Certain territories have a series of common environmental characteristics, such as the climate, the variety of animal species, the vegetation or the soil conditions. To refer to these areas, the term ecoregion or bioregion is used. From the point of biodiversity, these geographical areas are divided into two blocks: terrestrial and marine.
Countries like Argentina, Peru and Panama present different ecoregions in their geographical area
In Argentina there are a total of 15 ecoregions and among them we can highlight the Yungas Forest, the Puna of Atacama, the High Andes, the dry and humid Chaco or the Paranaense Forest. If we take the latter as a reference, it should be noted that its extension goes beyond the Argentine borders, since this ecoregion includes territories of Brazil and Paraguay.
The Paraná Forest stands out for its humid tropical climate, for the high number of birds and some native plant species.
Traditionally, the territory of Peru has been divided into three natural regions: the jungle, the mountains and the coast. However, from the point of view of biogeography, there are a total of 11 ecoregions. Among them, the Pacific desert, the equatorial dry forest, the tropical sea and the palm savannah stand out.
The surface of Panama is not extensive, since it reaches 74,000 square kilometers (approximately half of Nicaragua, another Central American country with little surface). Despite this, it stands out for its biodiversity and the high number of ecoregions. These cover forested areas such as the Chocó-Darién, tropical rivers such as the Tuira or the Chiriqui, the Nicoya Peninsula or the isthmian humid forests.
The World Wide Fund for Nature or WWF is the non-governmental organization that identifies the different ecoregions of the planet and promotes their preservation.
According to the WWF, there are eight ecozones throughout the planet and more than 800 ecoregions are distributed in them (each ecoregion constitutes a specific biome).
Some ecoregions are especially fragile and as a consequence the fauna and flora of their habitats are threatened or in danger of extinction. This is what happens with the acacia forests of the Senegal river basin, the wetlands of the Murray river in Australia, the forests of Alaska or the low jungle of Peru (the latter is one of the areas with the greatest biodiversity of species in all of the planet).
To deal with environmental degradation, recovery strategies are put in place in which the preservation of nature and human activities are compatible.
Photos: Fotolia – NicoElNino / Kwest
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