The Iquitos várzea (NT0128) is an ecoregion of flooded forest along rivers in Brazil, Peru and Bolivia in the west of the Amazon biome. The forest is seasonally flooded up to 7 metres (23 ft) by whitewater rivers carrying nutrient-rich sediment from the Andes.The meandering rivers often shift course, creating a complex landscape of oxbow lakes, marshes, levees and bars, with grasslands, shrubs and forests in different stages of succession.During the extended flood periods fish enter the forest in search of fruit.The várzea is accessible by the navigable rivers that run through it, and has suffered from extensive deforestation to extract timber and create pasture for livestock.