WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions Collection The Magellanic subpolar forests is an ecoregion dominated by trees of the genus Nothofagus; this geographic zone covers the western part of the southern end of South America as well as the extreme southern parts of Argentina and Chile, known as the region Tierra del Fuego; this ecoregion is the southernmost forest biome on Earth. The Magellanic subpolar forests ecoregion is colder and in parts drier than the Valdivian temperate forests, and in general is floristically poorer. Faunal species richness and endemism is low; for example, a total of only 168 vertebrates has been recorded here. The fauna is related to that of the bordering ecoregions, especially to that of the Valdivian temperate forests and the Patagonian steppe.
|
The Magellanic subpolar forests ecoregion lies to the west of the Andes Mountains, which run north-south for most of their length but curve eastward near the southern tip of South America, terminating at the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. The Magellanic ecoregion was covered by glaciers during the last ice age, and the landscape is deeply dissected by fjords, with numerous islands, inlets, and channels, including the Strait of Magellan, which separates Tierra del Fuego from the South American mainland and is the route taken by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan from the South Atlantic to the South Pacific. North of roughly 48° south latitude lies the Valdivian temperate rain forests ecoregion, which shares many affinities with the Magellanic ecoregion in plant and animal life. To the east lie the drier temperate grasslands and shrublands ecoregions of Patagonia, which are in the rain shadow of the Andean and Fuegian mountains.
|
The relief of the northern portion has mountains of about 1500 metres (m), but several high peaks mark the limit between Chile and Argentina such as Mt. San Lorenzo (3706 m), Mt. Fitz Roy (3406 m) and Mt. Murallón (3600 m). Towards the west other very high mountains appear such as Mt. San Valentín (3910 m). Large lakes of glacial origin are also found in the limit of Argentina and Chile such as Lago Gral Carrera-Buenos Aires (the deepest and second largest lake in South America), L. Cochrane-Pueyrredón, L. O’Higgins-San Martín, L. Viedma and L. Argentino. The relief of the southern portion generally decreases to less than 1000 m, and in Tierra del Fuego the sizeable L. Fagnano is found.
|