Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests
The Eastern Cordillera Real montane forests (NT0121) is an ecoregion in the eastern range of the Andes of southern Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru. The ecoregion covers the eastern slopes of the Andes, and includes montane forest that rises from the Amazonian rain forest, with cloud forest and elfin forest at higher elevations. It is rich in species, including many endemics. It is threatened by logging and conversion for pasturage and subsistence agriculture. Geography Location The ecoregion is on the eastern slopes of the central Andes. The forests cover an almost continuous band about long but sometimes no more than wide due to the limited area of the slopes with suitable elevations. They extend along the southern part of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia, the eastern part of the Cordillera Real of Ecuador and the northern part of the Andes of Peru. The ecoregion has an area of . In the extreme north the ecoregion transitions into the Magdalena Valley montane forests and Cordillera Oriental montane forests ecoregions. The north and central parts of the ecoregion merge into the Napo moist forests to the east and the Northwestern Andean montane forests to the west. The southern part transitions into the Ucayali moist forests to the east, Marañón dry forests to the south and Tumbes–Piura dry forests to the west. The north and central parts of the ecoregion adjoin or surround regions of Northern Andean páramo at the upper levels, and the southern part surrounds regions of Cordillera Central páramo. Terrain The ecoregion covers rugged premontane terrain on the eastern slopes of the Andes with elevations that range from to above . In Peru part of the ecoregion extends west to the Pacific slope. The southern part of the Cordillera Real contains the Huancabamba Depression, the lowest pass in the Andes at about above sea level. The mountains south of the Huancabamba Depression were mostly formed in the Miocene (23–5.3 Ma) while the mountains to the north formed between the end of the Pliocene (5.3–2.6 Ma) and the Pleistocene (2.6 Ma to 11,700 years ago). The Pacific slope forests in Peru have a dry, seasonal climate and are mostly small patches of woods with relatively few species, but several endemic species. On the eastern, Amazon side of the Andes the montane forests start around and receive plentiful rainfall from moist air from the Amazon basin. Climate The ecoregion gets of rain in a typical year, but in some years may get up to . At a sample location at coordinates the Köppen climate classification is Aw (equatorial; winter dry). Mean temperatures vary from in July to in April. Yearly total precipitation is about . Monthly precipitation varies from in August to in March. Ecology The ecoregion is in the neotropical realm, in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. The ecoregion is part of the Northern Andean Montane Forests global ecoregion, which includes the Magdalena Valley montane forests, Venezuelan Andes montane forests, Northwestern Andean montane forests, Cauca Valley montane forests,