Ayampe River valley, Ecuador Photograph by J. van der Woude   Northern South America: Northwestern Ecuador and southwestern Colombia Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   13,200 square miles (34,100 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Hawaii Critical/Endangered

· Birds and Bromeliads
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Birds and Bromeliads

You'll find monkeys, deer, poison frogs, and a wealth of other creatures in the Western Ecuador Moist Forests ecoregion. This ecoregion lies in northwestern Ecuador, extending as a band from the Gulf of Guayaquil northward along the western foothills of the Andes into southwestern Colombia. These are some of the richest and most diverse rain forests in the world, home to more than 650 species of birds. Many species found here are endemic, especially among the birds, orchids, bromeliads, insects, and mammals.

Special Features

This ecoregion enjoys abundant rainfall, with between 75 and 120 inches (2,000 and 3,000 mm) annually in most places and up to 275 inches (7,000 mm)--that’s 23 feet (7 m)--per year in the northern areas. At its western and coastal extremes this area is flat, but at its eastern limits it becomes more mountainous. Elevations range from sea level to more than 2,600 feet (800 m). The vegetation is dominated by dense rain forests with many trees reaching 100 feet (30 m) in height and a few reaching over 130 feet (40 m). Here abundant orchids, bromeliads, lichens, ferns, and mosses cover branches and leaves, while palm trees and philodendrons make up the understory.

	Guanabana trees produce an abundance of large, sweet fruits that attract all sorts of hungry animals. Collared peccaries, red-brocket deer, and agoutis feed on fallen fruits while parrots, white-throated capuchin monkeys, and brown-headed spider monkeys eat the fruits right off the tree.

Wild Side

From high above, this landscape looks infinitely green, and the emergent trees look like a forest of solid green broccoli. Moving closer one can begin to distinguish shapes and colors: a flowering Vochisia adds patches of yellow, a curtain of vines in bloom forms a sheet of red, and other blooming trees add splashes of purple, orange, and white. A harpy eagle hunting for monkeys and sloths flies through the trees. On the forest floor below, a shaft of light illuminates the yellow, blue, and black of a poison dart frog as it displaying to a female atop a stage of wet leaves. A regionally endemic mouse opossum slowly climbs a thin vine hand over foot, using its prehensile tail for additional support.

Cause for Concern

Today these forests occur in a landscape of agriculture and development and are confined to isolated patches along the foothills. Continued human settlement, encouraged by road building and an increasing population, is adding pressure to the few remaining parcels. Hunting, species collection, burning, and agricultural conversions continue to cause problems for wildlife.

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