The Beni savanna, also known as the Llanos de Moxos or Moxos plains, is a

tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

ecoregion of the Beni Department of northern Bolivia.

Setting

The Beni savanna covers an area of in the lowlands of northern Bolivia, with small portions in neighboring

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. Most of the Llanos de Moxos lies within the departments of El Beni,

Cochabamba Cochabamba ( ay, Quchapampa; qu, Quchapampa) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and the fourth largest city in Bolivia, with a population of 630 ...

, La Paz, Pando, and Santa Cruz. The Llanos de Moxos occupies the southwestern corner of the Amazon basin, and the region is crossed by numerous rivers that drain the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains. The low relief of the savannas, coupled with wet season rains and snowmelt from the Andes, cause up to half the land to flood seasonally. The Beni savanna is surrounded by tropical moist forests; the

Southwestern Amazonian moist forests The Southwest Amazon moist forests (NT0166) is an ecoregion located in the Upper Amazon basin. The forest is characterized by a relatively flat landscape with alluvial plains dissected by undulating hills or high terraces. The biota of the sout ...

to the north, west, and south, and the Madeira-Tapajós moist forests to the east.

Climate

The climate of the Beni savanna is tropical, with pronounced wet and dry seasons. The wet season generally extends from December to May, and annual rainfall ranges from 1300 mm in the east to 2500 mm in the west.

Flora

The ecoregion comprises a mosaic of savannas and wetlands, with islands of forest and gallery forests along rivers. Flooding and fire are important ecological factors.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to the

blue-throated macaw The blue-throated macaw (''Ara glaucogularis''), also known as the Caninde macaw or Wagler's macaw, is a macaw endemic to a small area of north-central Bolivia, known as Los Llanos de Moxos. In 2014 this species was designated by law as a natur ...

(''Ara glaucogularis''), which is critically endangered.

People

The Llanos de Moxos was the setting for

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

agriculture, and appears to have been an early center of plant domestication. The inhabitants constructed agricultural earthworks: raised fields, causeways, canals, and about 4700 forested mounds over a 50,000 square kilometer area. Construction lasted from about 8850 BCE to about 1450 CE. Cultivation included manioc from about 8350 BCE,

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

from about 8250 BCE, and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

from about 4,850 BCE. Several domestic crops, including manioc, squash,

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

, some varieties of chili and some beans, are genetically very close to wild species living in the Llanos de Moxos, suggesting that they were domesticated there.U. Lombardo et al. "Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia." ''Nature'', published online 8 April 2020; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2162-7 The people made decorated

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

, wove cotton cloth, and in some places buried their dead in large urns. Although Europeans arrived in South America in the late 15th century, they did not come to settle in the Llanos de Moxos until the late 17th century. The missions established by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries became many of the modern towns in the region. Since the 1950s, ranching has become the most important industry, and ranches dominate the landscape.

Jesuit Missions of Moxos

The Jesuit Missions of Moxos are located in the Llanos de Moxos, while the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are in the Chiquitania region to the southeast..

Conservation and threats

A 2017 assessment found that 96,126 km², or 77%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas.

References

External links

*
Early and Middle Holocene Hunter-Gatherer Occupations in Western Amazonia: The Hidden Shell Middens
{{Jesuit Missions of Moxos Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Ecoregions of Bolivia Ecoregions of Brazil Geography of Beni Department Grasslands of Bolivia Grasslands of Brazil Neotropical ecoregions Ramsar sites in Bolivia