The Juan Fernández Islands temperate forests cover a small Chilean archipelago in the southeastern Pacific roughly 665 kilometers off the mainland, made up of Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk, and Santa Clara islands. Vegetation grades by elevation from grassy lower slopes into tall forests, with lowland stands dominated by the endemic trees Drimys confertifolia and Myrceugenia, while tree ferns such as Dicksonia and Thyrsopteris and the endangered chonta palm (Juania australis) occur on the islands. The climate is subtropical, moderated by the cold Humboldt Current and southeast trade winds that bring higher rainfall in winter and drier summers. These isolated forests carry an exceptionally high level of endemic vascular plants, including the endemic plant family Lactoridaceae, and host the Juan Fernández firecrown, the only hummingbird endemic to an oceanic island. The archipelago is protected as a national park and World Biosphere Reserve, yet more than half of its endemic plants are threatened, chiefly by introduced goats and rabbits.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 33.6°S, 78.9°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +1.4°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
Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
56 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the temperate broadleaf & mixed forests biome
Four-season forests of deciduous hardwoods — oak, maple, beech — often mixed with conifers, shaped by warm summers and cold winters. Trees leaf out in spring and color in autumn; the generally fertile soils have made these forests heavily settled and farmed.
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 temperate broadleaf & mixed forests ecoregions to explore: