Northwestern Andean montane forests
| Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) | |
|---|---|
Caldera of Cuicocha in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Écuador
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| Ecology | |
| Realm | Neotropical |
| Biome | Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
| Geography | |
| Area | 81,325 km2 |
| Countries | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Coordinates | 0°55′44″N 78°07′23″W / 0.929°N 78.123°WCoordinates: 0°55′44″N 78°07′23″W / 0.929°N 78.123°W |
| Climate type | Af: equatorial; fully humid |
The Northwestern Andean montane forests (NT0145) is an ecoregion on the Andes mountains in the west of Colombia and Ecuador. Both flora and fauna are highly diverse due to effect of ice ages when the warmer climate zones were separated and the cooler ones combined, and interglacial periods when the reverse occurred. Because the environment is hospitable to humans, the habitat has been drastically modified by farming and grazing since the Pre-Columbian era.
The Northwestern Andean montane forests ecoregion extends along the Cordillera Occidental (Western Range) of the Andes in Colombia and the Cordillera Occidental of Ecuador. It covers an area of 8,132,562 hectares (20,096,000 acres).
In the extreme north the ecoregion merges into the Magdalena-Urabá moist forests ecoregion. Through most of its length in Colombia it transitions on the west into the Chocó-Darién moist forests and on the east into the Cauca Valley montane forests. The higher levels of the ecoregion give way to Northern Andean páramo. In the central section it almost completely surrounds the Patía Valley dry forests. In its southern section the ecoregion transitions into the Western Ecuador moist forests to the west and the Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests to the east. The southern end of the ecoregion transitions into the Tumbes-Piura dry forests ecoregion.
The ecoregion covers the western range of the Andes with a wide band of elevations including isolated peaks and massifs at the upper levels.
At a sample location at coordinates 2°15′N 77°45′W / 2.25°N 77.75°W the Köppen climate classification is Af: equatorial, fully humid. Mean temperatures range frm 25.8 °C (78.4 °F) in November to 26.4 °C (79.5 °F) in March. Total annual rainfall is about 3,300 millimetres (130 in). Monthly rainfall ranges from 179.8 millimetres (7.08 in) in August to 332.3 millimetres (13.08 in) in June.
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