Life zones of Peru
When the Spanish arrived, they divided Peru (very simplistic) in three main regions: the Coastal region (11.6% of Peru), that is bounded by the Pacific Ocean; the Highlands (28.1% of Peru), that is located on the Andean Heights, and the Jungle, that is located on the Amazonian Jungle (Climate of Peru). 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. [1] [2] 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.
These eight Peruvian regions are:
Example: Andes 10°S
-
- See also Altitudinal zonation
Classic Version, Amazonic side
- Sea level, estimated 22 - 24°C (75°F, but the cold Humboldt Current generates fog on the Coast side);
- Tierra Caliente (Hot land, Tropical) up to 2,500 ft (about 750 m - 1,000 m).
Crops: Cacao, Banana, Sugarcane, Manioc, Sweet Potatoes, Yams.
- Tierra Templada (Temperate land, Subtropical) up to 6,000 ft (about 1,850 m – 2,000 m)
(the warmest month has an average temperature of below 22°C or 72°F).
Crops: Coffee, Tobacco, Maize, Coca, Peruvian Pepper (Schinus molle), Avocado, Guave (Psidium guajava), Cherimoya, Plum, Citrus fruits.
- Tierra Fria (Cool land, Temperate) below 12,000 ft (about 3,600 m, Treeline)
(the warmest month has an average temperature of below 18°C or 64°F).
Crops: Potato, Maize, Squash, Passionfruit, Papaya, Peach, Wheat, Rye, and Barley. Farming of cattle.
(the definition of Treeline of Coniferae: the warmest month has an average temperature of below 10°C or 50°F ).
Crops above Tree line: Quinoa, Cañigua, Mashua, Oca, Tarhui, Broad beans and Ulluco. Farming of Sheep, Lamas and Alpacas.
Terrestrial Biome Type 10: Montane grasslands and shrublands
(just warmer than -1°C over rocks or just warmer than -3°C over snow, annual mean temperature). [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Javier Pulgar Vidal's Version
The Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal divided Peru in 8 regions (traditionally, it was costa, sierra and selva):
Map from República del Perú - Instituto Geográfico Nacional
- Chala (West, Pacific Coast) 0– 500 m
- Omagua (Lowland jungle or Selva baja, Amazonic rainforest) 80– 400 m
- Rupa-Rupa (Highland jungle, Selva alta) 400– 1,000 m
- Yunga (Aymaran for “Warm Lands”, Cloud forest)
- Loma-Vegetation (West, “Yunga costal” at the North of Peru) 450– 600 m
- Fluvial Yungas (East, “Yunga fluvial”) 1,000- 2,300 m
- Quechua (East, High valleys) 2,300– 3,500 m
- Suni (or Jalca or Sallqa too, high plateaus and cliffs) 3,500– 4,100 m
- Puna (means "mountain top") 4,100– 4,800 m
- Janca (means white) above 4,800 m, permafrost, rocks, snow and ice [8]
Notes
- Biomes & Ecoregions nearby: [9]
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
-. Bolivian Yungas [10]
-. Peruvian Yungas [11]
-. Southwest Amazon moist forests [12]
Montane grasslands and shrublands
-. Central Andean dry puna [13]
-. Central Andean puna [14]
-. Central Andean wet puna [15]
Deserts and xeric shrublands
-. Atacama desert [16]
-. Sechura desert [17]
Overview - Amazonic side
- Mouth of the Amazon River, Atlantic Ocean
- Belém, Brazil, 24 m, annual mean temperature 26.0°C
- Gurupa varzea (NT0126) [18]
- Manaus, Brazil, 72 m, annual mean temperature 26.6°C
- Monte Alegre varzea (NT0141) [19]
- Purus varzea (NT0156) [20]
- Colombia - Peru - Brazil border
- Leticia, Colombia, 84 m, annual mean temperature 25.8°C
- Tierra Caliente or Tropical Rainforest
- Omagua or Selva baja (Southwest Amazon moist forests - NT0166) [21]
- Iquitos, Peru, 126 m, annual mean temperature 26.2°C
- Rupa-Rupa or Selva alta (Iquitos varzea - NT0128) [22]
- Yunga fluvial (more than 5°C colder than the Peruan Tropics)
- Peruvian Yungas (NT0153) [23]
- Quechua (High valleys, more than 10°C colder than the Peruan Tropics)
- Treeline
- Mountain pass
- Puna (mountain slope)
- Central Andean wet puna (NT1003) [24]
- Central Andean puna (NT1002) [25]
- "Andean-Alpine desert"
- Snow line
- Peak
Estimated Temperatures - Continental Divide
Explanations:
- Region, altitude (m); avg annual precipitation (mm); avg annual temperature (°C);
- Peruvian Highland Rainforest (Tropical climate), Cloud forest (Subtropical climate) and Temperate forest (Temperate climate);
- Cusco reference, estimated avg annual temperature (°C, Lowland Rainforest or Selva baja gets more rain, so it is more cloudy, so it is cooler);
- Snow line reference, Humboldt cold current/ Pacific climate influence, estimated avg annual temperature (°C). [26]
- Cuzco, Peru; 3,249 m; avg annual temperature 12.5 °C; avg annual precipitation 736 mm.
- Lima, Peru; 30 m; avg annual temperature 19.2 °C (fog influence); avg annual precipitation 15 mm.
|
Altitude |
West - Pacific side |
East - Amazonian side |
| Highland Rainforest or Selva alta |
400 m |
- |
26.5 °C |
| Loma-Vegetation |
500 m |
about 21.1 °C |
- |
| Cloud forest or Fluvial Yunga |
1,000 m |
- |
23.5 °C |
| Quechua - Montane Valleys |
2,300 m |
- |
17.2 °C |
| Amazonian Tree line of Coniferae: 10 °C |
about 3,500 m |
- |
about 10 °C |
| Mountain pass influence |
4,100 m |
about 3.4 °C |
(about 7.1 °C) |
| Vegetation end |
about 4,800 m |
about 0.0 °C |
- |
| Snow line |
about 5,000 m |
about -1.0 °C |
- |
|
|
|
|
Example: Kallawaya Region, Bolivia
Altitudinal Zonation: Kallawaya Region, around Charazani, Bolivia (border to Peru).
- Glacier
- Altitude: 5,900- 5,200 m, Annual mean temperature: below 0 °C, Agriculture: none
- High Mountain Desert, Werneria ciliolata on scree
- Altitude: 5,200- 5,000 m, Annual mean temperature: below 0 °C - 0 °C, Agriculture: none.
- Grass Zone
- Calamagrostis minima Steppe,
- Altitude: 5,000- 4,600 m, Annual mean temperature: 0- 3.5 °C, Farming: alpacas, lamas.
- Pycnophyllum Steppe,
- Altitude: 4,600- 4,300 m, Annual mean temperature: 3.5- 7.5 °C, Farming: alpacas, lamas.
- Aciachne Humid Grassland,
- Altitude: 4,300- 3,900 m, Annual mean temperature: 7.5- 10.0 °C, Farming: alpacas, lamas, pigs; Agriculture: bitter potatoes, (oca), (oat); Fallow land: more than 8 years.
- Shrub Zone
- Satureja Shrub (westslope), Baccharis pentandii Shrub, with Berberis (eastslope),
- Altitude: 3,900- 3,600 m, Annual mean temperature: 10.0- 11.5 °C, Farming: sheep; Agriculture: potatoes, oca, ulluco, barley; Fallow land: 3 to 4 years.
- Mutisia Shrub (westslope), Baccharis pentlandii Shrub, with Siphocampylus (eastslope),
- Altitude: 3,600- 2,700 m, Annual mean temperature: 11.5- 16.5 °C, Farming: sheep, cattle; Agriculture: wheat, (barley), peas, beans, maize up to 3,500 m with crop rotation.
- Kaunia longipetiolata Shrub,
- Highland Rainforest,
- Altitude: below 2,700 m, Annual mean temperature: over 17.0 °C, Farming: cattle; Agriculture: tropical fruits, oranges, coffee, coca at around 2,000 m. [27]
Gallery
See also
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Benavides Estrada, Juan (1999); Geografía del Perú 2do año de Secuandaria. Lima: Escuela Nueva.
- ^ Brigitta Schütt (2005); Azonale Böden und Hochgebirgsböden [1]
- ^ 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 [2]
- ^ http://www.andix.com/huaraz_maps/huaraz.html Maps of the Cordillera Blanca - Peru
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/terrestrial.html WWF Global 200: World Map of 14 Terrestrial Biomes and 867 Ecoregions
- ^ NT0105 Bolivian Yungas, WWF [3]
- ^ NT0153 Peruvian Yungas, WWF [4]
- ^ NT0166 Southwest Amazon moist forests, WWF [5]
- ^ NT1001 Central Andean dry puna, WWF [6]
- ^ NT1002 Central Andean puna, WWF [7]
- ^ NT1003 Central Andean wet puna, WWF [8]
- ^ NT1303 Atacama desert, WWF [9]
- ^ NT1315 Sechura desert, WWF [10]
- ^ Gurupa varzea (NT0126) [11]
- ^ Monte Alegre varzea (NT0141) [12]
- ^ Purus varzea (NT0156) [13]
- ^ Southwest Amazon moist forests (NT0166) [14]
- ^ Iquitos varzea (NT0128) [15]
- ^ Peruvian Yungas (NT0153) [16]
- ^ Central Andean wet puna (NT1003) [17]
- ^ Central Andean puna (NT1002) [18]
- ^ http://www.klimadiagramme.de/
- ^ Seibert, Paul; Farbatlas Südamerika, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 1996.
