The Southwest Amazon moist forests spread across the Upper Amazon Basin of Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia, occupying a low-lying landscape that descends from roughly 300 meters in the west to 100 meters in the east. The ecoregion weaves together non-flooded upland terra firme forest, ancient alluvial plains, and seasonally flooded varzea, with a dense canopy of 30 to 40 meters and emergent trees reaching 50 meters; as many as 300 tree species can occur in a single hectare. Characteristic trees include rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), bigleaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), kapok (Ceiba pentandra), and Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). The climate is warm and wet year-round, with temperatures of about 22 to 27 degrees Celsius and annual rainfall near 3,000 millimeters in the northern forests, easing to 1,500 to 2,100 millimeters in the south. Remarkably, this ecoregion records the highest numbers of both mammals and birds of any in the Amazonian realm, and its flagship animal is the Peruvian spider monkey. For gardeners, several of its native trees are familiar far beyond the basin, including the buttressed kapok (Ceiba) grown ornamentally in warm climates.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 9.6°S, 70.2°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11b-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
289,834 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
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 52
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
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: