Northeastern Andes, Ecuador Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Kevin SCHAFER   Eastern South America: Ecuador into Colombia and Peru Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   39,600 square miles (102,500 square kilometers) -- about the size of Virginia Vulnerable

· Rhythms of the Rain
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Rhythms of the Rain

This ecoregion is rugged and wet. These montane forests receive between 60 to 80 inches (1000 to 2000 mm) of rain each year, but can get as much as 177 inches (4500 mm) in a heavy rain year. At lower elevations, a habitat known locally as ceja de montaña consists of luxuriant forests with only two distinct canopy layers. Huge strangler figs, copey trees, and Pterocarpus dominate the upper canopy layer, with alder, stilt palms, and til dominating the lower canopy. The white-necked parakeet, coppery-chested jacamar, and bicoloured antvireo are just a few of the endemic birds that can be found here.

Special Features

This tropical montane forest ecoregion is located on the eastern slopes of the middle Andes, extending north to south from southern Colombia, through Ecuador, and into northern Peru. The dominant vegetation in this region depends on the altitude, which ranges from 2,950 feet to more than 6,890 feet (900 m to 2100 m). What differentiates this ecoregion from the nearby lowland moist forests is the partial leaf shedding that occurs in certain species during the drier months. There are also fewer palms and epiphytes than in the lowland habitats. This region represents the headwaters for much of the Amazon basin. The habitat and vegetation types are quite varied and shift with altitude from the northern Andean paramo in the west down to the lowland moist forests of the Amazon in the east. The western area is elfin forest, becoming montane and later premontane at lower elevations, and is a convergence zone for lowland tropical and montane temperate species. Because of the range in habitats and their isolation, high levels of endemic species occur here.

	The rare endemic Cinnamon screech-owl is found only in a narrow strip of montane forest in this ecoregion. This small owl feeds on small mammals, lizards, and insects, and often lives in dead trees or in holes excavated by other animals in live trees.

Wild Side

Walking through the dense vine tangles in this mountainous forest, one might spot an eyelash viper poised on the end of a branch, patiently awaiting a small rodent. In a mud puddle on the forest floor, it is possible to find small emerald green-and-black poison-dart frogs bathing in the footprints of a tapir. A margay sleeps in a hollow limb high up in a fig tree, awaiting nightfall, when many rodents will be on the prowl for seeds, insects, and fruits in the upper canopy. Agoutis dart frantically from shadow to shadow, following a group of woolly monkeys who carelessly drop fruits and seeds as they feed from high branches. A pygmy marmoset family jumps from branch to branch in the lower canopy, snatching insects from leaves and digging in the bark of a fallen tree for termites and sap. Hummingbirds, with names like green hermits, green violet-ears, and amethyst-throated sunangels, whir and dart from vine flower to orchid.

Cause for Concern

In the northern reaches of this ecoregion (Colombia and northern Ecuador), coffee plantations have displaced much of the native forest community. Other threats to the area include conversion of land (via burning and cutting) to agriculture and pasture for goats and cattle. Mining operations, especially strip mining, degrade the habitat, and logging has encroached from the southern lowland forests up into the premontane areas. Urban sprawl, road construction, and hunting are additional threats.

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