Alto Golfo de California Biosphere Reserve is a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

located in the state of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

in extreme northwestern Mexico. Thee reserve comprises the El Pinacate y Gran Desierto reserve and the

Bahia Adair Bahia Adair or Adair Bay is a bay at the northern end of the Gulf of California in the municipality of San Luis Río Colorado in the state of Sonora in Mexico. It is 40 kilometers from east to west and 15 kilometres from north to south. It contain ...

on the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

border. Geological volcanic formations with craters, dunes, oasis and beaches, and the diversity of plant associations determine its special landscape. The reserve was established in 1993 by the President of Mexico as ''Reserva de la Biosfera del Alto Golfo de California y Delta del Río Colorado'' (Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta Biosphere Reserve) and extended in 1995. In 1990, 129,516 inhabitants lived in the transition and buffer areas in ''ejidos'' or communal properties, primarily engaged in agriculture, forestry, mineral extractions and cattle raising located mainly in the coastal areas. In 2016, Mares Mexicanos estimated the population of the Alto Golfo area to be around 69,700, across 210 locations. One of the most important economic activities in the transition areas is the existence of international enterprises (''

maquiladoras A (), or (), is a factory that is largely duty free and tariff free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present throughout Latin Ameri ...

''), in

San Luis Río Colorado San Luis Río Colorado is a city and also the name of its surrounding municipality in the state of Sonora, Mexico. In the 2020 census, the city had a population of 176,685. The city is the fourth-largest community in the state, and the municipa ...

, which engage 5,880 people living in the urban villages. The reserve is managed by the Municipality of

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

in the State of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and the Municipalities of

Puerto Peñasco Puerto Peñasco () is a small city located in Puerto Peñasco Municipality in the northwest of the Mexican state of Sonora, from the border with the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 62,689 inhabitants. ...

and San Luis Río Colorado in the State of Sonora.

Environments

El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar

El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve (), is a

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

and

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

It is in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

in the eastern part Gran Desierto de Altar, just south of the border with

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and north of the city of

. A volcanic system, known as Santa Clara is the main part of the landscape, including three peaks; Pinacate, Carnegie and Medio. The Pinacate Peaks (''Picos del Pinacate''), a group of volcanic peaks and

cinder cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, volcanic cone, conical landform of loose pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are forme ...

s, are located in the Reserve north of Puerto Peñasco. The highest peak is Cerro del Pinacate (Santa Clara volcano), with an elevation of . Pinacate comes from

Náhuatl language Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popu ...

word ''pinacatl'', for the

Pinacate beetle ''Eleodes'' (commonly known as pinacate beetles or desert stink beetles) is a genus of darkling beetles, in the family Tenebrionidae. They are endemic to western North America ranging from southern Canada to central Mexico with many species foun ...

, a stink beetle endemic to the Sonoran Desert.

Bahia Adair

Bahia Adair or Adair Bay is a bay at the northern end of the Gulf of California. There are three different habitats: the wetlands, artesian wells, and the salt pans. Endangered animals live in the area, including one endemic species, the

desert pupfish The desert pupfish (''Cyprinodon macularius'') is a rare species of teleost, bony fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is a small fish, typically less than 7.62 cm (3 in) in length. Males are generally larger than females, and have br ...

Ecological characteristics

The variety of species in the zone ranges from marine through coastal to land species. Located in the coastal zone are flats, beaches and dune systems, granite sierras and the volcanic shield communities. The land fauna of the reserve is diverse, due to the varied mosaic of its vegetation, ranging from that associated with

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

areas to more inhospitable sites found in the sandy areas of the Great Desert. The

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

is the main habitat for the

hogfish The hogfish (''Lachnolaimus maximus''), also known as boquinete, doncella de pluma or pez perro in Mexico is a species of wrasse native to the Western Atlantic Ocean, living in a range from Nova Scotia, Canada, to northern South America, includ ...

(''Lachnolaimus maximus''). This location is one of the few places in North America where the

fringe-toed lizard Fringe-toed lizards are lizards of the genus ''Uma'' in the family Phrynosomatidae, native to deserts of North America. They are adapted for life in sandy deserts with fringe-like scales on their hind toes hence their common name. Description ...

(''Uma inornata'') is distributed, in addition to being the western limit for the distribution of the

Gila monster The Gila monster (''Heloderma suspectum'', ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to long, and it is the only ve ...

(''Heloderma suspectum''). Among the reptiles, the

diamondback rattlesnake Diamondback rattlesnake may refer to: *'' Crotalus adamanteus'', a.k.a. the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, a venomous pitviper species found in the southeastern United States. *'' Crotalus atrox'', a.k.a. the western diamondback rattlesnake, a ve ...

, the

coral snake Coral snakes are a large group of elapid snakes that can be divided into two distinct groups, the Old World coral snakes and New World coral snakes. There are 27 species of Old World coral snakes, in three genera ('' Calliophis'', '' Hemibungar ...

, the

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

and the

desert tortoise The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii'') is a species of tortoise in the Family (biology), family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico ...

are also found. Birdlife is well represented with at least 80 species of land and aquatic birds, both resident and migratory, characterizing the area with high diversity. The land mammals are mainly representative of the Sonora and San Bernardina biotic provinces:

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

(''Odocoileus hemionus''),

Big Horn Sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns may weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspeci ...

(''Ovis canadensis cremnobates''), the

Pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American ante ...

(''Antilocapra americana''), the

javelina Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...

, and the long-nosed bat, among others. Species of vegetation include the

saguaro The saguaro ( , ; ''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains ...

cactus, the strawberry hedgehog cactus (''Echinocereus engelmannii''), the thorny bisnaga cactus, the Mexican palo verde (''Parkinsonia aculeata''), and the

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is denser than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in English ma ...

tree, among many others. The marine species include the

porpoise Porpoises () are small Oceanic dolphin, dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and Beluga whale, belugas than to the Oceanic dolphi ...

or ''vaquita'' (''Phocoena sinus''), protected by Mexican law as an endangered species, the

totoaba The totoaba or totuava (''Totoaba macdonaldi'') is a species of marine fish endemic to the Gulf of California in Mexico. It is the largest member of the drum family Sciaenidae and is the only extant species in the genus ''Totoaba''. Originally a ...

and the Yuma clapper rail.

Sources

References

External links

UNESCO.org: Alto Golfo de California Biosphere Reserve information
��{{in lang, en Biosphere reserves of Mexico Marine parks of Mexico Gulf of California Protected areas of Baja California Protected areas of Sonora Protected areas of the Sonoran Desert Mexicali Municipality San Luis Río Colorado Municipality, Sonora