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The synergetic forces of the Earth's biosphere, it's air currents, ocean currents, solar, geologic, and biological forces have converged on the equator, in the Central Andean country of Ecuador, on the West Coast of South America, to create a model biosphere of the Earth, and world center of natural biological diversity, encompassing 28 of the Earth's 30 basic life-zones, from tropic to arctic, and desert to pluvial, with altitudes ranging from sea-level to alpine, all within a country about the size of the state of Colorado. The climate, soils, and plant life are so fragmented that a single farm may encompass wet and dry, and mild and frigid climates, and several varieties of soils and types of vegetation. Ecologist are awed and marvel at the incredible diversity of climate and plant life.

'Ecuador is an ecological universe within the borders of a single country.' (1) It is 'a country of geographic contrast and undoubtedly one of the most varied and complicated from the point of view of climate, topography, soils, and natural vegetation.' (1) 'The complicated ecological mosaic [of the Andean bioregion] created countless microclimates, including some of the driest and wettest, coldest and hottest, and lowest and highest found anywhere in the world. Perhaps no other contiguous region has such a broad range of environments. And the region is so fragmented that rainfall, frost, sunlight, and soil type can vary over distances as short as a few meters.' (2)

Ecuador has a 'countless range of microclimates that vary infinitely.' (3) It is 'a land of extreme climatic contrasts, in an area smaller than the state of Arizona.' (4) 'Climatic variation that usually requires thousands of miles of latitudinal change takes place astride the equator in fewer than four vertical miles.' (4) More than 30 bioclimatic regions and 25 of the earth's 30 life-zones are represented in Ecuador, a country of only 106,000 sq. miles (274,540 sq. km). The driest life-zones, having 4 in. (100 mill.) less precipitation per year than are found within Ecuador, are found in Peru, just outside of Ecuador's border to the south.

A life-zone is precisely defined by the ranges of the three major climatic factors: heat, precipitation, and moisture. Each life-zone, comprising a definite range of climatic conditions, is found in widely separate regions of the planet. These climatic factors leave a definite mark on the soils, natural vegetation, animal activities, and the cultural activities of humans. 'A life-zone is not only a specific environment but also indicates a definite way of life.' It is 'correlated with a set of agricultural practices' and with 'types of buildings related to the general agricultural land use.' The soils, agriculture, natural vegetation, and animal activities 'serve clearly to indicate the life-zone.'(5)

Geographic mapping systems, which chart climatic and vegetational zones, do not provide a picture of the incredible diversity of ecological regions that are found within Ecuador's borders because the scale of the mapping system does not show major environmental changes that occur within short distances.(6) A number of unique environmental factors contribute to creating a diversity of environmental features in Ecuador, and the transition from one environment to another can be unusually abrupt. A variable combination of topography, altitude, wind patterns, humidity, and ocean currents cause major climatic changes, all in close proximity. Although Ecuador is situated on the equator, due to the cool Peru or Humboldt current and cool mountain highlands, its climate is quite unequatorial.

The Andes Mountains, running north and south through the center of the country, consist of two ranges, an eastern and western cordillera running parallel, 25 to 40 miles apart (40 to 65 km), with the inter-Andean Valley between. A number of transverse mountain ridges run east to west between the inter-Andean Valley, creating a series of some 12 narrow interconnected basins. (7) Many of Ecuador's high mountain peaks are covered in snow, some are heavily glaciated. (8) East of the Andes Mountains lies the Amazon Basin and the torrid zone.

Climate varies by altitude, being warm in the lowlands and cool to frigid in the highlands. The country's air temperature decreases with altitude about 5.5° C (41.9° F) per 1000 m (3,280 ft.) elevation. The increase in air temperature at lower levels is the result of two main factors: the insulating value of the atmosphere and air pressure created by gravitation. Pressure generates heat. As you ascend in altitude the air pressure is gradually reduced
and the temperature falls. (9) The atmosphere also impounds heat from the sun and provides a layer of insulation to the Earth. This is called the 'greenhouse effect.' The thicker atmosphere at lower altitudes provides greater insulation and heat retention. Heat readily escapes into space in the thin atmosphere at higher elevations,.

The decrease in air temperature with altitude is considerably less on the more humid windward side of a mountain. This is due to the release of heat from the warm water vapor in the air as it condenses into rain in the cool upper atmosphere. (9) A tropical climate ranges from 0 - 1000 ft (0 - 300 m) on the cooler and dryer coastal slopes of the western Andes, but on the humid windward slopes of the eastern cordillera a tropical climate extends from 0 - 2000 ft (0 - 600 m). A subtropical climate on the western slopes of the Andes ranges from 1000 - 6560 ft (300 - 2000 m), but on the eastern slopes a subtropical climate ranges from 2000 - 6560 ft (600 - 2000 m). (1)

In general, depending on location, a mild-temperate climate ranges upward from about 6000 ft (1830 m), and a cool-temperate climate upward from about 10,000 ft (3050 m). (1) Regular nighttime frost and daytime thawing occurs upward of about 14,100 ft (4300 m). A mean annual temperature of 0° C (32° F) occurs at somewhat below 16,075 ft (4900 m). (8) Perennial snow occurs at about 15,750 ft (4800 m) with a seasonal variation of about 200 to 230 ft (60 to 70 m). (9) The huge glaciers of Mt. Chimborazo extend to as low as 13,125 ft (4000 m). (8)

The closest glaciers to the equator are found in Ecuador. The only snow that falls directly on the equator is found on the southern slopes of Mt. Cayambe in Ecuador. This is the highest point on the equator, with an altitude of nearly 16,400 ft (5000 m).(4) Here there are frequent snows and the average annual temperature is colder than that of Anchorage, Alaska. (4)

'The orientation of mountain slopes with respect to the movement of air masses leads to a sharp contrast in the amount of precipitation at regional levels between leeward and windward slopes.'(10) Both the northern and southern trade winds meet at the equator within Ecuador's complex network of mountains and valleys, which act as funnels and barriers for these winds, producing a diversity of interesting rainfall phenomenon, and many wet and dry microclimates.

As winds are forced upward by mountain slopes they penetrate cold air, causing their moisture to be condensed into rainfall. The height and shape of a mountain, in relation to the prevailing winds, will determine how much rain is dropped where. A rounded mountain with its summit near the upper limit of an inversion layer, where hot air meets cool air, will condense rainfall on its windward side, with precipitation continuing onto the leeward side of the mountain until the clouds have lost all of their excess moisture.

If a mountain is higher than the inversion layer, there will be a marked lowering of rainfall at higher elevations, leaving little or no rain on the leeward side as the winds cross over the summit. When two mountain chains are parallel to each other, as is found throughout Ecuador, one mountain can receive much rain, leaving the other in a dry 'rain-shadow.' The high Andes and interior basins are characteristically dry, (8) with dry areas in many rain-shadowed inter-Andean valleys. (11)(12) Steep slopes or a cliff can force winds up rapidly, causing much of the rainfall to occur on the summit and leeward side. Exceedingly heavy rainfall occurs where winds are funneled into valleys that lead directly to the mountain summit.

The westward blowing trade winds loose much of their moisture as they move up the slopes of the eastern cordillera. (12) As a result, the eastern side of the Ecuadorian Andes, from the treeline down to the lowland plains, is one of the wettest parts of the whole Amazon basin, with no seasonal variation in rainfall. (13)

About 100 miles (160 km) west of the Andes is the Pacific Ocean, where the unusually cool waters, for this latitude, of the Peru or Humboldt current, flowing north along the Pacific shore, meets the warm, southward flowing El Nino current. The 'warm rain-accompanied [El Nino] current and the cool Peruvian current with its desiccating winds, combine to produce a series of warm, low-latitude, wet and dry climates along the central and southern coastlands. The same wet-dry rhythm is reflected on the cooler slopes of the west Andean range.' (12) A monsoon climatic type
extends in a broad belt along the base of the western cordillera. (12)

Some of the wettest and driest regions on earth are located just outside of Ecuador's borders to the north and south. The wettest region of the world, and the only 'true' tropical rain forest in the American tropics (according to the Holdridge Life-Zone Classification System), is found just outside of Ecuador's border to the north, in the Pacific coast region of Columbia. (11) The coastal desert of Peru, which extends into Ecuador's southern border, is one of the driest deserts on earth.