Southern temperate forest dominated by Araucaria spp. in southeastern Brazil. Photo: Jason Hollinger/Wikipedia.

Southern Temperate Forest

The Southern temperate forest is a woodland formation dominated by Araucaria spp. This forest type once covered large areas of eastern Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina in Brazil, above 900 meters.
The southern temperate forest has been heavily impacted. Apart from the few patches of continuous forest protected in conservation areas, most of the former southern temperate forest is now found in isolated patches surrounded by pastures and other agricultural lands.

Southern temperate of Valdivian Forest dominated by Nothofagus spp. in Chile. Photo: Jason Hollinger/Wikipedia.

The southern temperate forest also re-appears in the Andean foothills of Southern Argentina and Chile at elevations ranging between 600-2000 meters. Isolated formations of this forest type also occur in the lowlands of southern Argentina and Chile. The vegetative composition of the forest in southern Chile and Argentina is dominated by trees of the genus Nothofagus spp, and Araucaria spp.

Southern temperate forest showing Araucaria spp. and Nothofagus ssp. Photo: Jason Hollinger/Wikipedia.

See more Neotropical bird habitats.

References:

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• Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation.  Stotz Douglas F., Fitzpatrick John W., Parker Theodore A. III, and Moskovits Debra K. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
• Villagrán, Carolina, Hinojosa, Luis Felipe (2005). “Esquema biogeográfico de Chile”. In Llorente Bousquests, Jorge; Morrone, Juan J. Regionalización Biogeográfica en Iberoámeríca y tópicos afines (in Spanish). Mexico: Ediciones de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Jiménez Editores.