Tropical dry forests of Venezuela:: Characterization and current conservation status

Tropical dry forests are located predominantly in the northern portion of Venezuela, above 6 degrees N. Although their potential extent covers ca 400,000 km(2) (44% of the land), they currently occupy about 10 percent of this area. The diversity and complexity of Venezuelan dry forests increases from north to south along a gradient of decreasing severity of the dry season. A typical dry forest in Venezuela presents ca 110-170 species of plants front ca 40 to 50 families with in an area of approximately 10 ha. Species composition and forest structure, however, are dependent oil local landscape conditions (e.g., soil type, topography), and nearby forest types call be very different. Our analysis of five dry forest variants showed a maximum family similarity of 67 percent, although most values fell in the 50-60 percent interval. They are currently considered as one of venezuelas most threatened ecosystems, but only 5 percent of extant dry forests are included in protected areas; this represents 0.5 percent of their potential extent. It is fundamental to promote the creation of at least 3 or 4 more large protected areas (ca 5000 ha), with different climatic and orographic characteristics, in combination with the recovery of threatened species, the restoration of degraded systems, and the implementation of sustainable development projects. Their apparent high resilience suggests Chat with the proper management we call restore and maintain the integrity of Venezuelan dry forests.