This Global ecoregion is made up of 2 terrestrial ecoregions: Juan Fernández Islands temperate forests; and Valdivian temperate forests.
This is one of the world's 5 major temperate rainforests and the only 1 in all of South America. Millions of years of isolation have created unique habitats and an abundant number of endemic plant species. A trek through the Valdivian Temperate Rain Forests will take you through low coastal mountains, across a broad valley, then into the high Andes. Along the way, you'll see rare alerce and monkey puzzle trees and a wide variety of mosses, mushrooms, and lichens. You’ll also see many creatures, including Andean deer and, if you’re lucky, a primitive marsupial. Snow-capped volcanoes and Andean peaks are the backdrop of these temperate rainforests. The Southern beech forests are 1 of only 3 of this type of forest in the world. Some people believe that these forests were once part of the ancientGondwanaland land mass because they more closely resemble forests in Australia and New Zealand than other forests on the South American continent. |
Since the forest is located at around 40 degrees south, it is strongly influenced by the westerlies. The water vapour held by the westerlies condenses as they arrive at the higher part of the windward slope of the Andes, thus creating rainfalls. At the same time, the northward-flowing oceanic Humboldt Current creates humid and foggy conditions near the coast. The tree line is at about 2,400 m in the northern part of the ecoregion (35° S), and descends to 1,000 m in the south of the Valdivian region. In the summer the temperature can climb to 16.5 degrees Celsius (62 °F), while during winter the temperature can drop below 7 °C (45 °F).
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The Valdivian temperate forest and the more hygrophilous vegetation of the Mediterranean area of central Chile, represent a true biogeographic island separated from climatically similar areas by extensive ocean barriers and deserts. The Valdivian temperate forest is characterized by its extrordinary endemism (e.g., 90% at the species level and 34% at the genus level for woody species) and the great antiquity of its biogeographic relationships. Its taxons show close philogenetic relationships dating back to the early Tertiary, with Gondwanic taxons of Oceania forming more recent relationships with Neotropical taxons, separated from other biotas in South America by the great mountainous barrier of the Andes. The region’s ecosystems are frequently threatened and degraded, and thus urgent actions are needed to restore the ecology and preserve the remaining habitats.
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