The Maracaibo dry forests ring Lake Maracaibo in northwestern Venezuela, lying mostly in Zulia state with a smaller share in Trujillo across low coluvio-alluvial plains from sea level to about 500 meters. The natural cover is a mosaic of savanna and deciduous dry forest whose characteristic plants include the thatch palm Copernicia tectorum, nance (Byrsonima crassifolia), the sandpaper-leaved Curatella americana, verawood (Bulnesia arborea), and the dagger cactus Stenocereus griseus. The climate is hot and strongly seasonal, with annual temperatures around 16 to 26 degrees Celsius, less than 1,000 millimeters of rain a year, and pronounced wet and dry seasons. The World Wildlife Fund rates the ecoregion as critical or endangered: after decades of oil extraction, grazing, farming, and road-building, very little intact forest survives, and it is the haunt of the endangered recurve-billed bushbird along with endemics such as the buffy hummingbird and vermilion cardinal. For gardeners in similarly hot, dry climates, its native flora offers heat- and drought-adapted ornamentals, notably the fan-leaved Copernicia palm and columnar Stenocereus cactus.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 10.5°N, 71.1°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: +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 Dry Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
11,661 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome
Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.
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 dry broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: