Selva El Ocote | |
---|---|
Location | Chiapas, Mexico |
Coordinates | 17°00′06″N93°41′57″W / 17.00167°N 93.69917°W |
Area | 1,012.88 km2 (391.08 sq mi) |
Designation | biosphere reserve (national), UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve (international) |
Designated | 2000 (national) 2006 (international) |
Governing body | National Commission of Natural Protected Areas |
Selva El Ocote is a biosphere reserve in Mexico. It includes mid-elevation and highland rain forests and extensive caverns.
It is located in the state of Chiapas, covering portions of the municipalities of Cintalapa, Ocozocoautla, Jiquipilas, and Tecpatán. [2]
The reserve spans the La Venta River and the mountains south of Malpaso Reservoir. The mountains extend up to 1500 meters elevation. [3] The geology includes large areas of limestone, including karstic caverns and aquifers. [2]
The reserve is in the Petén–Veracruz moist forests ecoregion. The dominant plant communities are tropical evergreen and semi-deciduous forests growing on limestone substrates.
The reserve is home to 334 species of birds. The reserves's large size makes it an important refuge for the region's birds, including the limited-range Nava's wren (Hylorchilus navai). Other native bird species include emerald-chinned hummingbird (Abeillia abeillei), sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus), roadside hawk (Buteo magnirostris), gray-lined hawk (Buteo nitidus), singing quail (Dactylortyx thoracicus), bat falcon (Falco rufigularis), Montezuma oropendola (Psarocolius montezuma), chestnut-headed oropendola (Psarocolius wagleri, and plain xenops (Xenops minutus). [3]
The core area of the reserve was established in 2000 by the Mexican government. It covers an area of 306.49 km2, and is managed as a Strict nature reserve (IUCN protected area category Ia). [1] In 2006 UNESCO designated Selva El Ocote as an international biosphere reserve, including both the core area and a larger buffer zone totaling 1012.88 km2. [2]
Economic activities in the reserve include agriculture and animal husbandry, organic coffee growing, animal husbandry, agriculture, and ecotourism. [2]
Simlipal National Park is a national park and a tiger reserve in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha covering 2,750 km2 (1,060 sq mi). It is part of the Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, which includes three protected areas — Similipal Tiger Reserve, Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary with 191.06 km2 (73.77 sq mi) and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary with 272.75 km2 (105.31 sq mi). Simlipal National Park derives its name from the abundance of red silk cotton trees growing in the area.
The Montezuma Oropendola is a New World tropical icterid bird. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southeastern Mexico to central Panama, but is absent from El Salvador and southern Guatemala. It also occurs on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua and Honduras and northwestern and southwestern Costa Rica. It is among the oropendola species sometimes separated in the genus Gymnostinops. The English and scientific names of this species commemorate the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.
The Petén–Veracruz moist forests is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests is a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of central Mexico.
Los Haitises National Park is a national park located on the remote northeast coast of the Dominican Republic that was established in 1976. It consists of a limestone karst plateau with conical hills, sinkholes and caverns, and there is a large area of mangrove forest on the coast. Other parts of the park are clad in subtropical humid forest and the area has an annual precipitation of about 2,000 mm (79 in). The park contains a number of different habitats and consequently has a great diversity of mammals and birds, including some rare species endemic to the island. Some of the caverns contain pictograms and petroglyphs. The park has become a popular ecotourism destination but the number of tourists allowed to visit is limited.
The La Venta River is a river of Chiapas state in southern Mexico. It is a tributary of the Grijalva River.
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.
Sima de las Cotorras is a sinkhole located in the El Ocote Biosphere Reserve in western Chiapas, southern Mexico. It is one of a number of sinkholes in the area, all produced by tectonic and erosive processes on the region's limestone. Although not the largest and deepest of the area's sinkholes, it is best known because of a tourism project which focuses on the thousands of Mexican green parakeets who live there most of the year, flying in and out in circular patterns.
The El Cielo Biosphere Reserve is located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas near the town of Gómez Farias. The reserve protects the northernmost extension of tropical forest and cloud forest in Mexico. It has an area of 144,530 hectares made up mostly of steep mountains rising from about 200 metres (660 ft) to a maximum altitude of more than 2,300 metres (7,500 ft).
La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve situated in the Pacific Coastal Lowlands physiographic region of Mexico. It covers 144,848 hectares (559.26 sq mi) stretching over six municipalities in the Costa de Chiapas. It is composed of two large coastal lagoon systems that correspond to two core areas, and a wide variety of natural ecosystems including mangroves, zapotonales, tule swamps and marshes, as well as patches of tropical seasonal forest, coastal dunes and palm trees.
The Chocó–Darién moist forests (NT0115) is an ecoregion in the west of Colombia and east of Panama. The region has extremely high rainfall, and the forests hold great biodiversity. The northern and southern parts of the ecoregion have been considerably modified for ranching and farming, and there are threats from logging for paper pulp, uncontrolled gold mining, coca growing and industrialisation, but the central part of the ecoregion is relatively intact.
The Veracruz 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 southern Sierra Madre Oriental and eastern Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ranges. These forests lie between the lowland Veracruz moist forests and the pine-oak forests of the higher mountains.
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.
La Michilía Biosphere Reserve is a protected area in northwestern Mexico. It is located in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in southern Durango state.
La Primavera Biosphere Reserve, also known as La Primavera Flora and Fauna Protection Area, is a protected natural area in western Mexico. It is located in the state of Jalisco, immediately west of the city of Guadalajara.
The Sierra de Huautla is a mountain range and biosphere reserve in central Mexico. Located in southern Morelos, the Sierra de Huautla is a southern extension of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt range into the Balsas Basin. The dry forests of Sierra are home to a diverse community of animals and plants, and the reserve's outstanding biodiversity is recognized by UNESCO.
Barranca de Metztitlán is a biosphere reserve in Hidalgo state of Mexico. It is protected for its dramatic scenery of steep cliffs and deep winding canyons, and its distinctive flora and fauna.
The biosphere reserves of Mexico are protected natural areas. Some are designated by the national government, while others are internationally designated by UNESCO.
Nahá–Metzabok Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in southeastern Mexico. It is located in the state of Chiapas, on the northeastern flank of the Chiapas Highlands. The reserve protects montane rain forests, pine and oak forests, and natural lakes.
La Sepultura is a biosphere reserve in southern Mexico. It protects a portion of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas range in the state of Chiapas.