Fig. I. Location of "Las Gaviotas." 



The Centro de Desarrollo Integrado "Las Gaviotas" contains 

 2,49 1 hectares of land, embracing the characteristic savanna and 

 gallery forest biota. The savanna is primarily composed of 

 grasses, interspersed with a few islands of low-growing trees. 

 This geobotanical formation, called "Llanos" in Spanish, covers 

 over 480,000 square kilometers in both Colombia and Venezuela 

 (Blydenstein, 1967). Gallery forests that border the rivers and 

 streams traversing the savanna range from dense to fairly open 

 stands of shrubs, lianas, and taller trees. The settlement is 

 between 4° and 5° latitude north and 70° and 71° longitude 

 west, at an altitude of 167 meters above sea level. Rainfall aver- 

 ages 2,700 mm, annually, unevenly distributed and concentrated 

 between June and August. The average annual temperature is 

 27°C with a maximum of 32° C recorded in March and April 

 and a minimum of 22°C during the rainy season, June-August. 

 Detailed studies of the soil mornholoev and comnnsitinn have 



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