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Tehuacán Valley Matorral
The Tehuacán Valley matorral is a xeric shrubland ecoregion, of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, located in eastern Central Mexico. Matorral is a Spanish word, along with ''tomillares'', for shrubland, thicket or bushes. The term is used alone for a Mediterranean climate ecosystem in Southern Europe. Geography The Tehuacán Valley matorral ecoregion occupies the Tehuacán Valley, Oriental Basin, and adjacent valleys, covering parts of the states of Tlaxcala, Puebla and Oaxaca. The valleys lie in the rain shadow of the surrounding mountain ranges, and are drier than the surrounding ecoregions. Adjacent ecoregions The Tehuacán Valley matorral is bounded by the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests to the northwest, north, and northeast, the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine-oak forests to the east, and by the Balsas dry forests to the southeast, south, and southwest. Flora The Tehuacán Valley matorral is a center of plant diversity, with over 2700 species, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neotropical Realm
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropics, tropical Ecoregion#Terrestrial, terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate climate, temperate zone. Definition In biogeography, the Neotropic or Neotropical realm is one of the eight terrestrial realms. This realm includes South America, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and southern North America. In Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula and southern lowlands, and most of the east and west coastlines, including the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula are Neotropical. In the United States southern Florida and coastal Central Florida are considered Neotropical. The realm also includes temperate southern South America. In contrast, the Neotropical Phytochorion, Floristic Kingdom excludes southernmost South America, which instead is placed in the Antarctic Floristic Kingdom, Antarctic kingdom. The Neo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thicket
A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in the shelter of the maternal plants. In some conditions, the formation or spread of thickets may be assisted by human disturbance of an area. Human disturbance and activity within thickets varies based on culture and location. Where a thicket is formed of briar (also spelled brier), which is a common name for any of a number of unrelated thorny plants, it may be called a briar patch. Plants termed briar include species in the genera ''Rosa'' (Rose), ''Rubus'', and ''Smilax''. Characteristics Thickets are characterized by dense plant life, a low closed canopy, deep shale-derived soil, and high levels of soil carbon and nitrogen. Plants present within a thicket generally reach a maximum of 4 to 6 meters in height. The boundaries between a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridled Sparrow
The bridled sparrow (''Peucaea mystacalis'') is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae. It is endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland. The species are brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ... coloured. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q3314735 bridled sparrow Endemic birds of Mexico bridled sparrow Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Balsas dry forests Tehuacán Valley matorral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocellated Thrasher
The ocellated thrasher (''Toxostoma ocellatum'') is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to Mexico. Taxonomy and systematics The ocellated thrasher has two subspecies, the nominate ''T. o. ocellatum'' and ''T. o. villai''. Description The ocellated thrasher is long; 14 specimens weighed . Adults' upperparts are dark brown and have a slight olive wash. They have a dull white to buff supercilium and brown cheeks. The folded wings show two white bars and the outer tail feathers have narrow white tips. The underparts are whitish darkening to buff on the belly and brown on the flanks. The breast, sides, and flanks have bold black spots.Soberanes-González, C. A., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, M. d. C. Arizmendi, G. M. Kirwan, and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Ocellated Thrasher (''Toxostoma ocellatum''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ocethr1.01 retrieved July 25, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cactus
A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word (''káktos''), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north, with the exception of ''Rhipsalis baccifera'', which is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka. Cacti are adapted to live in very dry environments, including the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvia
''Salvia'' () is the largest genus of plants in the sage family Lamiaceae, with just under 1,000 species of shrubs, Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennials, and Annual plant, annuals. Within the Lamiaceae, ''Salvia'' is part of the tribe Mentheae within the subfamily Nepetoideae. One of several genera commonly referred to as sage, it includes two widely used herbs, ''Salvia officinalis'' (common sage, or just "sage") and ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (rosemary, formerly ''Rosmarinus officinalis''). The genus is distributed throughout the Old World and the Americas (over 900 total species), with three distinct regions of diversity: Central America and South America (approximately 600 species); Central Asia and the Mediterranean (250 species); Eastern Asia (90 species). Etymology The name ''Salvia'' derives from Latin (sage), from (safe, secure, healthy), an adjective related to (health, well-being, prosperity or salvation), and (to feel healthy, to heal). Pliny ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hechtia
''Hechtia'' is a genus of plants in the family Bromeliaceae, and is the sole genus of the subfamily Hechtioideae, containing 75 species. Its species are native to Mexico, Central America, and the United States (Texas). The genus is named for Julius Gottfried Conrad Hecht (1771–1837), German counselor to the King of Prussia. Except for '' H. gayorum'', the plants of this genus are dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is .... Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Hechtia'': *'' Hechtia anarosae'' *'' Hechtia aquamarina'' - Puebla *'' Hechtia argentea'' - Querétaro *'' Hechtia bracteata'' - Citlaltépetl (Puebla + Veracruz) *'' Hechtia capituligera'' - San Luis Potosí, México State, Guerrero *'' Hechtia carlsoniae'' - Guerrero *'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plants in this genus may be considered perennial, because they require several to many years to mature and flower. However, most ''Agave'' species are more accurately described as monocarpic rosettes or multiannuals, since each individual rosette semelparity, flowers only once and then dies; a small number of ''Agave'' species are polycarpic. Along with plants from the closely related genera ''Yucca'', ''Hesperoyucca'', and ''Hesperaloe,'' various ''Agave'' species are popular ornamental plants in hot, dry climates, as they require very little supplemental water to survive. Most ''Agave'' species grow very slowly. Some ''Agave'' species are known by the common name "century plant". is a Spanish word that refers to all of the large-leafed pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rain Shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and large lakes) is carried by the prevailing sea breeze, onshore breezes towards the drier and hotter inland areas. When encountering elevated landforms, the moist air is orographic lift, driven upslope towards the summit, peak, where it expands, cools, and its moisture condenses and starts to Precipitation, precipitate. If the landforms are tall and wide enough, most of the humidity will be lost to precipitation over the windward side (also known as the ''rainward'' side) before ever making it past the top. As the air descends the leeward side of the landforms, it is compressed and heated, producing Foehn winds that ''absorb'' moisture downslope and cast a broad "shadow" of arid, dry climate region behind the ridge, mountain crests. This climate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oriental Basin
The Oriental Basin, also known as the Libres-Oriental Basin, Oriental-Serdán Basin or San Juan Plains (in Spanish, ''Llanos de San Juan'' or ''Cuenca de Libres-Oriental)'', is an endorheic basin in east-central Mexico. It covers an area of 4,958.60 square kilometers, lying in the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz. The climate is temperate and subtropical, semi-arid to subhumid, with summer rains. Average annual temperature 12-16 °C, and annual total precipitation is 400–800 mm. The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests ecoregion covers the mountains surrounding the basin to the west, north, and east. The mountains to the north and west, including the Cofre de Perote volcano, leave the valley in a rain shadow, and the xeric shrublands of the Tehuacán Valley matorral ecoregion occupies the center of the basin, and extend south into the Tehuacán and Cuicatlán valleys. Vegetation includes pine-oak forests and pine-fir forests at higher elevations, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
