Pantanos de Centla

The Pantanos de Centla is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in southern Mexico, which includes seasonally flooded forests and wetlands.

etting

The ecoregion covers an area of 17,200 square kilometers (6,600 square miles) in the states of Tabasco and Campeche. The Pantanos de Centla occupy the delta of the Usumacinta and Grijalva rivers, which empty into the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna de Términos through numerous distributaries. The ecoregion includes year-round wetlands, and freshwater swamp forests which are inundated during the summer rainy season.

The Usumacinta mangroves lie in the brackish-water zone between the Pantanos de Centla and the open water of the Laguna de Términos and the Gulf. The Petén-Veracruz moist forests lie to the west and south, and the Yucatan moist forests lie to the east.

Flora

Fauna

Two of the most famous animals in Centla are the Morelet crococdile (Crocodylus moreleti) and the alligator gar, known as pejelagarto, a fish that already existed during the age of dinosaurs.

Conservation and threats

The Pantanos de Centla was declared a Biosphere reserve in 2006.

External links

* [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt0148.html Pantanos de Centla (National Geographic)]
* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt0148_full.html Pantanos de Centla (World Wildlife Fund)]
* [http://conserveonline.org/coldocs/2006/03/plan.pdf Conservation Plan for the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve and Laguna de Términos Flora and Fauna Protection Area]