Chimalapas montane forests | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Neotropical |
Biome | tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
Borders | |
Geography | |
Area | 2,077 km2 (802 sq mi) |
Country | Mexico |
States | |
Conservation | |
Conservation status | Relatively stable/intact |
Protected | 278 km2 (13%) [1] |
The Chimalapas montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico. It includes the montane tropical forests of the Chimalapas region on the boundary of Chiapas and Oaxaca.
The Chimalapas region is in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the region's mountains form part of the divide between Mexico's Pacific watersheds to the south and Gulf of Mexico watersheds to the north. The montane forests are bounded by the lowland Petén–Veracruz moist forests on the north. The Chiapas Depression dry forests lie to the northeast. The montane forests adjoin the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine–oak forests on the west, and the Central American pine–oak forests to the east. The Southern Pacific dry forests lie to the south between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. [2]
The climate of the ecoregion is tropical and humid. The forests have a cooler climate than the surrounding lowlands, and average annual temperatures decrease with elevation. [2]
The characteristic plant community is montane tropical evergreen moist forest, also known cloud forest. [3]
281 species of birds have been recorded in the ecoregion. They include the solitary eagle (Harpyhaliaetus solitarius), great curassow (Crax rubra), highland guan (Penelopina nigra), wood stork (Mycteria americana), keel-billed motmot (Electron carinatum), southern mealy amazon (Amazona farinosa), and chestnut-headed oropendola (Psarocolius wagleri). [3]
A 2017 assessment found 278 km², or 13%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. [1] They include El Cordón del Retén Voluntary Conservation Area (153.29 km²).
During 2011, the problem in the Chimalapas between Oaxaca and Chiapas over territory boundaries erupted, after more than 45 years in the dispute over the Chimalapas jungles. These have been confrontations between Zoque Chimalapas Oaxacans and Chiapan settlers established on the Oaxaca-Chiapas border.
The Zoque natives who inhabit the Chimalapas of today, to ratify their ownership of those jungles paid the Spanish crown 25 thousand gold pesos, the same ones that Domingo Pintado delivered in a large morro gourd. That is how the legend and history that happened in the remote year of 1685 tells it when that character bought 360 square leagues for the people of Santa María Chimalapa, Oaxaca.
Chimalapas was given that name after the Spanish conquest in the manner of the old foundational genealogies of so many places whose toponymy was established by naming them for the first time.
These testimonies base the ancestral ownership of the two Oaxacan municipalities located in that microregion of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Santa María and San Miguel Chimalapas. Both municipalities have had titles to those lands since March 24, 1687, March 15, 1850 and September 17, 1883. The ownership of the Oaxacan Zoque peoples over that territory was ratified to them with a presidential resolution in 1967, based on their original titles. Due to that antiquity both populations demanded and achieved municipality status. Furthermore, ILO Convention 169, signed by Mexico, recognized the colonial documents as valid.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route. The name is taken from the town of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca; this was derived from the Nahuatl term Tēcuāntepēc.
The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca.
The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine–oak forests is a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests ecoregion in Southern Mexico.
The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca is a mountain range in southern Mexico. It is primarily in the state of Oaxaca, and extends north into the states of Puebla and Veracruz.
The Petén–Veracruz moist forests is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The Veracruz moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in eastern Mexico.
The Central America bioregion is a biogeographic region comprising southern Mexico and Central America.
Santa María Chimalapa is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Juchitán District in the west of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region.
El Corte River is the primary tributary of the Coatzacoalcos River, flowing through the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Selva Zoque, which includes the Chimalapas rain forest, is an area of great ecological importance in Mexico. Most of the forest lies in the state of Oaxaca but parts are in Chiapas and Veracruz. It is the largest tract of tropical rainforest in Mexico, and contains the majority of terrestrial biodiversity in the country. The forest includes the Selva El Ocote, a federally-protected biosphere reserve, but is otherwise not yet protected. Despite the rich ecology of the region, a 2003 study that focused on bird populations stated that "the fauna of the heart of the Chimalapas, including its vast rainforests, have seen little or no study". As it is an impoverished region, efforts to preserve the ecology are often at odds with demands to improve the economy.
Istmo de Tehuantepec is the largest region of the state of Oaxaca, located in southwestern Mexico.
Juchitán District is located in the east of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, covering the southern part of a low-lying corridor through the mountains that separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific ocean. The district has an area of 13,300 km2 and a population as of 2005 of 339,445.
The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, who were present before the Spanish invasion. Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.
For more than 500 years, the indigenous Zoque people of Chimalapas in Southern Mexico have been victim of invasions in their territory. Chimalapas is a region with a large biodiversity and due to that it is of interest to, among others, the federal government, state governments, and a variety of companies. Therefore, throughout history several claims have been laid on this area. This goes against the will of the Zoque people, who want to take care of this land as they have done ever since they started living in this area.
Belisario Domínguez was one of the municipalities of the Mexican state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. It was separated from the municipality of Cintalapa in 2011, although in reality it was a territory that was invaded by logging companies in the 1940s from the Zoque communities of the municipalities of Santa María Chimalapa and San Miguel Chimalapa (Oaxaca). In 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation determined the suspension of the municipal powers instituted according to the laws of Chiapas in 2015 was lawful, despite the 2013 resolution of that same superior court, which prohibited both Oaxaca and Chiapas from establishing of municipal authorities in the territory. With this and the impossibility of holding elections in 2018, the municipality of Belisario Domínguez was abolished.
The Southern Pacific dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico.
The Oaxacan montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in eastern Mexico. It includes a belt of montane tropical forest on the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ranges. These forests lie between the lowland Petén–Veracruz moist forests and Veracruz moist forests, and the pine–oak forests of the higher mountains.
The Chiapas montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico and extending into western Guatemala. It includes the montane tropical forests on the northern and northeastern slopes of the Chiapas Highlands.
The Sierra Madre de Chiapas moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico and southern Guatemala, extending into the northwestern corner of El Salvador.