Related Research Articles
Peru is a country on the central western coast of South America facing the Pacific Ocean. It lies wholly in the Southern Hemisphere, its northernmost extreme reaching to 1.8 minutes of latitude or about 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) south of the equator. Peru shares land borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile, with its longest land border shared with Brazil.
The Altiplano, Collao or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the same latitude where the north-south trending Andes are the widest. The bulk of the Altiplano lies in Bolivia, but its northern parts lie in Peru, and its southwestern fringes lie in Chile.
Tierra caliente is an informal term used in Latin America to refer to places with a distinctly tropical climate. These are usually regions from sea level from 0–3,000 feet. The Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal used the altitude of 1,000 m as the border between the tropical rain forest and the subtropical cloud forest.
Tierra templada is a pseudo-climatological term used in Latin America to refer to places which are either located in the tropics at a moderately high elevation or are marginally outside the astronomical tropics, producing a somewhat cooler overall climate than that found in the tropical lowlands, the zone of which is known as the tierra caliente.
In Latin America, tierra fría are mountain locations where high elevation results in a markedly cooler climate than that encountered in the lowlands at a comparable latitude. The combination of low latitude and high altitude — typically between approximately 2,000 m and 3,500 m in locations within 10° of the equator — produces a climate that falls into the same category as many oceanic climates found along the west coasts of the continents within the temperate zones — mild temperatures all year round, with monthly averages ranging from about 10°C (50°F) in the coldest months to about 18°C (64.4°F) in the warmest months. Common crops grown in the tierra fría are potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, corn, and rye.
The Yungas is a bioregion of a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru and Bolivia, and extends into Northwest Argentina at the slope of the Andes pre-cordillera. It is a transitional zone between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests. Like the surrounding areas, the Yungas belong to the Neotropical realm; the climate is rainy, humid, and warm.
The Chala or "Coast" is one of the eight natural regions in Peru. It is formed by all the western lands that arise from sea level up to the height of 500 meters. The coastal desert of Peru is largely devoid of vegetation but a unique fog and mist-fed ecosystem called Lomas is scattered among hills near the Pacific coast as elevations up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
Quechua is one of the eight Natural Regions of Peru and is between 2,300 and 3,500 m above sea level. It is composed of big valleys divided by rivers fed by estival rains.
Suni or Jalca is one of the eight Natural Regions of Peru. It is located in the Andes at an altitude between 3,500 and 4,000 metres above sea level. Suni has a dry and cold weather and there are many glacial valleys.
Janca is one of the eight Natural Regions of Peru. It is located in the frozen heights where the condor lives.
Rupa-Rupa or High Jungle is one of the eight natural regions of Peru. It is located between 400 and 1,000 m above the sea level to the east of the Andes mountain range in the Amazon basin of Peru. This region has many long, narrow valleys and fluvial mountain trails. The weather is warm, humid, and rainy.
Omagua or low jungle is one of the eight natural regions of Peru. It is located between 80 and 400m above sea level in the Peruvian Amazonia. In this region, there are a lot of rivers that create meanders, swamps and lagoons.
When the Spanish arrived, they divided Peru into three main regions: the coastal region, that is bounded by the Pacific Ocean; the highlands, that is located on the Andean Heights, and the jungle, that is located on the Amazonian Jungle. But Javier Pulgar Vidal, a geographer who studied the biogeographic reality of the Peruvian territory for a long time, proposed the creation of eight Natural Regions. In 1941, he presented his thesis "Las Ocho Regiones Naturales del Perú" at the III General Assembly of the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History.
The puna grassland ecoregion, of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome, is found in the central Andes Mountains of South America. It is considered one of the eight Natural Regions in Peru, but extends south, across Chile, Bolivia, and western northwest Argentina. The term puna encompasses diverse ecosystems of the high Central Andes above 3200–3400 m.
The Climate of Colombia is determined for geographic and atmospheric elements: temperature, precipitations, solar radiation, wind, latitude, altitude, atmospheric. This generate a large number of climate variants in Colombia, from more hottest, until the more cold with temperatures of 0 °C in high mountains. Generally is tropical and temperate as a result of its geographical location near the Equator presenting variations within five natural regions and depending on the altitude, being all isothermal. Because it has a very low latitude, there are no four seasons.
Altitudinal zonation in mountainous regions describes the natural layering of ecosystems that occurs at distinct elevations due to varying environmental conditions. Temperature, humidity, soil composition, and solar radiation are important factors in determining altitudinal zones, which consequently support different vegetation and animal species. Altitudinal zonation was first hypothesized by geographer Alexander von Humboldt who noticed that temperature drops with increasing elevation. Zonation also occurs in intertidal and marine environments, as well as on shorelines and in wetlands. Scientist C. Hart Merriam observed that changes in vegetation and animals in altitudinal zones map onto changes expected with increased latitude in his concept of life zones. Today, altitudinal zonation represents a core concept in mountain research.
The Southern Andean Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of southwestern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina.
The Peruvian Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of Peru.
The Bolivian Yungas is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungas of central Bolivia.
The Central Andean wet puna is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia.
References
- ↑ Brigitta Schütt (2005); Azonale Böden und Hochgebirgsböden Archived 2009-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Zech, W. and Hintermaier-Erhard, G. (2002); Böden der Welt – Ein Bildatlas, Heidelberg, p. 98.
- ↑ Christopher Salter, Joseph Hobbs, Jesse Wheeler and J. Trenton Kostbade (2005); Essentials of World Regional Geography 2nd Edition. NY: Harcourt Brace. p.464-465.
- ↑ "Middle America: Altitudinal Zonation". Archived from the original on 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ↑ Pulgar Vidal, Javier: Geografía del Perú; Las Ocho Regiones Naturales del Perú. Edit. Universo S.A., Lima 1979. First Edition (his dissertation of 1940): Las ocho regiones naturales del Perú, Boletín del Museo de historia natural „Javier Prado", n° especial, Lima, 1941, 17, pp. 145-161.
 | This ecoregion article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |