The Caquetá moist forests is an ecoregion of tropical moist broad leaf forest to the east of the Andes in the east of Colombia, with a small section in Brazil, in the Amazon biome. The forests are in the transition between the Guiana and Amazon regions, and have highly diverse flora and fauna. They are relatively intact, although they are mostly unprotected and are threatened with deforestation to create cattle pastures.
Location
The Caquetá moist forests, mainly in Colombia, are in the foothills of the Andes. They have an area of. They are in a region where many rivers flow from the Andes to the Amazon basin. Average annual temperatures range from depending on elevation and forest coverage. The region has some of the highest rainfall in the Amazon region, with an average of, and as much as in some years. On the northeast the forest is bounded by the Guainía, Guaviare, and Guayabero rivers. In the west it is bounded by the Andes. In the south it is bounded by the Caguán River and then the Caquetá River. The forest is crossed by the Apaporis, Vaupés and Yarí rivers. The ecoregion adjoins the Napo moist forests to the west, the Solimões-Japurá moist forests to the south, the Japurá-Solimões-Negro moist forests to the east, the Negro Branco moist forests and the Llanos grasslands to the north, and the Cordillera Oriental montane forests to the northwest. Geologically the ecoregion lies in the ancient Guiana Shield, but because of its low elevation and long periods of sedimentation the flora are closer to the Amazon basin than the Guiana region. Most of the region is in elevation. The forest contains the Caquetá River's alluvial plains, their upland terraces, a sedimentary plain from the Tertiary and sandstone table mountains from the Paleozoic that rise to elevations of over. Some soils are rich in nutrients and others are poor.
Flora
The Caquetá moist forests are in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome of the neotropical realm. The ecoregion is in the transitional area between the Amazon Basin and Guayana forests, and has diverse flora. They are part of the Río Negro-Juruá Moist Forests, a global ecoregion, the other parts being the Negro-Branco, Solimões-Japurá and Japurá-Solimoes-Negro moist forests. The reasonably intact global ecoregion has high annual rainfall, diverse soils and varied terrain, resulting in a high level of biodiversity. It has not been studied in great depth by scientists. The forests contain large areas of seasonally flooded forests, including blackwaterigapó forests. The lower areas have high forest with a canopy on well-drained soils, low forest with a canopy on poorly drained soils and permanent swamp forests dominated by palms such as Mauritia flexuosa, with a height of. The high forest and low forest both have highly diverse flora. Basal areas of trees range from in the high forest to in the low forest and per hectare in the permanent swamps. In the forests on poor soils, including the igapó forests which are seasonally flooded with blackwater, there is a sparser understory and fewer epiphytes on the trees. The main families of trees are the Leguminosae, Sapotaceae, Lauraceae, Chrysobalanaceae, Moraceae and Lecythidaceae. The Sierra de Chiribiquete is in the center of the region between the Apaporis and Yari rivers, with a maximum elevation of. It has areas of savanna, xeromorphic open vegetation up to high, low forest of and closed-canopy forest with a canopy of.
The forest is fairly intact and stable, although the Nukak National Natural Reserve is the only protected area in the region. There are small settlements of indigenous people in the interior of the forest, but they have little environmental impact. The greatest threat to the ecoregion comes from logging to create pastures for large-scale cattle grazing. Large areas have been cleared to create cattle pasture at the headwaters of the Vaupés River. Colonists are moving down the Rio Negro clearing forest for small-scale agriculture or cattle raising. Large areas of forest along the Vaupés and Apaporis rivers are being replaced by coca. During the period from 2004 to 2011 the ecoregion experienced an annual rate of habitat loss of 0.16%.
