Orinoco Delta swamp forests
| Orinoco Delta swamp forests | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of part of the region
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| Ecology | |
| Realm | Neotropical |
| Biome | Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
| Geography | |
| Area | 27,972 km2 (10,800 sq mi) |
| Countries | Guyana, Venezuela |
| Coordinates | 9°01′41″N 61°23′46″W / 9.028°N 61.396°WCoordinates: 9°01′41″N 61°23′46″W / 9.028°N 61.396°W |
| Climate type | Af: equatorial, fully humid |
The Orinoco Delta swamp forests (NT0147) is an ecoregion of eastern Venezuela and northern Guyana covering the large and shifting Orinoco Delta. The vegetation is mostly permanently flooded rainforest. The ecoregion is relatively intact apart from a large area that was damaged by a failed flood control program in the 1960s. It is inaccessible, so logging is difficult, and the soil is unsuitable for farming. The main threat comes from oil exploration, which would bring an influx of settlers into the delta.
The Orinoco Delta swamp forests in the lower delta plain of the Orinoco River are one of Earth's largest intact areas of wetlands. They cover an area of 27,972 square kilometres (10,800 sq mi). The forests extend from the base of the Paria Peninsula in the northeast of Venezuela south across the Orinoco Delta floodplain to the Waini River of Guyana.
The ecoregion is bounded on the Gulf of Paria and the Atlantic Ocean by stretches of Amazon-Orinoco-Southern Caribbean mangroves. It contains sections of Orinoco wetlands. To the northwest it adjoins the La Costa xeric shrublands. To the west it adjoins the Llanos and to the south it adjoins the Guianan moist forests.
The terrain is flat, with typical elevations of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) above sea level, but in the south there are terra firme levees up to 9 metres (30 ft) high. The soils are alluvial deposits carried by rivers from the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela. The Orinoco fans out into large and small distributaries in the delta, which wind through a landscape of permanent wetlands and marshes, oxbow lakes and levees.
The Köppen climate classification is "Af": equatorial, fully humid. Annual rainfall varies by location from 500 to 2,000 millimetres (20 to 79 in), and is highest in the south. A wet season generally lasts from April/May to December. At a sample location at coordinates 8°45′N 61°15′W / 8.75°N 61.25°W the temperature is relatively stable throughout the year, slightly cooler in January and July and slightly warmer in May and October. Yearly average minimum temperature is 22 °C (72 °F) and maximum is 31 °C (88 °F) with a mean temperature of 27 °C (81 °F). Yearly total rainfall is about 1,450 millimetres (57 in). Average monthly rainfall varies from 40.5 millimetres (1.59 in) in February to 203.7 millimetres (8.02 in) in July.
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Wikipedia