Bolivian montane dry forests

Location

The ecoregion is in the dry mountain valleys of the Andes in southern Bolivia. It has an area of 80,300 square kilometres (31,000 sq mi).^[1] In the south large areas of the ecoregion are found within the Central Andean puna and Southern Andean Yungas. To the east the dry forests transition into the Dry Chaco ecoregion. Further north smaller areas of the ecoregion are found in contact with the Central Andean dry puna, Central Andean wet puna and Bolivian Yungas.^[1]

Terrain

The terrain is rugged, with cliffs, steep hillsides, valleys and gullies.^[1]

Altitudes are from 1,000–3,300 metres (3,300–10,800 ft) above sea level.^[2]

In the east fingers of the dry forest stretch into the yungas, while in the west fingers of puna grassland extend into the dry forest.^[1]

Climate

At a sample location at 18.75°S 65.25°W / -18.75; -65.25 the Köppen climate classification is "Cwb": warm temperate, winter dry, warm summer.^[3] At this location the mean monthly temperatures range from 13.5 °C (56.3 °F) in July to 18.8 °C (65.8 °F) in November. Yearly total precipitation is about 580 millimetres (23 in). Average monthly precipitation is below 10 millimetres (0.39 in) in May–August, and rises to 137.4 millimetres (5.41 in) in January.^[3]

Flora

The dry forest ecoregion is a transitional habitat between the puna grasslands higher up to the west and the Chaco scrub to the east. It contains dry slopes with scattered shrubs and columnar cacti, seasonal dry forest and wetland forest along river courses.^[1] Where the spiny forest has been unaltered it holds species such as Vachellia caven, Prosopis alpataco, Dodonaea viscosa, Schinopsis marginata, and Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco.^[1]

Fauna

Several mammal species more common in the tropics are at the southern limit of their territory in the ecoregion. There appear to be a variety of feline species including cougar (Puma concolor), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros), Geoffroy's cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) and jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi).^[1] Endangered mammals include the Bolivian chinchilla rat (Abrocoma boliviensis) and short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla chinchilla).^[4]

Endemic birds include the Bolivian recurvebill (Syndactyla striatus), Bolivian blackbird (Oreopsar bolivianus), citron-headed yellow finch (Sicalis luteocephala), Cochabamba mountain finch (Compsospiza garleppi), Bolivian warbling finch (Poospiza boliviana), torrent duck (Merganetta armata), wedge-tailed hillstar (Oreotrochilus adela), black-hooded sunbeam (Aglaeactis pamela) and grey-bellied flowerpiercer (Diglossa carbonaria).^[1] Endangered birds include the red-fronted macaw (Ara rubrogenys) and Bolivian spinetail (Cranioleuca henricae).^[4]

Endangered amphibians include the frog Telmatobius sibiricus.^[4]