The Rio Negro campinarana is a Neotropical moist-forest ecoregion that occurs as isolated patches scattered across northern Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, concentrated along the Rio Negro and Rio Branco basins. It is a distinctive white-sand or "heath forest" landscape, where vegetation rooted in highly leached, acidic, nutrient-poor quartz sands forms a mosaic of lichen- and grass-dominated savanna, low scrub, and closed woodland that can reach 20 to 30 meters. The climate is hot and humid, averaging about 24 degrees Celsius with abundant rainfall of roughly 2,500 to 3,000 millimeters spread fairly evenly through the year. These stressful soils select for specialized plants, so individual stands tend toward low diversity but high endemism, and the region's flagship animal is the red-faced spider monkey alongside birds such as the Rio Branco antbird. For gardeners, the native flora includes the primitive cycad genus Zamia together with epiphytic orchids and bromeliads, all familiar to ornamental horticulture.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 0.8°N, 68.7°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)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.8°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
37,231 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: