| Southern Pacific dry forests | |
|---|---|
 Location of the Southern Pacific dry forests | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Neotropical |
| Biome | tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests |
| Borders | |
| Geography | |
| Area | 67,266 km2 (25,972 sq mi) |
| Country | Mexico |
| States | |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Critical/endangered |
| Global 200 | Mexican dry forests |
| Protected | 6,459 km² (10%) [1] |
The Southern Pacific dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico.
The Southern Pacific dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills along the Pacific coast of Southern Mexico. The Balsas River marks the western boundary of the ecoregion. The ecoregion extends inland to include the Oaxaca Valley. The ecoregion ranges from sea level to 1400 meters elevation. Higher-elevation areas of the northern mountains, including the Sierra Madre del Sur, Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, are home to montane pine-oak forests and moist forests.
Cities in the ecoregion include Oaxaca, Acapulco, and Zihuatanejo.
The climate is tropical and semi-arid to sub-humid. Rainfall averages 800 mm per year, falling mostly during the summer rainy season. [2]
The typical vegetation in the ecoregion is tropical dry deciduous forest. Most trees lose their leaves during the winter dry season. Characteristic trees of the lowlands, typically on limestone-derived soils, are Brosimum alicastrum, Sideroxylon persimile, Godmania aesculifolia, Manilkara zapota, Pterocarpus acapulcensis, Licania arborea, Tabebuia palmeri, Pseudobombax palmeri, Bombax ellipticum , and Plumeria rubra . Foothill forests on soils derived from igneous rocks include Lysiloma divaricatum, Bursera excelsa , and Bursera fagaroides , with Ceiba aesculifolia, Comocladia macrophylla , and Trichilia americana . [2]
The southeastern portion of the ecoregion, along the border of Oaxaca and Chiapas, has a subhumid climate, and average annual rainfall of 1040-1600 mm per year. Characteristic trees of the subhumid forests are plumajillo ( Alvaradoa amorphoides ), cacho de toro ( Bucida macrostachya ), brasil ( Haematoxylum brasiletto ), carnero ( Coccoloba floribunda ), mulato ( Bursera simaruba ), copalillo ( Bursera bipinnata ) and mezquite ( Prosopis juliflora ). [2]
A 2017 assessment found that 6,459 km², or 10%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Approximately 28% of the unprotected area is still forested. [1] Protected areas include La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve, Huatulco National Park, and Lagunas de Chacahua National Park.
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 Madrean pine–oak woodlands are subtropical woodlands found in the mountains of Mexico and the southwestern United States. They are a biogeographic region of the tropical and subtropical coniferous forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biomes, located in North America.
The Sierra de la Laguna dry forests are a subtropical dry forest ecoregion of the southern Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.
The Sierra Madre Occidental pine–oak forests are a Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the Sierra Madre Occidental range from the southwest USA region to the western part of Mexico. They are home to a large number of endemic plants and important habitat for wildlife.
The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine–oak forests is a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests ecoregion in Southern Mexico.
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 Balsas dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion located in western and central Mexico.
The Sonoran–Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in northwestern Mexico.
The Sierra Madre del Sur pine–oak forests is a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range of southern Mexico.
The Chiapas Depression dry forests form one of the ecoregions that belong to the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, in northwestern Central America.
The Sinaloan dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in western Mexico. It is the northernmost ecoregion of the Neotropical realm.
The Jalisco dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southwestern 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 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 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.
The Yucatán dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico. It includes the dry forests of the northwestern Yucatán Peninsula.
El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in southern Mexico. It is in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in southern Chiapas.
Sierra del Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve is a protected natural area in northeastern Mexico. It is located in the Huasteca Potosina region of San Luis Potosí state, in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental.
