Ecological Region

The Southwest Amazon moist forests cover an extensive area of the Upper Amazon Basin. The inaccessibility of this region has kept most of the habitat intact. Also, there are a number of protected areas, which preserve this extremely biologically rich ecoregion.

The Tepui ecoregion, found in the Guiana Highlands of northern South America, is host to an archipelago of isolated sandstone plateaus and summits, atop nearly vertical escarpments. These dramatic features perforate an extensive matrix of highland savannas and rain forests.

The Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest or "selva parananese" is an ecoregion of the tropical moist forests biome and the South American Atlantic Forest biome. The ecoregion stretches across the borders of southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina.

The Uruguayan savanna is a subtropical grassland and savanna ecoregion that extends from the extreme southern part of the Rio Grande do Sul, a Brazilian state, to include the entire country of Uruguay and a small section of the Argentinean province of Entre Ríos.

The Valdivian temperate forests ecoregion is located in the southern cone of South America. It covers a narrow strip between the western slope of the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. The forests are characterized by their dense understories of bamboos, ferns and evergreen trees.

Várzeas are extensive lowland floodplain areas bordering the Amazon River and its tributaries. Várzea forests are subject to seasonal flooding and may also contain more open, seasonally flooded habitats such as grasslands, including floating meadows.

The Venezuelan Andes Montane Forests ecoregion is located in the northern arm of the Andes. Surrounded by xeric valleys and páramo, the richness of species and large number of endemic species make this one of the most interesting areas of Venezuela in terms of biodiversity.

The Yucatán Dry Forests ecoregion is located on the northwest section of the Yucatán Peninsula. This ecoregion is flat with vegetation consisting of thorn scrub and cacti and, isolated from other dry forests by the sea, constitute a unique island of vegetation in the Gulf of Mexico region.

The Yucatán moist forests are an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. The ecoregion covers a 26,900 sq mi area of the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico, extending into northern Guatemala and northern Belize.