A seasonal floodplain forest of about 180,000 square kilometers across the Amazon basin, inundated each year by nutrient-rich whitewater rivers including the Amazon itself and the Solimoes, Purus and Madeira. The ecoregion spans eight countries, with 68 percent of its area in Brazil. Legume and spurge family trees dominate the canopy, and Amazonian manatees, river dolphins, black caimans and jaguars all use the varzea, with fish, birds and reptiles relying on it as a breeding ground; fish in particular benefit from lower predator densities during the flood season. Deforestation for logging and agriculture, acai palm extraction, cattle ranching and hunting of the seed-dispersing primates that regenerate the forest are eroding the ecoregion; mixed-species varzea forest declined by about 25 percent between 1976 and 1991.
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Protected StatusLarge-scale biome/ecoregion spanning many jurisdictions: it contains formally protected reserves and parks alongside unprotected land, so no single stronger category applies to the region as a whole. Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Hosts
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source World Wildlife Fund
In Biome
Source World Wildlife Fund
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Varzea Forest (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHuman impacts section
Várzea forests show promise for timber production and forest management within Amazonia because they are less species rich than terra firme forests, but still with great amounts of timber.
- Biogeographic realm: neotropic (derived from location stated in entity description)
View the Source 2. World Wildlife Fund
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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