Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena is a

biodiversity hotspot A biodiversity hotspot is a ecoregion, biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after ...

, which includes the

tropical moist forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

and

tropical dry 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 ...

of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coast of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and the Galapagos Islands. The region extends from easternmost

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

to the lower

Magdalena Valley The Magdalena River (, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, and along the Pacific coast of Colombia and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

to the northwestern corner of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Formerly called the Chocó-Darién-Western Ecuador Hotspot, it has been expanded to include several new areas, notably the Magdalena Valley in northern Colombia. It is bounded on the east by the

Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

. The Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena Hotspot is 1,500 km long and encircles 274,597 km². Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena is near the Pacific Ocean. The factors that threaten Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena are farming encroachment,

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

, illegal crops, and population growth. Whereas the Panamanian and Colombian portion of the hotspot are relatively intact, approximately 98% of native forest in coastal Ecuador has been cleared, rendering it the most threatened tropical forest in the world. The hotspot includes a wide variety of habitats, ranging from mangroves, beaches, rocky shorelines, and coastal wilderness to some of the world's wettest rain forests in the Colombian Chocó. The hotspot includes a number of

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

s: *

Chocó–Darién moist forests The Chocó–Darién moist forests (NT0115) is a largely forested, tropical ecoregion of northwestern South America and southern Central America. The ecoregion extends from the eastern Panamanian province of Darién and the indigenous region of ...

(Colombia, Ecuador, Panama) *

Ecuadorian dry forests The Ecuadorian dry forests (NT0214) is an ecoregion near the Pacific coast of the Ecuador. The habitat has been occupied by people for centuries and has been severely damaged by deforestation, overgrazing and hillside erosion due to unsustainable ...

(Ecuador) *

Guayaquil flooded grasslands The Guayaquil flooded grasslands (NT0905) is an ecoregion near the Pacific coast of the Ecuador. The ecoregion is critically endangered due to conversion into agricultural land. Location The Guayaquil flooded grasslands ecoregion is in the southw ...

(Ecuador) *

Gulf of Guayaquil–Tumbes mangroves The Gulf of Guayaquil–Tumbes mangroves (NT1413) are an ecoregion located in the Gulf of Guayaquil in South America, in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. It has an area of 3,300 km2 (1300 sq mi). Location The mangroves are found between E ...

(Ecuador, Peru) *

Galápagos Islands xeric scrub The Galápagos Islands xeric scrub, also known as the Galápagos Islands scrubland mosaic, is a terrestrial deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion that covers the Galápagos Islands. The Galápagos Islands are volcanic in origin, and remote from ...

(Ecuador) *

Magdalena Valley montane forests The Magdalena Valley montane forests (NT0136) is an ecoregion in the Andes mountains of central Colombia. Geography Location The ecoregion covers the higher land on both sides of the valley of the Magdalena River in the Colombian Andes. The ri ...

(Colombia) *

Magdalena–Urabá moist forests The Magdalena–Urabá moist forests (NT0137) is an ecoregion in the north of Colombia. The terrain is largely flat or undulating, but includes mountainous areas in the south. It contains moist forests and large wetlands that are important to resi ...

(Colombia) *

Manabí mangroves The Manabí mangroves (NT1418) is an ecoregion along the Pacific coast of Ecuador. The mangroves serve important functions in the marine and terrestrial ecology. They have been severely degraded and fragmented, particularly in the northern region. ...

(Ecuador) *

Tumbes–Piura dry forests The Tumbes–Piura dry forests (NT0232) is an arid tropical ecoregion along the Pacific coasts of southern Ecuador and northern Peru. The ecoregion contains many endemic species of flora and birds adapted to the short wet season followed by a lon ...

(Ecuador, Peru) * Piura mangroves (Peru) *

Western Ecuador moist forests The Western Ecuador Moist Forests (NT0178), also known as thPacific Forest of Ecuador is an ecoregion in the plains and western foothills of the Andes of southern Colombia and Ecuador. At one time this region contained dense forests with highly div ...

(Colombia, Ecuador) Some of the endemic species of this hotspot are the following: Endemic Plant Species: 2,750 Endemic Threatened Birds: 21 Endemic Threatened Mammals: 7 Endemic Threatened Amphibians: 8 Human Population Density (people/km²): 51

References

External links

Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena at CEPF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tumbes-Choco-Magdalena Natural regions of South America Ecoregions of Colombia Ecoregions of Ecuador Ecoregions of Panama Geography of South America Colombian coasts of the Pacific Ocean Panamanian coasts of the Pacific Ocean Natural regions of Colombia Natural history of Ecuador Natural history of Panama Ecoregions of Central America Ecoregions of South America Neotropical ecoregions