The Orinoco Delta swamp forests spread across the vast, shifting Orinoco Delta floodplain of eastern Venezuela and northern Guyana, a flat coastal mosaic threaded with branching channels. This is permanently flooded tropical swamp forest, where water-pollinated trees and palms grow draped in epiphytes; the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa) and acai palm (Euterpe oleracea) are characteristic alongside hardwoods such as kapok (Ceiba pentandra), crabwood (Carapa guianensis), and Pterocarpus officinalis, with mangroves fringing the coast. The climate is perhumid and fully humid (Koppen Af), warm year-round at roughly 70 percent relative humidity, with rainfall rising from around 500 to 2,000 millimetres in the north to far higher totals in the south. The critically endangered Orinoco crocodile is the flagship species, the delta is home to the indigenous Warao people, and reserves such as Delta del Orinoco National Park help safeguard it against oil exploration and altered water flows. For gardeners in wet tropical climates, its native moriche and acai palms are familiar ornamental and edible-fruit species.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 8.8°N, 61.2°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: +2.9°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
10,865 sq mi
Conservation tier
Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 1)
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: