Patía Valley Dry Forests
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The Patía Valley dry forests (NT0225) is an
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
in southwestern
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. It covers a dry valley surrounded by mountains. The original habitat has mostly been destroyed by human activity, although a few pockets remain.


Location

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 . 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.


Physical

The Patía river flows westward from the Central massif of Colombia, cuts through the Western Cordillera and drains into the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. 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 . The soils are sedimentary in origin, with areas of ash from the Puracé and Sotará volcanoes.


Climate

The
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
is "As": equatorial; summer dry. There are rainy seasons from October to November and from April to June. Mean annual rainfall is under . At a sample location in the mountains to the south at coordinates the mean monthly temperature is almost constant at just over throughout the year. Annual rainfall is about . Monthly rainfall varies from in July to in November, with a second peak of in April.


Ecology

The Patía Valley dry forests ecoregion is in the
neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...
realm, in the
tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat (ecology), habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-roun ...
biome. The valley has been isolated from similar dry forests areas for long enough for unique flora and fauna to evolve. The ecoregion is part of the Tumbesian-Andean Valleys Dry Forests global ecoregion, which holds six terrestrial ecoregions: Tumbes–Piura dry forests,
Ecuadorian dry forests The Ecuadorian dry forests (NT0214) is an ecoregion near the Pacific coast of the Ecuador. The habitat has been occupied by people for centuries and has been severely damaged by deforestation, overgrazing and hillside erosion due to unsustainable ...
, Patía Valley dry forests, Magdalena Valley dry forests, Cauca Valley dry forests and Marañón dry forests. The fauna and flora of the global ecoregion have high levels of endemism.


Flora

Ranching and farming, with fire used to clear the land, have destroyed almost all the original vegetation. There are some endemic sub-species. Common plants in the dry valley now include '' Crescentia cujete'', '' Guazuma ulmifolia'', ''
Cassia fistula ''Cassia fistula'', also known as golden shower, purging cassia, Indian laburnum, kani konna, or pudding-pipe tree,U. S. Department of Agriculture, William Saunders; Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agric ...
'', '' Bursera graveolens'', ''
Spondias mombin ''Spondias mombin'', also known as yellow mombin, hog plum, amra or cajazeira, is a species of tree and flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, including the West Indies. The tree was introduced by the ...
'', '' Bauhinia picta'', ''
Ceiba pentandra ''Ceiba pentandra'' is a tropical tree of the order (biology), order Malvales and the family (biology), family Malvaceae (previously emplaced in the family Bombacaceae), native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, ...
'' and '' Gliricidia sepium''. The cactus '' Pilosocereus colombianus'' is found in some place, as are
Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...
species The orchid '' Schomburgkia splendida'' grows in rocky places.


Fauna

There are no endemic species, but some endemic sub-species of birds and butterflies, including the steely-vented hummingbird (''Amazilia saucerottei australis''). Until recently there were many mammals. Remote parts of the valley are still home to
collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a peccary, a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Peccary, Tayassuidae found in North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the gen ...
(''Pecari tajacu''), red brocket (''Mazama americana''),
Central American agouti The Central American agouti (''Dasyprocta punctata'') is a species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae. The main portion of its range is from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Mexico), through Central America, to northwestern Ecuad ...
(''Dasyprocta punctata''),
ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...
(''Leopardus pardalis'') and
cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...
(''Puma concolor''). A population of
Andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a South American New World vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. It is found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America. With a maximum wingspan of and ...
(''Vultur gryphus'') once nested on the steep walls of the Juanambú and Guaitara rivers, but that species is no longer found in the region. Endangered mammals include
Baird's tapir The Baird's tapir (''Tapirus bairdii''), also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is the largest of the three species of tapir native to the Americas, a ...
(''Tapirus bairdii'') and
mountain tapir The mountain tapir, also known as the Andean tapir or woolly tapir (''Tapirus pinchaque''), is the smallest of the four widely recognized species of tapir. It is found only in certain portions of the Andean Mountain Range in northwestern South A ...
(''Tapirus pinchaque'').


Status

The
World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
gives the Patía Valley dry forests ecoregion the status "Critical/Endangered". Most of the valley has been drastically modified by human activity, but there are still pockets of original vegetation and there are some efforts at conservation on privately owned land. Threats come from excessive hunting and collection of firewood, urban sprawl, agriculture, livestock and road construction.


Notes


Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patia Valley dry forests Neotropical dry broadleaf forests Ecoregions of Colombia