The Balsas dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

located in western and central

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Geography

The Balsas dry forests occupy the basin of the

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Alt ...

. The ecoregion covers an area of . The Balsas basin, and the Balsas dry forests, extend east and west between the ranges of the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks have snow all year long, and dur ...

to the north and the

Sierra Madre del Sur The Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca. Geography The Sierra Madre del Sur joins with the Eje Volcánico Transv ...

to the south. The Balsas dry forests ecoregion extends across portions of the states of

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, and

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

surrounding ecoregions

The surrounding mountains are home to pine-oak forests: the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests to the north and northwest, the Sierra Madre del Sur pine-oak forests to the south, and the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine-oak forests to the east. The

xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habita ...

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 i ...

lies to the northeast. The Balsas dry forests meet the coastal Southern Pacific dry forests where the Balsas breaks through the Sierra Madre del Sur on its way to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Climate

The climate of the Balsas dry forests is tropical and subhumid. Rainfall is less than 120 centimeters (47 inches) per year and seasonal, with a dry season that can last up to eight months.

Flora

Plant communities include tropical deciduous forest (''selva baja caducifolia'' or ''bosque tropical caducifolio'') and thorn forest (''bosque espinoso''), with tropical semideciduous forest (''selva mediana subcaducifolia'' or ''subperennifolia'') in drainages and other areas with deeper soils and more soil moisture.Emily J. Lott, Thomas H. Atkinson (2006). "Mexican and Central American Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests: Chamela-Cuixmala, Jalisco, as a Focal Point for Comparison." in R. Toby Pennington, Gwilym P. Lewis, James A. Ratter, eds. ''Neotropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation.'' CRC Press, Boca Raton. DOI https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420004496 Characteristic trees include several species of ''

Bursera ''Bursera'' is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size up to high. It is the type genus for Burseraceae. The trees are native (often for many species endemic) to the Americas, from the southern Uni ...

'' – ''Bursera longipes, B. morelensis, B.odorata'', etc. – commonly known as ''palo mulato'', fragrant bursera ('' Bursera fagaroides''), and chupandra ('' Cyrtocarpa procera''). Other common trees include pochote ('' Ceiba parvifolia''), brasiletto or mexican logwood ('' Haematoxylum brasiletto''), '' Lysiloma microphylla'', and cazahuate ('' Ipomoea murucoides'').

Cacti 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, ...

are common, including species of '' Pachycereus'' and '' Cephalocereus''.World Wildlife Fund (2014). Balsas dry forests. ed. Mark McGinley & C. Michael Hogan. Encyclopedia of Earth. NCSE. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Balsas_dry_forests. Accessed 2 August 2022. The herbaceous layer is generally sparse, with the grasses sideoats grama (''

Bouteloua curtipendula ''Bouteloua curtipendula'', commonly known as sideoats grama, is a perennial, short prairie grass that is native throughout the temperate and tropical Western Hemisphere, from Canada south to Argentina. The botanical name, species epithet comes ...

''), Rothrock's grama ('' Bouteloua barbata'' var. ''rothrockii''), and '' Hilaria semplei''. The Balsas dry forests share many species in common with Mexico's Pacific coastal dry forests. Many plant species are endemic to the ecoregion. About 45% of the species at a site in Cañón del Zopilote, Guerrero, and 30% of species at a site in Infiernillo, Michoacán are found only in the Balsas basin. About half of the 45 species of ''

'' found in the ecoregion are endemic. The ecoregion is also home to diverse species of '' Brongniartia'', ''

Desmodium ''Desmodium'' is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae, sometimes called tick-trefoil, tick clover, hitch hikers or beggar lice. There are dozens of species and the delimitation of the genus has shifted much over time. Species are distr ...

'', ''

Ipomoea ''Ipomoea'' () is the largest genus in the plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, Ipomoea aquatica, water convolvulus or water spinach, sweet potato, ...

'', and ''

Mammillaria ''Mammillaria'' is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (Cactaceae), with currently 200 known species and varieties recognized. Most of the mammillarias are native to Mexico, while some come from the Southwestern United States, the C ...

''.

Fauna

Native mammals include the

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

(''Pantera onca''),

jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi''; or ) is a wild felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central America, Central and South America east of the Andes. T ...

(''Herpailurus yagouaroundi''),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''),

collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a peccary, a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Peccary, Tayassuidae found in North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the gen ...

(''Tayassu tajacu''),

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

(''Canis latrans''), grey fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''),

white-nosed coati The white-nosed coati (''Nasua narica''), also known as the coatimundi (), is a species of coati and a member of the family Procyonidae (raccoons and their relatives). Local Spanish names for the species include ''antoon'', ''gato solo'', ''pi ...

(''Nasua narica''), and silky pocket mouse (''Perognathus flavus''), California myotis (''Myotis californicus''), long-legged myotis (''Myotis volans'') and western yellow bat ('' Dasypterus xanthinus''). The Balsas screech owl (''Megascops seductus''), banded quail (''Philortyx fasciatus''), black-chested sparrow (''Peucaea humeralis''), and dusky hummingbird (''Phaeoptila sordida'') are near-endemic bird species.BirdLife International (2022) Endemic Bird Areas factsheet: Balsas region and interior Oaxaca. Accessed 2 August 2022

Portions of the ecoregion are part of several

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

s, including Sierra de Taxco–

Nevado de Toluca Nevado de Toluca () is a stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The volcano and the area ...

, Cañón del Zopilote, Valle de Tehuacán–Cuicatlán, Cañón de Lobos, Sierra de Huautla, and Papalutla-Tecaballo.

Protected areas

10.9% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. A 2017 assessment found that 1,451 km², or 4%, of the ecoregion was protected.Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b

/ref> Protected areas include: * Boquerón de Tonalá Flora and Fauna Protection Area * Chichinautzin Biological Corridor Flora and Fauna Protection Area * El Tepozteco National Park * Grutas de Cacahuamilpa National Park * Sierra de Huautla Biosphere Reserve * Sierra de Nanchititla Natural Park *

Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán biosphere reserve is a protected natural area located in southeastern Mexico. Its name derives from its two main locations: Cuicatlán and Tehuacán, in the latter are their administrative offices, covers 490,186 hectares d ...

* Zicuirán-Infiernillo Biosphere Reserve

External links

* *

References

{{Commons category, Balsas Dry Forests Ecoregion, Balsas Dry Forests Neotropical dry broadleaf forests Ecoregions of Mexico Forests of Mexico Natural history of Jalisco Natural history of Morelos Natural history of Michoacán Natural history of Guerrero Natural history of Puebla