The Chimalapas montane forests is a

tropical moist broadleaf forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

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 ...

in southern

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 ...

. It includes the montane tropical forests of the Chimalapas region on the boundary of

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

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 ...

Geography

The Chimalapas region is in the

Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...

, and the region's mountains form part of the divide between Mexico's Pacific watersheds to the south and

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

watersheds to the north. The montane forests are bounded by the lowland

Petén–Veracruz moist forests The Petén–Veracruz moist forests is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest biome found in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. Setting The Petén–Veracruz moist forests cover an area of , extending from central Verac ...

on the north. The

Chiapas Depression dry forests 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. Geography This ecoregion is located in ...

lie to the northeast. The montane forests adjoin the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine–oak forests on the west, and the

Central American pine–oak forests The Central American pine–oak forests is a tropical and subtropical coniferous forests ecoregion in the mountains of northern Central America and Chiapas state in southern Mexico. Setting The Central American pine–oak forests occupy an area ...

to the east. The

Southern Pacific dry forests The Southern Pacific dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico. Geography The Southern Pacific dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills along the Pacific coast of Southern Mexico. The Balsas River ...

lie to the south between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is tropical and humid. The forests have a cooler climate than the surrounding lowlands, and average annual temperatures decrease with elevation.

Flora

The characteristic plant community is montane tropical evergreen moist forest, also known cloud forest.BirdLife International (2020) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Chimalapas. Accessed from http://www.birdlife.org on 19 August 2020.

Fauna

281 species of birds have been recorded in the ecoregion. They include the solitary eagle (''Harpyhaliaetus solitarius''),

great curassow The great curassow (''Crax rubra'') is a large, pheasant-like bird from the Neotropical rainforests, its range extending from eastern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Male birds are black with curly c ...

(''Crax rubra''), highland guan (''Penelopina nigra''),

wood stork The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large wading bird in the family (biology), family Ciconiidae (Ciconiiformes, storks). Originally described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, this stork is native to the subtropics and tropics of the Americas ...

(''Mycteria americana''), keel-billed motmot (''Electron carinatum''),

southern mealy amazon The southern mealy amazon or southern mealy parrot (''Amazona farinosa farinosa'') is among the largest parrots in the genus ''Amazona'', the amazon parrots. It is a mainly green parrot with a total length of . It is native to tropical Central a ...

(''Amazona farinosa''), and

chestnut-headed oropendola The chestnut-headed oropendola (''Psarocolius wagleri'') is a New World tropical icterid bird. The scientific name of the species commemorates Johann Georg Wagler, who established ''Psarocolius'', the oropendola genus. Description The male is ...

(''Psarocolius wagleri'').

Protected areas

A 2017 assessment found 278 km², or 13%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. They include El Cordón del Retén Voluntary Conservation Area (153.29 km²).

Chimalapas Conflict

During 2011, the problem in the Chimalapas between Oaxaca and Chiapas over territory boundaries erupted, after more than 45 years in the dispute over the Chimalapas jungles. These have been confrontations between Zoque Chimalapas Oaxacans and Chiapan settlers established on the Oaxaca-Chiapas border. The Zoque natives who inhabit the Chimalapas of today, to ratify their ownership of those jungles paid the Spanish crown 25 thousand gold

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries of the Americas, the symbol commonly known a ...

, the same ones that Domingo Pintado delivered in a large morro gourd. That is how the legend and history that happened in the remote year of 1685 tells it when that character bought 360 square leagues for the people of

Santa María Chimalapa Santa María Chimalapa is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in southeastern Mexico and the easternmost and largest municipality in Oaxaca, but is also the least densely populated municipality in Oaxaca. It is part of the Juchitán District in th ...

, Oaxaca. Chimalapas was given that name after the Spanish conquest in the manner of the old foundational genealogies of so many places whose toponymy was established by naming them for the first time. These testimonies base the ancestral ownership of the two Oaxacan municipalities located in that microregion of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Santa María and San Miguel Chimalapas. Both municipalities have had titles to those lands since March 24, 1687, March 15, 1850 and September 17, 1883. The ownership of the Oaxacan Zoque peoples over that territory was ratified to them with a presidential resolution in 1967, based on their original titles. Due to that antiquity both populations demanded and achieved municipality status. Furthermore, ILO Convention 169, signed by Mexico, recognized the colonial documents as valid.

External links

References

{{reflist Ecoregions of Mexico Montane forests Natural history of Chiapas Natural history of Oaxaca Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Important Bird Areas of Mexico Cloud forests of Mexico