The Southern Pacific dry forests is a

tropical dry broadleaf forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat (ecology), habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-roun ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...

in southern

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Geography

The Southern Pacific dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills along the Pacific coast of Southern Mexico. 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 Al ...

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 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 Trans ...

, Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, and the

Sierra Madre de Chiapas The Sierra Madre de Chiapas is a major mountain range in Central America. It crosses El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. The Sierra Madre de Chiapas is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an alm ...

, are home to montane pine-oak forests and moist forests. Cities in the ecoregion include

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has ...

, and

Zihuatanejo Zihuatanejo (), or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It was known by 18th century English mariners as Chequetan or Seguataneo. Politically the city belongs to the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azuet ...

Climate

The climate is tropical and semi-arid to sub-humid. Rainfall averages 800 mm per year, falling mostly during the summer rainy season.

Flora

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 ''Brosimum alicastrum'', commonly known as the breadnut or ramon, is a tree species in the family Moraceae of flowering plants, whose other genera include figs and mulberries. The plant is known by a range of names in indigenous Mesoamerican ...

Sideroxylon persimile ''Sideroxylon'' is a genus of trees in the family Sapotaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. They are collectively known as bully trees. The generic name is derived from the Greek words σιδηρος (''sideros''), meaning "iron", and ...

, Godmania aesculifolia,

Manilkara zapota ''Manilkara zapota'', commonly known as sapodilla (), sapote, naseberry, nispero or chicle, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. An example natural occurrence is in coastal Yucatán in the ...

, Pterocarpus acapulcensis,

Licania arborea ''Licania'' is a genus of over 200 species of trees and shrubs in the family Chrysobalanaceae. Species are found naturally occurring in Neotropical forests from southern Mexico to Brazil and the Lesser Antilles. Due to increased deforesta ...

, Tabebuia palmeri,

Pseudobombax palmeri ''Pseudobombax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the family Malvaceae. The genus ranges across tropical South America, Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Windward Islands."''Pseudobombax'' Dugand". ...

Bombax ellipticum ''Bombax'' is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the subtropical regions of East Asia and northern Australia. It is distinguished from the genus ...

'', and ''

Plumeria rubra ''Plumeria rubra'' is a deciduous plant species belonging to the genus '' Plumeria''."Botanica. The Illustrated AZ of over 10000 garden plants and how to cultivate them", p. 691. Könemann, 2004. Originally native to Mexico, Central America, C ...

''. Foothill forests on soils derived from igneous rocks include ''

Lysiloma divaricatum ''Lysiloma divaricatum'' is a flowering tree native to Mexico and Central America. Common names include mauto, quitaz, and tepemesquite in Mexico, quebracho in Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua, and quebracho negro, tepemisque, and yaje in El Salv ...

Bursera excelsa ''Bursera excelsa'', the copal, is a species of plants found along the Pacific coast of Mexico. References External links * ''Bursera excelsa''at The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants creat ...

'', and '' Bursera fagaroides'', with '' Ceiba aesculifolia,

Comocladia macrophylla ''Comocladia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. It is native to the Americas, where it is distributed in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.Atha, D. E., et al. (2011)A new species of ''Comocladia'' (Ana ...

'', and '' Trichilia americana''. 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 ''Bucida'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Indian almond family, Combretaceae. It contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete): * '' Bucida angustifolia'' * ''Bucida buceras'' L. - Bullet tree (southern Mexico, Centra ...

''), brasil ('' Haematoxylum brasiletto''), carnero ('' Coccoloba floribunda''), mulato (''

Bursera simaruba ''Bursera simaruba'', commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, West Indian birch, naked Indian, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to the Neotropics, from South Florida to Mexico and the Caribb ...

''), copalillo ('' Bursera bipinnata'') and mezquite ('' Prosopis juliflora'').

Protected areas

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. Protected areas include La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve,

Huatulco National Park Huatulco National Park, also known as Bahias de Huatulco National Park is a national park of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was initially declared a protected area and later decreed as a National Park on July 24, 1998. Located in the Municipality of Santa Mar� ...

, and Lagunas de Chacahua National Park.

External links

References