Ecological Regions

Ecoregions by Country within Latin America and the Caribbean

Ecoregions (ecological regions) are ecologically and geographically defined areas. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. An ecoregion may be either terrestrial, freshwater, or marine.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) defines an ecoregion as a "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions."

Aruba-Curaçao-Bonaire cactus scrub

Coastal Venezuelan mangroves

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Bahamian dry forests

Bahamian pine mosaic

Bahamian mangroves

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Aruba-Curaçao-Bonaire cactus scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Bahamian dry forest

Cayman Islands dry forests

Cayman Islands xeric scrub

Cuban cactus scrub

Greater Antilles mangroves

Cuban pine forests

Aruba-Curaçao-Bonaire cactus scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Windward Islands moist forests

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Windward Islands moist forests

Windward Islands dry forests

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Jamaican moist forests

Greater Antilles mangroves

Windward Islands moist forests

Windward Islands dry forests

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Puerto Rican dry forests

Puerto Rican moist forests

Greater Antilles mangroves

Windward Islands moist forests

Windward Islands dry forests

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Windward Islands moist forests

Leeward Islands xeric scrub

Windward Islands dry forests

Lesser Antilles mangroves

Leeward Islands dry forests

Trinidad and Tobago dry forests

Trinidad and Tobago moist forests

Windward Islands xeric scrub

Trinidad mangroves

Bahamian dry forests

Bahamian pine mosaic

Bahamian mangroves

Belizian pine forests

Belizean Reef mangroves

Yucatán moist forests

Costa Rican páramo

Talamancan montane forests

Central American dry forests

Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves

Moist Pacific Coast mangroves

Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves

Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves

Central American Atlantic moist forests

Central American montane forests

Chiapas montane forests

Petén-Veracruz moist forests

Yucatán moist forests

Central American dry forests

Chiapas Depression dry forests

Central American pine-oak forests

Motagua Valley thornscrub

Belizean Coast mangroves

Northern Honduras mangroves

Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest

Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests

Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests

Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir pine-oak forests

Western Gulf coastal grasslands

California coastal sage and chaparral

Baja California desert

Central Mexican matorral

Chihuahuan desert

Gulf of California xeric scrub

Meseta Central matorral

Sonoran desert

Tamaulipan matorral

Tamaulipan mezquital

Northwest Mexican Coast mangroves

Chiapas montane forests

Chimalapas montane forests

Oaxacan montane forests

Pantanos de Centla

Petén-Veracruz moist forests

Sierra Madre de Chiapas moist forest

Sierra de los Tuxtlas

Veracruz moist forests

Veracruz montane forests

Yucatán moist forests

Bajío dry forests

Balsas dry forests

Central American dry forests

Central American montane forests

Chiapas Depression dry forests

Islas Revillagigedo dry forests

Jalisco dry forests

Sierra de la Laguna dry forests

Sinaloan dry forests

Southern Pacific dry forests

Veracruz dry forests

Yucatán dry forests

Central American pine-oak forests

Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine-oak forests

Sierra Madre del Sur pine-oak forests

Sierra de la Laguna pine-oak forests

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests

Central Mexican wetlands

Zacatonal

Aruba-Curaçao-Bonaire cactus scrub

San Lucan xeric scrub

Tehuacán Valley matorral

Alvarado mangroves

Marismas Nacionales-San Blas mangroves

Mayan Corridor mangroves

Mexican South Pacific Coast mangroves

Petenes mangroves

Ría Lagartos mangroves

Tehuantepec-El Manchon mangroves

Usumacinta mangroves

Cayos Miskitos-San Andrés and Providencia moist forests

Central American Atlantic moist forests

Central American montane forests

Costa Rican seasonal moist forests

Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests

Central American dry forests

Central American pine-oak forests

Miskito pine forests

Gulf of Fonseca mangroves

Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves

Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves

Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves

Chocó-Darién moist forests

Eastern Panamanian montane forests

Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests

Isthmian-Pacific moist forests

Talamancan montane forests

Panamanian dry forests

Costa Rican páramo

Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves

Gulf of Panama mangroves

Moist Pacific Coast mangroves

Alto Paraná Atlantic forests

Araucaria moist forests

Atlantic Coast restingas

Bahia coastal forests

Bahia interior forests

Caatinga Enclaves moist forests

Caqueta moist forests

Fernando de Noronha-Atol das Rocas moist forests

Guianan Highlands moist forests

Guianan moist forests

Guianan piedmont and lowland moist forests

Gurupa várzea

Iquitos várzea

Japurá-Solimoes-Negro moist forests

Juruá-Purus moist forests

Madeira-Tapajós moist forests

Marajó várzea

Maranhão Babaçu forests

Mato Grosso tropical dry forests

Monte Alegre várzea

Negro-Branco moist forests

Northeastern Brazil restingas

Pernambuco coastal forests

Pernambuco interior forests

Purus várzea

Purus-Madeira moist forests

Rio Negro campinarana

Serra do Mar coastal forests

Solimões-Japurá moist forest

Southwest Amazon moist forests

Tapajós-Xingu moist forests

Pantepui forests and shrublands

Tocantins/Pindare moist forests

Trinidade-Martin Vaz Islands tropical forests

Uatuma-Trombetas moist forests

Xingu-Tocantins-Araguaia moist forests

Atlantic dry forests

Chiquitano dry forests

Cerrado

Guianan savanna

Humid Chaco

Uruguayan savanna

Pantanal

Caatinga

St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks

Amapa mangroves

Bahia mangroves

Ilha Grande mangroves

Maranhao mangroves

Pará mangroves

Rio Piranhas mangroves

Rio São Francisco mangroves

Rapa Nui and Sala-y-Gomez subtropical broadleaf forests

Juan Fernández Islands temperate forests

Magellanic subpolar forests

San Felix-San Ambrosio Islands temperate forests

Valdivian temperate forests

Patagonian grasslands

Patagonian steppe

Central Andean dry puna

Southern Andean steppe

Chilean matorral

Atacama desert

Caqueta moist forests

Catatumbo moist forests

Guianan Highlands moist forests

Cauca Valley montane forests

Chocó-Darién moist forests

Cordillera Oriental montane forests

Venezuelan Andes montane forests

Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests

Eastern Panamanian montane forests

Japurá-Solimoes-Negro moist forests

Magdalena Valley montane forests

Magdalena-Urabá moist forests

Napo moist forests

Negro-Branco moist forests

Northwestern Andean montane forests

Purus várzea

Rio Negro campinarana

Santa Marta montane forests

Solimões-Japurá moist forest

Western Ecuador moist forests

Apure-Villavicencio dry forests

Cauca Valley dry forests

Magdalena Valley dry forests

Patía Valley dry forests

Sinú Valley dry forests

Llanos

Northern Andean páramo

Santa Marta páramo

Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub

Malpelo Island xeric scrub

Esmeraldes-Pacific Colombia mangroves

Magdalena-Santa Marta mangroves

Central Polynesian tropical moist forests

Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests

Napo moist forests

Northwestern Andean montane forests

Western Ecuador moist forests

Ecuadorian dry forests

Tumbes-Piura dry forests

Guayaquil flooded grasslands

Northern Andean páramo

Gulf of Guayaquil-Tumbes mangroves

Manabí mangroves

Bolivian Yungas

Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests

Iquitos várzea

Napo moist forests

Peruvian Yungas

Purus várzea

Solimões-Japurá moist forest

Southwest Amazon moist forests

Ucayali moist forests

Marañón dry forests

Tumbes-Piura dry forests

Central Andean puna

Central Andean wet puna

Cordillera Central páramo

Sechura desert

Gulf of Guayaquil-Tumbes mangroves

Piura mangroves

Scotia Sea Islands tundra

Catatumbo moist forests

Cordillera La Costa montane forests

Cordillera Oriental montane forests

Guianan Highlands moist forests

Guianan moist forests

Guianan piedmont and lowland moist forests

Negro-Branco moist forests

Orinoco Delta swamp forests

Rio Negro campinarana

Pantepui forests and shrublands

Venezuelan Andes montane forests

Apure-Villavicencio dry forests

Lara-Falcón dry forests

Maracaibo dry forests

Llanos

Guianan savanna

Orinoco wetlands

Cordillera de Merida páramo

Araya and Paria xeric scrub

Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub

Paraguana xeric scrub

Coastal Venezuelan mangroves

Guianan mangroves