Guayaquil flooded grasslands
The Guayaquil flooded grasslands (NT0905) is an ecoregion near the Pacific coast of the Ecuador. The ecoregion is critically endangered due to conversion into agricultural land. Location. The Guayaquil flooded grasslands ecoregion is in the southwest of Ecuador in the delta of the Guayas River, extending south to the mangroves of the Gulf of Guayaquil. It covers an area of . The Guayaquil flooded grasslands adjoin the Western Ecuador moist forests ecoregion to the west and north, and a section of the Ecuadorian dry forests ecoregion to the east. To the southeast they merge into the South American  Pacific mangroves ecoregion. The extreme south adjoins the Tumbes–Piura dry forests. Physical. The Köppen climate classification is "Aw": equatorial, dry winter. In a sample location at coordinates temperatures are fairly constant throughout the year, slightly cooler in July and slightly warmer in April. Yearly average minimum temperatures are and maximum , with a mean of . Monthly precipitation ranges from less than in July–November to in March. Total annual precipitation is about . Ecology. The Guayaquil flooded grasslands are in the neotropical realm, in the flooded grasslands and savannas biome. The grasslands are seasonally flooded, and also hold riparian flora. Endangered  birds include yellow-bellied seedeater ("Sporophila nigricollis") and Peruvian tern ("Sternula lorata"). Endangered reptiles include green sea turtle ("Chelonia mydas") and hawksbill sea turtle ("Eretmochelys imbricata"). Status. The World Wildlife Fund gives the ecoregion a status of "Critical/Endangered". Threats come from the steady growth of the human population and large-scale irrigation programs for agriculture. As of 2000 the flooded grasslands ecoregion had , or 31.9%, natural cover with extractive use, and of agricultural land. A 2006 book said the ecoregion had protected areas of , or 2%. 67.1% of the area had been transformed.