The Madeira-Tapajós moist forests are a vast lowland Amazonian ecoregion that fills the land between the Madeira and Tapajós rivers, two major tributaries of the Amazon, spanning the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Rondônia, and Mato Grosso and reaching into the Beni Department of Bolivia. Most of it is dense terra firme rainforest with a canopy near 30 meters and emergent trees rising higher, interspersed with seasonally flooded várzea and igapó forest along the rivers and patches of white-sand campina grassland; characteristic trees include the towering legume Dinizia excelsa along with Eperua and Elizabetha species. The climate is equatorial and monsoonal, warm year-round with heavy rainfall that climbs toward 4,000 millimeters along the middle Madeira. The World Wildlife Fund rates the region as Vulnerable, with deforestation, timber extraction, illegal gold mining, and highway-driven settlement as the leading threats, and the endangered white-nosed saki serves as its flagship primate. For gardeners, the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) is native here, a reminder that this forest is part of the original home range of an economically prized tropical species.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 8.9°S, 60.4°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-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: +4.3°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
278,203 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: