Tehuacán Valley matorral

The Tehuacán Valley matorral is a xeric shrubland ecoregion in Mexico.

etting

The ecoregion occupies the Tehuacán and Cuicatlán valleys, covering parts of Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Oaxaca states. The valleys lie in the rain shadow of the surrounding mountain ranges, and is drier than the surrounding ecoregions. The Tehuacán Valley matorral is bounded by the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests to the northwest, north, and northeast, the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca pine-oak forests to the east, and by the Balsas dry forests to the southeast, south, and southwest.

Flora

The Tehuacán Valley matorral is a center of plant diversity, with over 2700 species, of which approximately 30% are endemic. It is a center of diversity for species of "Agave", "Hechtia", "Salvia", and cactus.

The ecoregion has a number of distinct plant communities.

Fauna

The ecoregion is notable for its diversity of birds and bats. Of the 90 species of birds present, 10 are endemic, including the Ocellated Thrasher "(Toxostoma ocellatum)", and Bridled Sparrow "(Aimorphilla mystacalis)". 34 species of bats inhabit the ecoregion, of which 18 are endangered, vulnerable, or rare.

References and external links

* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt1316_full.html Tehuacán Valley matorral (World Wildlife Fund)]
* [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/nt/nt1316.html Tehuacán Valley matorral (National Geographic)]
* [http://www.parkswatch.org/parkprofiles/pdf/tcbr_eng.pdf Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve (ParksWatch) [PDF]

References

Valiente-Banuet, Alfonso, Noe Flores-Hernandez, Miguel Verdu, Patricia Davila. "The chaparral vegetation in Mexico under nonmediterranean climate: the convergence and Madrean-Tethyan hypotheses reconsidered". "American Journal of Botany", 1998 85: 1398-1408. [http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/10/1398]