blanca, Cuji Venezuela, Trupillo Colombia, Aippia Wayuunaiki and long-thorn kiawe in Hawaii) is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite. It is native to Mexico, South America and ...
''. Species in the semi-deciduous woodland include '' Attalea maracaibensis'', ''
Pachira quinata ''Pachira quinata'', commonly known as pochote, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It inhabits dry forests in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras Panama, Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Rep ...
'', ''
Ceiba pentandra ''Ceiba pentandra'' is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously emplaced in the family Bombacaceae), native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety ''C. pentandr ...
'', ''
Cordia ''Cordia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while ''bocote' ...
'' species, '' Crysophyllum sericeum'', '' Guazuma tormentosa'', '' Gustavia poeppigiana'', ''
Inga ''Inga'' is a genus of small tropical, tough-leaved, nitrogen-fixing treesElkan, Daniel. "Slash-and-burn farming has become a major threat to the world's rainforest" ''The Guardian'' 21 April 2004 and shrubs, subfamily Mimosoideae. ''Inga''s l ...
'' species, '' Macrolobium'' species, ''
Mauritia flexuosa ''Mauritia flexuosa'', known as the moriche palm, ''ité'' palm, ''ita'', ''buriti'', ''muriti'', ''miriti'' (Brazil), ''canangucho'' (Colombia), ''acho'' (Ecuador), or ''aguaje'' (Peru), is a Arecaceae, palm tree. It grows in and near swamps and ...
'', '' Pouteria anibaefolia'', '' Roystonea venezuelana'', ''
Spondias mombin ''Spondias mombin'', also known as yellow mombin or hog plum is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the Portuguese in Sout ...
'', '' Tabebuia rosa'' and ''
Trichilia maynasiana ''Trichilia'' is a flowering plant genus in the family (biology), family Meliaceae. These plants are particularly diverse in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America. Several species are used in folk medicine and shamanism – e.g. ''Tr ...
''. Species in the tall grasslands include ''
Acrocomia aculeata ''Acrocomia aculeata'' is a species of palm native to the Neotropics, from southern Mexico and the Caribbean south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Common names include grugru palm, gloo gloo, macaúba palm, coyol palm, and macaw palm; synonym ...
'', '' Andropogon selloanus'', ''
Axonopus canescens ''Axonopus'' is a genus of plants in the grass family, known generally as carpet grass. They are native primarily to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas with one species in tropical Africa and another on Easter Island. They are ...
'', ''
Byrsonima crassifolia ''Byrsonima crassifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malpighiaceae, native to tropical America. Common names used in English include nance, maricao cimun, craboo, and golden spoon. In Jamaica it is called hogberry. It's val ...
'', '' Byrsonima coccolobifolia'', ''
Curatella americana ''Curatella americana'', commonly known as the wild cashew tree, sambaı́ba, and the sandpaper tree, is a species of tree in the family Dilleniaceae. It is the sole accepted species in genus ''Curatella''. Description ''Curatella americana'' is ...
'' and ''
Trachypogon plumosus ''Trachypogon'' is a small genus of African and Latin American plants in the grass family. Crinkleawn grass is a common name for plants in this genus. ; Species * '' Trachypogon chevalieri'' (Stapf) Jacq.-Fél. - western + central Africa * '' T ...
''. The Uribante–Arauca forest refuge in Venezuela holds Amazon region species such as '' Capparis sola'', '' Licania latifolia'', '' Dichapetalum latiflium'', '' Henrietella rimosa'', '' Leandra aristigera'', '' Maxillaria equitans'' and '' Piper hermannii''. Plant species found only in the refuge are '' Inga thibaudiana'', '' Machaerium paraense'', '' Ormosia nobilis'', ''
Pterocarpus santalinoides ''Pterocarpus santalinoides'' is a tree species in the legume family (biology) ( Fabaceae); it is locally known as ''mututi''. It has a remarkable bi-continental distribution, native to tropical western Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, G ...
'', '' Miconia matthaei'', '' Simaba paraensis'' and '' Aegiphila scandens''. The Colombian alluvial fans holds 72 families of flora with 173 genera and 232 species. The family
Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...
has 59 species and the family
Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
has 37 species.


Fauna

Fauna in the Colombian alluvial fans include 65 species of reptiles and 144 species of birds. Characteristic mammals include the
Guajira mouse opossum The Guajira mouse opossum (''Marmosa xerophila'') is a species of opossum in the family Didelphidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela. References

Opossums Marsupials of South America Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Venezuela Mammals ...
(''Marmosa xerophila''), Hummelinck's vesper mouse (''Calomys hummelincki'') and the
giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecopha ...
(''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''). Endangered mammals include Geoffroy's spider monkey (''Ateles geoffroyi'') and
mountain tapir The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (''Tapirus pinchaque'') is the smallest of the four widely recognized species of tapir. It is the only one to live outside of tropical rainforests in the wild. It is most easily d ...
(''Tapirus pinchaque''). Endangered amphibians include the frogs Allobates juanii and Allobates ranoides.


Status

According to the
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) is a global framework for monitoring and documenting the status of ecosystems. It was developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature for biodiversity risk assessment. Its main objectives are ...
the Llanos seasonal dry forests are considered "Endangered" due to historic declines in forest cover. The
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
gives the Apure-Villavicencio dry forests ecoregion a status of "Vulnerable". Much of the original habitat has been deforested and replaced by farms and livestock ranches. The illegal cultivation of
coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Al ...
has degraded the environment in Colombia. On the Venezuela-Colombia border oil refineries have polluted the groundwater and the
Arauca River The Arauca River ( es, Río Arauca) rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Col ...
with high levels of sodium. As of 2002 of the original in Colombia and Venezuela an area of had been converted to agriculture (including ranching), leaving , or 22.5%, with natural cover or extractive uses. Land use and land cover in Colombia were mapped between 2001 and 2010 using satellite images. There were net gains in 820 municipalities, mostly the moist forest biome, but net losses in 264 municipalities. The greatest loss of woody vegetation occurred in the Apure-Villavicencio ecoregion and the Llanos. A total of of woody vegetation was lost from the dry forests. The cause was expansion of intensive agriculture and cattle pasture, particularly in the foothills of the Arauca department. A 2006 book reported that 4.8% of the ecoregion was protected. The Sierra Nevada National Park in the north of the region protects
páramo Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
and moist forest as well as some dry forest. The Serranía de la Macarena National Park includes savanna, dry forest, tropical lowland forest and montane forest. Parts of the park have been damaged by migrants and by poor management. The Tinigua National Park between the
Serranía de la Macarena Serranía de la Macarena is an isolated mountain range located in the Meta Department, Colombia. It was named after the Virgin of Hope of Macarena. The mountains are separated by about at their northern extreme from the East Andes. The range ...
and the Cordillera Oriental protects some dry forest, but mostly holds tropical lowland forest. The Serranía de la Macarena and Tinigua parks have been affected by logging and hunting.


Notes


Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT: Ecoregions of Venezuela Ecoregions of Colombia Neotropical dry broadleaf forests