Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests
Popocatépetl, Puebla state
Ecology
Realm	Neotropical
Biome	Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
Borders	List Jalisco dry forests Balsas dry forests Bajío dry forests Central Mexican matorral Veracruz montane forests Tehuacan valley matorral Central Mexican matorral Veracruz montane forests Oaxacan montane forests Zacatonal
Geography
Area	91,800 km2 (35,400 sq mi)
Country	Mexico
States	List Aguascalientes Colima Guanajuato Guerrero Hidalgo Jalisco Mexico Mexico City Michoacan Morelos Nayarit Puebla Querétaro San Luis Potosí Tlaxcala Veracruz Zacatecas
Conservation
Conservation status	Critical/endangered[1]

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests are a subtropical coniferous forest ecoregion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt of central Mexico.

Setting

The Volcano rabbit inhabits the region

The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests occupy an area of 91,800 square kilometers (35,400 sq mi), extending from Jalisco state in the west to Veracruz in the east.

The pine–oak forests are surrounded by tropical dry forests at lower elevations to the west, northwest, and south; the Jalisco dry forests to the west and southwest; the Balsas dry forests to the south, in the basin of the Balsas River, and the Bajío dry forests to the northwest, in the basin of the Rio Grande de Santiago and the lower Rio Lerma. The Central Mexican matorral lies to the north of the range in the high basins of the Plateau, including the Valley of Mexico and the upper reaches of the Lerma around Toluca. The Tehuacan valley matorral lies in the rain shadow valley to the southeast in Puebla and Tlaxcala states. To the east, the moist Veracruz montane forests and Oaxacan montane forests are the transition between the pine–oak forests and the lowland tropical forests along the Gulf of Mexico.

Pockets of montane grassland and shrubland can be found among the pine–oak forests, and constitute a separate ecoregion, the Zacatonal.

Flora

The chief plant communities are pine forests, pine–oak forests, oak forests, pine–cedar forests, and pine–fir forests. The plant communities vary with elevation and rainfall.

Pine forests are generally found between 2,275 and 2,600 m. Pine–oak forests occur between 2,470 and 2,600 m. Pine–cedar forests can be found above 2,700 m. Pine–fir forests occur above 3000 m.

In the pine forests, Montezuma pine (Pinus montezumae) is generally predominant, with smooth-bark Mexican pine (P. pseudostrobus) predominant in more humid areas, and Hartweg's pine (P. hartwegii) and P. tecote in dry areas with shallow soils.

Pine–fir forests are composed almost entirely of Hartweg's pine (Pinus hartwegii) and sacred fir (Abies religiosa).

Fauna

The volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi) and the Mexican volcano mouse (Neotomodon alstoni) are endemic to the ecoregion.

Monarch butterflies

The Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests of eastern Michoacán and western México states is the winter habitat of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), which migrate from temperate regions of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve is within this habitat.

See also

• Conifers of Mexico
• List of ecoregions in Mexico

References