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Where Can You Find Tropical Dry Forests?

The two most continuous pieces of tropical dry forests occur in South America, the first in northeastern Brazil and the second occurring in southeastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina (Miles et al. 2006). Other concentrations of neotropical dry forests include:

Paisaje_de_la_Carretera_a_la_Sierra.JPG

  • Mexico: Yucatán Peninsula, Veracruz, Sinaloa, and the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range.

  • Trinidad and Tobago

  • Southwestern Puerto Rico and the adjacent islands of Puerto Rico: Mona, Vieques, Culebra, Desecheo, and Caja De Muertos

  • Panama

  • Colombia: Patía Valley, Northern Andes, valley of the Cauca River, and the departments of Arauca, Casanare, and Meta

  • Venezuela: Portuguesa, Barinas, Apure, Maracaibo dry forest, and Lara/Falcon dry forests.

Lara-Falcón dry forests in northwestern Venezuela. Photo by Juan Carlo Castillo Ortega.

Tropical dry forests are scattered across central and southern Africa. However, most forests in Africa are not continuous and are often subjected to habitat degradation and conversion. The two main concentrations are in western Ethiopia, southern Sudan, and the Central African Republic (Miles et al. 2006). The second segment occurs in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Other concentrations of tropical dry forests include:

  • Madagascar

  • Cape Verde islands

  • Mali

  • Senegal

madagasca dry forest portion.jpg
Tsimanampetsotsa National Park, dry fore

Left: Anjajavy Forest in northwestern Madagascar. Photo by C. Michael Hogan. Right: Tsimanampetsotsa National Park in southwestern Madagascar. Photo by Peter Prokosch. 

The smallest portion of tropical dry forests occur in Asia and Oceania. Tropical dry forests in Asia are typically seen in southeast Asia and in the islands of Australasia (Miles et al. 2006). Concentrations of tropical dry forests include:

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  • India: the Deccan Plateau, Narmada Valley, Chota Nagpur Plateau, and Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests

  • Indonesia

  • Malaysia

  • Brunei

  • Thailand

  • Vietnam: Southern Vietnam lowland dry forests, Southeastern Indochina Dry Evergreen Forests, and Central Indochina Dry Forests.

  • Cambodia

An Indian Leopard at Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forest. Photo by Stephenekka.

Locations of Special Interest

Citations:

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Miles, L., A. C. Newton, R. S. DeFries, C. Ravilious, I. May, S. Blyth, V. Kapos, and J. E. Gordon. 2006. A global overview of the conservation status of tropical dry forests. Journal of Biogeography 33:491–505.

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