The Yungas (

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

''yunka'' warm or temperate

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

or earth,

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

''yunka'' warm area on the slopes of the Andes) is a

bioregion A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, Human settlement, human settlements, and ...

of a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the

Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

from

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, and extends into Northwest Argentina at the slope of the Andes pre-cordillera. It is a transitional zone between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests. Like the surrounding areas, the Yungas belong to the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperat ...

; the climate is rainy, humid, and warm.

History

During the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

, the term ''yunga'' referred to both the western and eastern slopes of the Andes and their inhabitants. In the Spanish colonial era, it became primarily associated with the western foothills near the desert coast and the local Indians. Today, ''yunga'' can refer to the lower slopes on both sides of the Andes, though ''yungas'' mostly denotes the eastern foothills between the Andes and the Amazon basin, with both having mostly lost their ethnic associations.

Setting

The Yungas forests are extremely diverse, ranging from moist lowland forest to evergreen

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s. The terrain, formed by

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s, fluvial

mountain trail A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

s and

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s, is extremely rugged and varied, contributing to the ecological diversity and richness. A complex mosaic of habitats occur with changing latitude as well as elevation. There are high levels of

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

and species endemism throughout the Yungas regions. Many of the forests are evergreen, and the South Andean Yungas contains what may be the last evergreen forests resulting from

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

glaciations.

World Wildlife ecoregions

The

World Wide Fund for Nature 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 th ...

has delineated three yungas

ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecology, ecological and Geography, geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of la ...

along the eastern side of the Andes: * The northernmost is the

Peruvian Yungas The Peruvian Yungas comprise a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Peru. History During the Inca Empire, the term ''yunga'' referred to both the western and eastern slopes of the Andes and their inhabitants. In the Span ...

, located entirely within

and stretching nearly the whole length of the country. * The

Bolivian Yungas The Bolivian Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of central Bolivia. Setting The ecoregion occurs in elevations ranging from on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Bolivia, extending into a small ...

lies to the south, entirely within

. The

Cordillera Apolobamba Apolobamba ''(Cordillera (de) Apolobamba)'' is a mountain range in the South American Andes. Geography Apolobamba is located in the eastern borderland of Peru and Bolivia. On the Bolivian side, the mountain range is situated in the La Paz Depart ...

marks the boundary between the Peruvian Yungas and Bolivian Yungas. * The

Southern Andean Yungas The Southern Andean Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of southwestern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina. Geography The ecoregion occurs along the eastern slope of the Andes from southern Bolivi ...

begins in southern

and continues to the north of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. It is a humid forest region between the drier

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

region to the east and the dry, high altitude Puna region to the west. Yungas are transitional zones between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests. The yungas forests are extremely diverse, ranging from moist lowland forest to evergreen montane forest and cloud forests. The terrain is extremely rugged and varied, contributing to the ecological diversity and richness. A complex mosaic of habitats occur with changing latitude as well as elevation. There are high levels of biodiversity and species endemism throughout the yungas regions. Many of the forests are evergreen, and the South Andean Yungas contains what may be the last evergreen forests resulting from Quaternary glaciations.

Climate

The average temperature is 72 °F (22 °C). The climate is varied and ranges from a humid

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

to the cold of the Andes over 10,000 ft (3,000 m).

Peruvian Yungas

In Peru there is a difference between Yunga and Yungas. Yunga is considered a natural region on both sides of the Peruvian Andes, the western side towards the coast is called Sea Yunga, and the eastern side into the jungle is called Fluvial Yunga, both reach a height of 2,300 m. Instead, Yungas is the ecoregion of rain forest and montane forest from 1.000 to 3.500 m, so it is limited to the eastern side of the Andes. This concept has a closer analogy with the Bolivian Yungas. This region is considered as the most endemic biodiversity of Peru.

Forest loss Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then land conversion, converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or u ...

in the Peruvian Yungas has sharply accelerated since the 2000s, rising seven-fold between 2005 and late 2012, according to satellite analysis by Terra-i.

Sea Yunga

Sea Yunga, or Maritime Yunga, is found between 500 and 2,300 m and it is situated between the eastern part of the coastal strip and the western part of the Highlands. This subregion has a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

climate with little rainfall along the central and southern coast (drier as you go south). The average year round day temperature is (max 33 °C min 8 °C). A mist-fed ecosystem called

Lomas ''Lomas'' (Spanish for "hills"), also called fog oases and mist oases, are areas of fog-watered vegetation in the coastal desert of Peru and northern Chile. About 100 lomas near the Pacific Ocean are identified between 5°S and 30°S latitude, a ...

is found at scattered locations among hills near the Pacific Ocean at elevations up to . The flora in the central Sea Yungas region is mainly composed by the

lucuma ''Lucuma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sapotaceae. It includes 19 species native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, from Mexico and Florida to southern Brazil and northern Chile. The canistel ('' L. campechiana''), and the ...

and

cherimoya The cherimoya (''Annona cherimola''), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Quechua people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus ''Annona'', from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop ...

trees, the casuarin, and others. Once you go north its climate becomes

in the vicinity of La Libertad, Lambayeque and Piura. Day time temperatures average between and depending on latitude (max 40 °C min 15 °C). As this area approaches the tropics, fauna differs from the rest of the coast, so that animals like the

boa Boa, BoA, or BOA may refer to: Snakes * Any member of the Boidae, a family of medium to large, non-venomous, constricting snakes ** Any member of the Boinae, a subfamily of boid snakes *** Any member of ''Boa'' (genus), a group of boid snakes * ...

s, larger

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s and the famous white-winged guan (a bird species unique to this Peruvian ecoregion) occur here. Common trees in this area are the faique, the

sapote Sapote (; from ) is a term for a soft, edible fruit. The word is incorporated into the common names of several unrelated fruit-bearing plants native to Mexico, Central America and northern parts of South America. Species From Sapotaceae Some, ...

, the zapayal, the '' barrigon'' and other thorny

tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

trees of the equatorial dry

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s on the northern coast of

Piura Piura is a city in northwestern Peru, located north of the Sechura Desert along the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017 and it is the 7th most populous city in Peru. ...

and Tumbes. The cooler Pacific side is more vaguely characterized. The dry and cool ''Yunga Coastal'' begins at 500 m above sea level. The Maritime Yunga begins dry, and it seems to follow

ecotone An ecotone is a transitional area between two plant communities, where these meet and integrate. Examples include areas between grassland and forest, estuaries and lagoon, freshwater and sea water etc. An ecotone may be narrow or wide, and it ma ...

on ecotone until reaching the Quechua region at the Pacific side.

Fluvial Yunga

Fluvial Yunga is between the altitudes of and and is found on the eastern part of Peru. This sub-region has a

climate with ample seasonal rains. The average temperature fluctuates between 20 °C and 25 °C depending on the altitude (max 35 °C, min 11 °C). Concept: The concept of the east side of the continental divide is straightforward: 1,000 m above sea level it is 4.9 °C cooler, and the subtropical cloud forest (Fluvial Yunga) follows the tropical rainforest (Anti). At 2,300 m, the climate transitions from subtropical climate to temperate climate (

). The

Tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

ends at 3,500 m and has an annual mean temperature of 10 °C. The region between the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

and 4,000 m is called

Suni The suni (''Nesotragus moschatus'') is a small antelope of the family Bovidae, and one of the smallest ungulates on earth. It occurs in dense underbrush from central Kenya to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It is also found on the island of Zanzi ...

or Jalca. Suni is a dry and cold region with many glacial valleys. Despite the harsh weather, crops such as

quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechuan languages, Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the Amaranthaceae, amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are high in prote ...

maca Maca is an edible plant endemic to the Andes. MACA or maca can mean: Places * Maca District, Peru * Cerro Macá, stratovolcano in the Aisén Region of Chile * Maca River, Romania * Alicante Museum of Contemporary Art (), Spain People * Alain ...

, qañiwa,

broad beans ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Vari ...

and ulluku are cultivated here.

Flora and fauna

The flora (subtropical

) of the Yunga region is mainly composed by the

Peruvian pepper tree Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 m ...

, the

Furcraea ''Furcraea'' is a genus of succulent plants belonging to the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, native to tropical regions of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and northern South America. Some species are also naturalized in parts of Af ...

, white cabuya (Furcraea andina), the

pitahaya Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is culti ...

and the

Peruvian torch cactus ''Trichocereus macrogonus'', synonym ''Echinopsis macrogonus'', is a species of cactus found in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Two varieties are accepted : var. ''macrogonus'' and var. ''pachanoi''. Plants contain varying amounts of the psychoactive ...

(''Echinopsis peruviana''). The

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

leaf is established in this region as well as the uña de gato ("cat's claw", ''

Uncaria tomentosa ''Uncaria tomentosa'' is a woody vine found in the tropical jungles of South and Central America. It is known as cat's claw or uña de gato in Spanish because of its claw-shaped thorns. The plant root bark is used in herbalism for a variety o ...

''). The most attractive sites of this warm refreshing region are its many

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

forests and beautiful valleys. The fauna in the Yunga region is characterized by the

long-tailed mockingbird The long-tailed mockingbird (''Mimus longicaudatus'') is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The long-tailed mockingbird has four subspecies, the nominate ''Mimus longicaudatus l ...

, or chaucato.

Overview

Andean Continental Divide Mountain Top: * Mountain passes – 4,100 m *

Puna grassland The puna grassland ecoregion, part of the Andean montane grasslands and shrublands biome, is found in the central Andes Mountains of South America. It is considered one of the eight Natural Regions in Peru,Pulgar Vidal, Javier: Geografía del Per ...

** Closed vegetation ** Sporadic vegetation * Andean-alpine desert *

Snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

– about 5,000 m *

Janca Janca is one of the eight Natural Regions of Peru (''Janq'u'' is Aymaran for “White”). It is located in the frozen heights where the condor lives. The fauna in this region is limited because of the very cold weather. The only plant that ...

– Rocks, Snow and Ice * Peak

Bolivian Yungas

Human use

In the early 20th century, the region was a major source for

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

and

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

. Now,

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

, and

are important crops. People cultivate native plants like the

canistel ''Lucuma campechiana'' (commonly known as the cupcake fruit, eggfruit, zapote amarillo or canistel) is an evergreen tree native to, and cultivated in, southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It is cultivated in other countries, s ...

or eggfruit tree the lúcuma tree, the cherimoya or chirimoya, the guava or guayabo and the avocado or palta. The

Afro Bolivian Afro-Bolivians (), also known as Black Bolivians (), are Bolivians who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry and therefore the descriptive "Afro-Bolivian" may refer to historical or cultural elements in Bolivia thought to eman ...

community is concentrated here. Its name derives from the one applied for the same mountain level by those who study the economic system of the prehispanic Andes. The Yungas also contains one of the most deadly roads in the world, called the "camino de la muerte," or

Highway of Death The Highway of Death ( ''ṭarīq al-mawt'') is a six-lane highway connecting Kuwait and Iraq, officially known as Highway 80. It runs from Kuwait City to the border town of Safwan, Iraq, Safwan in Iraq and then on to the Iraqi city of Basra. ...

. Due to the mountainous terrain an entrepreneurial coca harvester created a network of

zip line A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide''Who Really Benefits from Tourism'', Publ. Equations, Karnataka, India, 2010. Working Papers Series. "Canopy Tourism"page 37/ref>Jacques Marais, Lisa De Speville, ''Adventure Racing'', ...

s that permit rapid travel from peak to peak by farmers, referred to locally as flying men or bird men, along with their harvests using "zip line trollies."

Argentine Yungas

References

Other sources

* Endemic Bird Areas for th
Bolivian and Peruvian upper yungas
and th

BirdLife International, 2003. BirdLife's online World Bird Database. Version 2.0. Cambridge, UK. * * * {{Authority control Ecoregions of the Andes Subtropical rainforests Andean forests Montane ecology Tropical Andes Upper Amazon Ecoregions of South America Ecoregions of Argentina Ecoregions of Bolivia Ecoregions of Peru Geography of Bolivia Physiographic regions of Peru Regions of Argentina Natural history of Bolivia Natural history of Peru Natural regions of South America Regions of Bolivia Ecoregions Regions of Peru