Patía Valley dry forests
| Patía Valley dry forests (NT0225) | |
|---|---|
Landscape of the Patía Valley in Cauca Department
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| Ecology | |
| Realm | Neotropical |
| Biome | Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests |
| Geography | |
| Area | 2,331 km2 (900 sq mi) |
| Countries | Colombia |
| Coordinates | 1°57′22″N 77°07′41″W / 1.956°N 77.128°WCoordinates: 1°57′22″N 77°07′41″W / 1.956°N 77.128°W |
| Climate type | As: equatorial; summer dry |
The Patía Valley dry forests (NT0225) is an ecoregion in southwestern Colombia. It covers a dry valley surrounded by mountains. The original habitat has mostly been destroyed by human activity, although a few pockets remain.
The Patía Valley is in southwestern Colombia along the Patía River and its tributaries, surrounded by ranges of the Andes. It has an area of 233,098 hectares (576,000 acres). It is almost completely surrounded by the Northwestern Andean montane forests ecoregion. The western extension downstream along the Patía River merges into the Chocó-Darién moist forests ecoregion..
The Patía river flows westward from the Central massif of Colombia, cuts through the Western Cordillera and drains into the Pacific Ocean. In its upper section it runs through cloud forests and montane forests. The central section of the river forms the Patía dry valley. The lower section to the west of the Western Cordillera flows through the Chocó jungles of the Pacific region. The Patía is fed by the Quilcacé, Guachicono, Mayo, Juanambú, Pasto and Guaitara rivers. Average elevation is 600 to 900 metres (2,000 to 3,000 ft). The soils are sedimentary in origin, with areas of ash from the Puracé and Sotará volcanoes.
The Köppen climate classification is "As": equatorial; summer dry. There are rainy seasons from October to November and from April to June. Mean annual rainfall is under 900 millimetres (35 in).
At a sample location in the mountains to the south at coordinates 1°45′N 77°15′W / 1.75°N 77.25°W the mean monthly temperature is almost constant at just over 20 °C (68 °F) throughout the year. Annual rainfall is about 1,750 millimetres (69 in). Monthly rainfall varies from 50.4 millimetres (1.98 in) in July to 221 millimetres (8.7 in) in November, with a second peak of 199.2 millimetres (7.84 in) in April.
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