The Caquetá moist forests stretch across the Colombian Amazon east of the Andes, mainly in eastern Colombia with a small extension into Brazil, occupying a transitional zone between the Amazon and Guiana (Guayana) regions. The terrain carries dense, structurally varied tropical broadleaf forest: tall, high forest on well-drained soils, lower forest on poorly drained ground, and permanent swamp forest dominated by the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa), with tree families such as Leguminosae, Sapotaceae, Lauraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Moraceae, and Lecythidaceae well represented. This is one of the wettest parts of the Amazon, averaging around 3,000 millimetres of rain a year and reaching as much as 4,000 millimetres in some years, with warm annual temperatures roughly between 20 and 32 degrees Celsius depending on elevation. The forests remain fairly intact yet are largely unprotected, with deforestation for cattle pasture and coca cultivation the principal threats, and the white-lipped peccary serves as the ecoregion's flagship species.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 1.6°N, 71.8°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.7°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
71,109 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: