The Guayaquil flooded grasslands stretch across southwestern Ecuador, centered on the delta and basin of the Guayas River and reaching south to the mangroves of the Gulf of Guayaquil, spanning the provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, and El Oro. Seasonally flooded grasslands dominate the landscape, interspersed with elements of the neighboring tropical dry forests and laced with riparian flora, while scattered trees include balsa, Jamaica cherry, West Indian elm, and trumpet, and open water carries floating plants such as water hyacinth and pickerelweed. The climate is equatorial with a pronounced dry season, drawing most of its rain during a brief wet period concentrated around the early months of the year. The ecoregion shows low endemism but holds notable wildlife, with the Peruvian tern as its flagship species alongside horned screamers, wood storks, and the endangered equatorial dog-faced bat. It is classified as Critically Endangered, with the great majority of its natural habitat converted to agriculture and aquaculture amid rapid urbanization and recurring El Niño disturbance.

At a glance

About the flooded grasslands & savannas biome

Grasslands and savannas subject to seasonal or year-round flooding, including large wetland complexes. Exceptionally productive, they concentrate waterbirds and aquatic life.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

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