Apaporis River, Colombia Photograph by WWF/ Aldo Brando   Northern South America: Southeastern Colombia into Brazil Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   71,100 square miles (184,200 square kilometers) -- slightly larger than North Dakota Relatively Stable/Intact

· Flooded Forests
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Flooded Forests

Here, large expanses of seasonally flooded forests, including igapó, or blackwater-flooded forests, grow along the many rivers that flow from the Andes down to the Amazon basin. This region receives some of the highest rainfall in Amazonia, with an average of 120 inches (3000 mm) each year, and up to 160 inches (4000 mm) in years with very heavy rainfall.

Special Features

This ecoregion occurs in the Amazon basin of southeastern Colombia, and extends east just into Brazil. Down in the river valleys, plateau formations that reach above 2,620 feet (800 m) in elevation are coupled with low sandstone table mountains that contain scrub forests and shrublands. Because this ecoregion lies on the edge of the Guayana Shield and Amazon basin, it contains two distinct plant communities. Amazonian species are present in the flooded forests and lowland habitats and include trees such as mahogany, Virolia, and buriti palm. The plateau’s closed canopy shrub forests and scrublands are more like the Guayana floristic region, with shorter, dense, epiphyte-laden communities. As a whole, a patchwork of vegetation types corresponds to topography, soil characteristics, and climate variations.

	Tamarins can be distinguished from true marmosets by their long canines and nonspecialized incisors.

Wild Side

In the lowland flooded igapó forests, an open and waterlogged understory makes an easy passageway for a large tapir, which is equally at home on land and in the water. In this area, 13 species of primates live in the treetops, each with its own special role. The night monkey, with large eyes and acute senses, cautiously forages for fruits and insects at night. The large white-faced saki spends its time in upland forests eating fruits, leaves, and insects. A small regionally endemic tamarin kills small lizards and birds, but also eats insects and fruits. On the open forest floor, a tortoise ambles along eating ripe fallen fruits and watching out for the jaguar, whose powerful jaws can easily crack its shell. A flowering vine attracts the attention of an endemic Chiribiquete emerald hummingbird, while overhead a zone-tailed hawk stays on the lookout for small prey.

Cause for Concern

Large-scale cattle ranching in the western extreme of this region has resulted in the clearing of vast expanses of forest. In the central section, colonization is becoming problematic, as are hunting, animal and plant collecting, and small-scale farming and cattle ranching.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.